Obama claims Putin War in Syria is a sign of weakness

Posted: Oct 9, 2015

President tells CBS's Steve Kroft in interview previewed on-air Friday that Russian President Vladimir Putin's moves into Syria are out of weakness, not strength US has abandoned $500 million to train and arm rebels fighting to remove Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad from power 'He's moved troops into Syria, for one. He's got people on the ground,' Kroft said. 'Two, the Russians are conducting military operations in the Middle East for the first time since World War II... Bombing the people we are supporting.' 'He's challenging your leadership, Mr. President. He's challenging your leadership.' Obama replied, 'So that's leading, Steve?' 'Rather than being able to count on their support and maintain the base they had in Syria, which they've had for a long time, Mr. Putin now is devoting- his own troops, his own military, just to barely hold together by a thread his sole ally.' 'Steve, I got to tell you, if you think that running your economy into the ground and having to send troops in, in order to prop up your only ally is leadership, then we've got a different definition of leadership.' ;