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Top Romney Adviser Says US Should Arm Syrian Rebels

In an interview with Al-Monitor's Barbara Slavin, Richard Williamson, a foreign-policy adviser to Mitt Romney, says the US should be willing to intervene in Syria as Clinton did in Kosovo. He also demanded that Iran cease all uranium enrichment and said the US should be more loyal to Israel, which he said Obama has thrown "under the bus."
US special envoy for Sudan Richard Williamson speaks to journalists in Khartoum, February 25, 2008. Sudan expects to normalise relations with Washington within 4-6 months after more than a decade under U.S. sanctions, the Sudanese foreign minister said on Monday following talks with the visiting new American envoy. REUTERS/Mohamed Nureldin (SUDAN)

Richard Williamson, a top foreign policy adviser for the Mitt Romney campaign, said that the US should arm selected rebel forces in Syria and be willing to go beyond the UN Security Council to intervene in Syria as President Bill Clinton did in Kosovo, if necessary. Williamson also demanded that Iran cease all uranium enrichment and said the US should be more loyal to Israel, which he said President Barack Obama had thrown "under the bus."

“You get more respect by being honest, candid and forthright than by overselling and undercutting your friends and failing to get concrete results and that’s the record of the Obama administration,” he said. Williamson, a former US ambassador to the UN for political affairs, assistant secretary of State and special envoy to Darfur under the George W. Bush administration, made the remarks in an interview with Al-Monitor Washington correspondent Barbara Slavin. Other excerpts follow:

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