Has Obama Waived a Federal Provision Designed to Prevent Arms Shipments to Terrorists?

Joel Gehrke at the Washington Examiner is reporting that he has:

President Obama waived a provision of federal law designed to prevent the supply of arms to terrorist groups to clear the way for the U.S. to provide military assistance to "vetted" opposition groups fighting Syrian dictator Bashar Assad.

Some elements of the Syrian opposition are associated with radical Islamic terrorist groups, including al Qaeda, which was responsible for the Sept. 11 attacks in New York, Washington, D.C., and Shanksville, Pa., in 2001. Assad's regime is backed by Iran and Hezbollah.

The president, citing his authority under the Arms Export Control Act, announced today that he would "waive the prohibitions in sections 40 and 40A of the AECA related to such a transaction."

Those two sections prohibit sending weaponry to countries described in section 40(d): "The prohibitions contained in this section apply with respect to a country if the Secretary of State determines that the government of that country has repeatedly provided support for acts of international terrorism," Congress stated in the Arms Control Export Act.

"For purposes of this subsection, such acts shall include all activities that the Secretary determines willfully aid or abet the international proliferation of nuclear explosive devices to individuals or groups or willfully aid or abet an individual or groups in acquiring unsafeguarded special nuclear material," the law continues.

The law allows the president to waive those prohibitions if he "determines that the transaction is essential to the national security interests of the United States."

I don't know how accurate this report is.  I've not seen it in other media outlets but that means little today. I find it especially disturbing in light of a different report seen over the weekend.

I've since lost the link and frankly care not to go looking for it.

It was the story of a young Syrian Christian woman, a beautiful girl, who had been brutally raped and murdered by a gang of jihadists, the very people Obama is looking to support.  There was a picture of the girl that was simply ghastly and wretchedly violent.  Her body had been carved up and she had a large crucifix shoved down her throat, pinning her to the bed in which she had been killed.  It was horrendous.  Her parents had released the picture in the hopes of garnering support against the atrocities perpetrated by these monsters.

I find it hard to believe that the country I love would in any way support such monsters.

What has happened to America?