Lobbying the US for guns: '400 al Qaeda fighters near the border of Syria.... but the rebels want Syria to be a multiethnic democracy'

"... Asbahi says he remains an Obama supporter, but doesn’t have any special connections at the White House. A White House spokesman declined to comment on Asbahi or the Syrian Support Group.
Convincing the U.S. government to arm a rebel movement requires a multi-pronged attack. That job is handled by Brian Sayers, the SSG’s de facto lobbyist. A former political officer for NATO, Sayers is now the Syrian group’s full-time director of government relations. A typical day for Sayers begins at 5 a.m., with a conference call assessing the previous 12 hours of developments in Syria. On Friday, for example, he spoke with a Syrian citizen based in the U.S. who serves as his operations and intelligence officer, and discussed the defection of a Syrian Air Force pilot who defected to Jordan. They went over casualty reports gleaned from military councils on the ground, and reports of a visual sighting of a transport of heavy weapons for the Syrian army.
Later that day, Sayers headed off to a think tank, to join Sakka for a briefing with congressional staffers. During the PowerPoint presentation, Sakka and Sayers were asked about rumors that some of the fighters are members of al Qaeda. Sakka said his network had discovered a camp of 400 ultrareligious fighters near the border of Syria who appeared to have outside assistance believed to be al Qaeda. But for the most part, they say, the rebel commanders want Syria to be a multiethnic democracy, a claim that is met with skepticism from some in the audience. One audience member asked how they knew the commanders would keep their word about supporting secular democracy once they attained power. Sakka said this is what their contacts told them....
Sayers, in the meantime, is focused on Congress. He says he is looking for a member with the connections to get weapons, communication, and jamming equipment to Syria’s rebels. “I would love a Charlie Wilson to do the work behind the scenes,” he said, referring to the Texas Democrat who used his influence to get Congress to bankroll the covert operations the CIA used to arm Afghanistan’s mujahadin warriors in the 1980s.(Remember how that worked beautifully for the US!) “That’s what we want.”..... "

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