Panetta backs Syria rebels arms plan

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-21373367

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The US defence secretary has acknowledged for the first time that he supports arming Syrian rebels.

In testimony to Congress, Leon Panetta said he still supported the supply of weapons to rebels fighting forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

The plan was proposed by then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and David Petraeus, then director of the CIA, but reportedly rebuffed by the White House.

The US has so far offered only diplomatic backing to Syria's rebels.

More than 60,000 people are estimated to have been killed in the 22-month conflict.

The UN says it fears continuing violence could destabilise the whole region, and more than 600,000 Syrians have fled into neighbouring countries.

<strong>Nod of assent</strong>

Mr Panetta's admitted support for the arming of Syria's rebels during testimony to the Senate Armed Services Committee.

It's not every day that a president rejects a plan that has the support of several key members of his national security team. The plan was developed mostly by then-CIA Director Petraeus, building on his experience winning over Sunni tribes in Iraq by arming them. His proposal was backed by Hillary Clinton. With both Leon Panetta and Martin Dempsey now saying that they too supported the idea, it appears that president is in something of a minority, along with National Security advisor Tom Donilon.

When the proposal to arm the rebels was put forward last summer, Obama was in the middle of election season and didn't want to get embroiled in a war. The public debate about Syria has often been framed in terms of all out intervention or nothing, but there are many other options on the table and it's becoming clear there's been intense debate within the administration about the options.

The hearing - which centred on the attack on the US consulate in Benghazi, Libya, in September 2012 - is likely to be Mr Panetta's last before he leaves office.

He was asked directly by Republican Senator John McCain whether he and the Pentagon backed the Clinton plan.

Sitting next to Gen Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Mr Panetta <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0sAdrAV3E3g&feature=player_embedded#!" >nodded and said</a>: "We do."

Commenting on Twitter, Mr McCain <a href="https://twitter.com/SenJohnMcCain/status/299556931729780738" >called the admission</a> "interesting".

The Clinton-Petraeus plan to arm the rebels was hatched during the summer of 2012, <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/03/us/politics/in-behind-scene-blows-and-triumphs-sense-of-clinton-future.html?hpw&_r=0&pagewanted=all" >the New York Times reported</a> recently.

The pair conferred as criticism grew of US inaction over the situation in Syria, and as the country's bitter civil conflict claimed ever more lives.

They proposed a plan to arm carefully vetted rebel groups, which they hoped would win them allies within the rebel ranks, the Times said.

But the plan was shelved by the White House during the US election campaign, the paper reported, amid concerns about weapons falling into the wrong hands - including radical rebel elements affiliated with al-Qaeda.

The BBC's Kim Ghattas in Washington says Mr Panetta's remark is the first time a senior American official has publicly taken this position.

Washington has so far refused to give military backing to the rebels, limiting itself to political support. But US allies like Qatar and Turkey are arming the rebels with Washington's tacit approval, she adds.

Mr Panetta is stepping down, with Chuck Hagel nominated as his successor.

Mr Hagel, a former Republican senator who broke with his party over the Iraq war, endured a testy confirmation hearing last week.

No vote has yet been scheduled for his confirmation.