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Private Group Sought to Arm Syrian Rebels
(Wall Street Journal) Dion Nissenbaum - Last year, a private group of Americans offered to provide 70,000 Russian-made assault rifles and 21 million rounds of ammunition to the Free Syrian Army. Behind the initiative was Joseph E. Schmitz, who from 2002 to 2005 served as Pentagon inspector general. The group set about arranging a weapons shipment from Eastern Europe, to be paid for by a Saudi prince. Then a Saudi member of the team was approached by a CIA representative in Jordan, who told him to put the brakes on the plan.