Sen. Baldwin: ‘No Good Options’ In Syrian Conflict

Following the Obama administration’s decision to send Syrian rebels arms, Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wisc) says she hopes the weapons remain in the right hands.

Baldwin recently visited the Turkish border with Syria. While there, she says she spoke with women and children in refugee camps and opposition leaders. Baldwin says many of the people she talked with were pleading for help from the U.S.

“I listened and asked questions and left, really, with the concern that there are no good options.”

She says she supports the U.S. sending aid like food and night vision goggles. The Obama administration decided to send arms to Syrian rebels after it discovered the Assad regime had been using chemical weapons on its residents. But, Baldwin says, she fears some weapons sent to Syria will fall into the wrong hands.

“There’s an active group supported by al-Qaeda that is part of the Syrian opposition, but are no friends of ours. So we have to look at the U.S. security interest when we look at this, overall.”

Baldwin looks back to when the U.S. sent weapons to rebels in Afghanistan to fight Soviet forces. She says sending weapons helped drive the Soviet Union out of the region, but one of the armed fighters was Osama bin Laden.

Wisconsin’s other Senator, Ron Johnson, was unable to be reached for comment.

The group Peace Action Wisconsin says they do not want weapons sent to Syria and encourages “meaningful” talks between the Syrian government and opposition forces.