In a stunningly stupid move this morning, the Obama Administration declared its intent to supply arms to the Syrian rebels. I say that this is a stupid move because anyone who has been watching this gigantic mess going on in Syria for the past year knows that the Islamists in various organizations and neighboring nations have been funneling jihadis into the nation in the guise of “rebel fighters”. An article in USA Today, featured on the Drudge Report, states that a large Syrian rebel organization pledged allegiance to Jabat al Nursra, declared a terrorist organization by the Obama Administration in December 2012 (though when I referenced the State Department terrorist organizations list today I did not see them on the list). This pledge of fealty coincided with the same pledge by Islamic State of Iraq (the Al Qaeda affiliate in Iraq who is also suspiciously absent from the aforementioned State Department list) sworn to the man who replaced Osama Bin Laden as the leader of Al Qaeda.

Though the Administration has said that they wish to support rebel groups that are not terrorist organizations, one has to wonder how exactly the Administration hopes to screen these groups? Focus groups? Online surveys? While I certainly support the Syrian people’s right to live free of the horrors of the Assad regime (probable chemical weapons usage against its enemies, targeting of political opponents and military defectors-I could go on, but I think you get the grisly picture); I have to object to Obama getting involved in a situation which is a direct threat to our national security interests. After all, you can give a weapon to a terrorist but you can’t take it back! If the Administration gives these rebels antitank weapons (reportedly they draw the line at the antiaircraft weapons the rebels have requested), and American troops are sent into this area in a future conflict-well you do the math.

The Administration is just making friends all over the world on this issue, reportedly Russian President Vladimir Putin was expressing his crankiness toward the U.S.A. this morning, commenting that the basis of this decision (use of chemical weapons against civilians in Syria by Assad’s regime) was false in the first place. Since the Administration is proposing creation of a no-fly zone on the Syrian border with Jordan, one would postulate that rebels of all stripes would go there for training, which could result in attracting jihadis into Jordan-which has been a staunch U.S. ally in the region for many years. Though Jordan is currently supportive of these plans, I have a feeling that might change if they start to see large numbers of Al Qaeda flags flying in their kingdom.

As an example of the types of people we are talking about providing weapons to, I refer you to an article which is also linked on the Drudge Report, this time from the Washington Post, about what happened when a 14 year old boy got snippy with some customers at a cafe where he worked. For some reason Mohammed Qatta refused to bring some of his customers the coffee they ordered, stating “Even if {Prophet} Mohammed comes back to life, I won’t.”. The hapless teen had the misfortune of being overheard by a passing group of jihadis, who have taken to patrolling the streets of Aleppo acting as morality police-beating men who are with women in public who are not related to them, doing the same to un-veiled women. These jihadis took offense at the boy’s slight of their prophet and quickly jumped out of their car and snatched him right off the sidewalk. Later, they took the boy to a public square, waited for a crowd to gather-including the boys parents-and then announced in classical Arabic that Qatta was guilty of blasphemy and deserved to die for it, and that anyone else who disrespected the Prophet would share the boy’s fate. After this declaration they shot the blindfolded youth in the mouth and the neck. Yep that is who we want to arm. Absolutely, we want to arm people who create violent theocracies and murder children in the public square as an example to others who might commit similar infractions. If the previous sentence is true, I submit that this nation has lost her way.