Obama subtly pushes back against Clinton, Panetta on Syria
By Dan Merica, CNN
updated 12:46 PM EDT, Mon September 29, 2014
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
Washington (CNN) -- President Barack Obama, over the last two years, has seen his top two former national security Cabinet officials critique his foreign policy decision in Syria.
Now the President has gently pushed back.
In an interview with CBS' "60 Minutes" that aired on Sunday, Obama said that arming Syrian rebels in 2012 in their fight against President Bashar al-Assad "would have been counterproductive."
"This is in response to the mythology that has evolved that somehow if we had given those folks some guns two and a half years ago, than Syria would be fine," Obama said about the 2012 plans. "For us to just go blind on that would have been counterproductive and would not have helped the situation. It also would have committed us to a much more significant role inside of Syria."
Earlier this month, the President authorized a plan to arm and train rebels in Syria fighting against ISIS, a terrorist group that has swept into power in areas in both Syria and Iraq. Obama's plan also authorizes airstrikes against ISIS targets.
Former top Obama administration officials, including former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and former Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta, have publicly disagreed with the president on Syria.
Clinton wrote in her memoir "Hard Choices" that she split with Obama on Syria and urged the president to arm the rebels.
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Obama subtly pushes back against Clinton, Panetta on Syria