Starvin Larry

In 2013, the CIA launched a program to aid “moderate” rebels in Syria who would fight both Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and Nusra (al Qaeda’s official Syrian affiliate). The opposition has since been expanded to include the Islamic State. The aim was to empower “trusted commanders,” who had to sign written agreements, submit payroll information about their fighters, and detail their battlefield strategies in order to qualify for aid. Those that qualified ended up getting a pittance of aid. One trusted commander got 16 bullets a month for his fighters. Weapons requests routinely took two weeks for approval, by which time any opportunities to kill the enemies were gone, and sometimes requests were denied. One commander got three dozen rifles after requesting 1,000.  One moderate rebel group, Hazzm, captured tanks from the Assad regime, and then couldn’t get cash for shells or fuel. The rebel pay was about half what…