Bob's blog: Obama pushes aid to Syrian rebels; U.S. deploys armed drones to Baghdad
(CBS News) -- President Obama announced on Thursday that he would call on Congress to authorize a $500 million aid package to assist the Syrian rebels fighting Bashar al-Assad's military. But where do the loyalties of the opposition fighters lie? It's not clear if U.S. aid to moderate rebels could end up in the hands of the Sunni extremists determined to set up radical Islamic states in both countries. Adding to the dizzying array of allegiances and enmity in the region, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki confirmed on Thursday that Syria had carried out air strikes against the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant, the Sunni extremist group that has set up camp along the Iraq-Syria border and threatens to destabilize the U.S.-backed Iraqi government.
People have been saying for a long time that the United States should have been doing more to aid the Syrian rebels, but I think we're going to have to wait and see what exactly is in this aid package and to whom it is going before we can make any comment on it. A fairly bipartisan group in Congress has said we need to be doing more to help the rebels, but the situation now is wildly tangled up. Everybody we once fought against seems to be focused on defeating ISIS, a goal we share.
Sunday on Face the Nation, we're going to have and Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va. and Sen. John Barrasso, R.-Wyo.,, on the broadcast to talk about this crisis, along with the former US ambassador to Iraq, James Jeffrey. I'll have plenty of questions to ask them, because this conflict is unprecedented.
We'll also talk with CBS News State Department Correspondent Margaret Brennan and TIME Magazine's Michael Crowley for some analysis on all the news overseas.
No Sunday would be complete without an all-star political panel, and this week, we won't disappoint. Joining us are Peggy Noonan of The Wall Street Journal, Michael Gerson of The Washington Post, former Clinton White House Press Secretary Dee Dee Myers, and Todd Purdum of Politico. We hope you'll going us.