Pelosi pushes to train Syrian rebels despite reports they sold journalist to ISIS

Pelosi pushes to train Syrian rebels despite reports they sold journalist to ISIS
(Image credit: Mark Wilson/Getty Images)

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) is pushing to pass a resolution to train Syrian rebels as quickly as possible, saying that it's a "must-pass bill in a [short window] of time." Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) has also called for a vote on the matter.

Pelosi's enthusiasm is surprising given the recent reports that ostensibly moderate Syrian rebels sold journalist Steven Sotloff to ISIS, who beheaded him. "We believe that these so-called moderate rebels that people want our administration to support, one of them sold him probably for something between $25,000 and $50,000 to ISIS, and that was the reason he was captured," a spokesperson from Sotloff's family said.

As the news about Sotloff reiterates, the composition of the Syrian rebel forces is notoriously mixed, which is one reason U.S. and European officials have been cautious about helping them

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Bonnie Kristian

Bonnie Kristian was a deputy editor and acting editor-in-chief of TheWeek.com. She is a columnist at Christianity Today and author of Untrustworthy: The Knowledge Crisis Breaking Our Brains, Polluting Our Politics, and Corrupting Christian Community (forthcoming 2022) and A Flexible Faith: Rethinking What It Means to Follow Jesus Today (2018). Her writing has also appeared at Time Magazine, CNN, USA Today, Newsweek, the Los Angeles Times, and The American Conservative, among other outlets.