re: #218 Killgore Trout

Fact Check: Are Syrian opposition fighters ‘former farmers or teachers or pharmacists’?

That is just fucking stupid

what the president said:

“Oftentimes, the challenge is if you have former farmers or teachers or pharmacists who now are taking up opposition against a battle-hardened regime, with support from external actors that have a lot at stake, how quickly can you get them trained; how effective are you able to mobilize them.”

“When you talk about the moderate opposition, many of these people were farmers or dentists or maybe some radio reporters who didn’t have a lot of experience fighting.”

WP admits this:

“While it is true that a significant portion of the Free Syrian Army is composed of local civilians who picked up arms to protect their homes and villages from the Assad regime, there are also several thousand former officers and soldiers in the Syrian Army who defected to the FSA

Yet they award three Pinocchios
right!