The Obama administration’s two top defense officials publicly acknowledged a policy disagreement with the White House over whether to send US arms to the rebels in Syria.
In congressional testimony on Thursday, US Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta, who is retiring, and General Martin Dempsey, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, both said they supported a plan last year by then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and then-CIA Director David Petraeus to provide weapons to the rebels fighting to overthrow Syrian President Bashar Assad.
Their comments before the Senate Armed Services Committee came in response to a question from Republican Senator John McCain of Arizona, who has been a leading critic of the Obama administration for failing to do more to help the Syrian rebels who are heavily outgunned by Assad’s forces.
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