Obama: I Was Skeptical of Syria Militants Boondoggle from the Start

Local Editor

The failed $500 million program to set up a proxy army in Syria was a test, US President Barack Obama told '60 Minutes', adding that he had doubts about the project from the start. He also ruled out sending US troops to Syria.

"I've been skeptical from the get-go about the notion that we were going to effectively create this proxy army inside of Syria," Obama said in the interview. "My goal has been to try to test the proposition, can we be able to train and equip a moderate opposition that's willing to fight "ISIL"?"

Broadcast Sunday night, Obama's interview with CBS correspondent Steve Kroft was recorded last Tuesday, days before the administration announced it would stop attempting to train a force of so-called ‘moderate' militants in Syria.

After spending hundreds of millions of dollars, Washington had only "four or five" fighters to show for the effort. Most of the equipment ended up in extremist hands as US-trained militants were captured or deserted without ever facing "ISIL" in battle.

Asked why he went through with the program he doubted, Obama responded that part of what he has to do "is to try different things," adding another reason was "because we also have partners on the ground that are invested and interested in seeing some sort of resolution to this problem."

"And they wanted you to do it," Kroft asked.
"Well, no. That's not what I said," Obama replied.

The White House said last Friday it was dropping the training program because it had not lived up to expectations, but said it would continue providing weapons to the so-called Syrian militants.

"Look, there's no doubt that it did not work," Obama said of the program, but argued that there was no "silver bullet" approach to solving the Syrian problem.

Washington would continue to support the ‘moderate' opposition in Syria in hopes of seeing regime change in Damascus, but "what we are not going to do is to try to reinsert ourselves in a military campaign inside of Syria," Obama said.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team