Topic: Moderate Rebels

Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard traveled to Syria to meet with President Bashar al-Assad and civilians in Aleppo and Damascus. In an interview with Jake Tapper, she reported that Syrian citizens questioned why the U.S. is arming "moderate rebels" who are indistinguishable from terrorist groups like Al-Nusra and ISIS. Gabbard emphasized that peace requires talking to enemies and that the Syrian people, not the U.S. government, should determine their country's future.

Former UK Ambassador to Syria Peter Ford criticized the British government for selling a "false prospectus" regarding 70,000 moderate rebels and the effectiveness of Brimstone missiles. In the Netherlands, politician Geert Wilders is set to stand trial for hate speech after asking supporters if they wanted "fewer Moroccans." The hosts contrast the Dutch criticism of American politics with the lack of free speech in Holland.

A report from RT examines the breakdown of the Syrian ceasefire and the US failure to separate "moderate rebels" from Al-Nusra terrorists. The segment argues that the US is risking a third world war to protect its "assets" on the ground, while Russia maintains that all armed opposition groups in Syria share the same extremist ideology.

President Assad characterizes the "moderate opposition" in Syria as a myth, claiming they are the same individuals who eventually join Al-Nusra or ISIS. The hosts discuss the theory that Middle Eastern destabilization is a deliberate strategy by US and Israeli intelligence to "rubbilize" the region and install radical groups like the Muslim Brotherhood.

Mainstream media outlets like ABC News "rebooted" the story of the failed $500 million Pentagon program to train moderate Syrian rebels. The hosts argue this is a narrative reset to distract from reports that U.S.-trained fighters handed their weapons over to Al-Qaeda affiliates. The new plan involves training individual "rebel leaders" rather than entire units.

James Kirchick of the Foreign Policy Initiative argues that Vladimir Putin's anti-ISIS coalition is a ruse to attack moderate Syrian rebels. The segment critiques the term "moderate rebels" as a vague political construct and suggests the conflict is actually driven by competing interests over natural gas pipelines.

Rear Admiral John Kirby announced that the U.S. will send several hundred troops to train "moderate" Syrian rebels. Kirby used the term "sourcing solutions" to describe the recruitment process, though he admitted that no trainees have been identified or enrolled yet. The hosts characterize this as the creation of a state-sponsored guerrilla force, which they define as an act of war.