People Around the World Oppose Arming Syrian “Rebels”

Washington’s Blog

A new Pew poll shows that 70% of Americans oppose arming the Syrian “rebels”. As the Washington Postnotes:

Opposition in the Pew poll is actually higher than ever before in the two-year-old civil war. And that’s even as much of the poll was conducted after the White House announced Thursday that the Syrian government had crossed the “red line” and used chemical weapons.
But while the red line was significant to the White House, it doesn’t seem to have altered the perceptions of the American people.

(In fact, the weight of evidence shows that it was likely the rebels – not the Syrian government – which used chemical weapons. See this, this, this and this.)
Numerous other recent polls show that Americans on both sides of the aisle are opposed to war in Syria.
Likewise, the Herald Scotland reports:

More pressure has been piled on David Cameron with a poll showing most Britons are opposed to arming the Syrian rebels ….
The Comres survey showed only 17% of people supported the UK Government arming the Syrian opposition to the Assad regime but 53% were opposed.

Polls have consistently shown that the French people oppose arming the rebels. As do the Turks.
Public opposition won’t stop the war, of course. For example, the protests against the Iraq war were thelargest protests in history. But the U.S. and its allies had reasons to invade, anyway.
And Americans were opposed to the “humanitarian” war in Libya … even before they learned that the U.S. and its allies had backed Al Qaeda to topple Gaddafi. But we went in anyway.
Likewise, Syria has long been on the list of countries which “need” regime change … whether or not the people want it.
Related posts:

1. US to start arming Syrian rebels ‘shortly’
2. Iran warns against arming Syrian rebels
3. Britain, France urged to show restraint before arming Syrian rebels
4. Britain seeks to lift ban on arming Syrian rebels: Hague
5. Russia accuses West of arming Syrian rebels