Santorum: Arm Syrian Rebels

On Hugh Hewitt’s nationally syndicated program yesterday, GOP frontrunner Rick Santorum said that the United States should arm the Syrian rebels:

 

 

Here’s the transcript, in relevant part (beginning at 6:21):

SANTORUM: We’d be aiding the rebels. We’d be aiding the new Syrian army, the opposition Syrian army with whatever weapons that we could get into that country through a variety of different avenues. And we’d be supporting them, not in any kind of direct military way, but indirectly through supporting them, as I said, with arms, ammunition, and other kinds of support.

Hewitt asks whether the Syrian regime protects Christians, and asks Santorum about claims that Syria could go Islamist.  Santorum responds:

SANTORUM: This is a regime that is a puppet regime of Iran, and Iran is a much greater threat to not just the Christian community but to the entire region and the world, and to our national security, and that relationship trumps any concern I would have that this new regime, which will essentially be an anti-Iranian regime – it will have to be because they know that Iran is the one who is killing them indirectly through Assad – I think you create at least an opportunity for a much friendlier, more pro-Western group in Syria than what you have today, and that gives me some hope that the Christian population there will be safe.