“They are brave, and they’re not going away,” Fehrnstrom said of those opposing the rule of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad. “What they need is the capacity to wage a fair fight. So what Governor Romney would do is encourage the United States to work with our partners to identify, organize, and arm the opposition.”

“They’re going up against vastly superior forces in Assad’s army and have suffered 10,000 losses, just slaughtered by the government,” Fehrnstrom added.

ABC News’ George Will challenged the idea, citing the U.S. effort to arm the opposition to Russia in Afghanistan in the 1980′s.