My question is WHERE are the other middle eastern countries in this situation.(other than Turkey) They've got plenty of money and better airpower that we sold them...AND it's in their backyard...Why are we the worlds policeman...again?
"Arguing with liberals is like playing chess with a pigeon; no matter how good I am at chess, the pigeon is just going to knock out the pieces, crap on the board, and strut around like it is victorious." - Author Unknown
My question is WHERE are the other middle eastern countries in this situation.(other than Turkey) They've got plenty of money and better airpower that we sold them...AND it's in their backyard...Why are we the worlds policeman...again?
...because the US is not the world policemen. They are imperialists managing empire under the guise of "helping". Everybody the US "helps" in "police actions" or the new "kinetic military action", they seem to pile up double or triple the body count, more than the casualties caused by those the US is defending them from.
Syrian opposition leaders were told by Western allies to expect military strikes against Syria's government within days, Reuters news agency reports, as the US, UK and France ramped up rhetoric against President Bashar al-Assad's regime.
According to the report, the Syrian National Coalition was told in clear terms that "action to deter further use of chemical weapons by the Assad government could come as early as in the next few days".
The coalition passed Western allies a list of targets, the report added.
The report on Tuesday came after an alleged chemical attack in Damascus last Wednesday that aid agencies said killed at least 355 people and injured more than 3,000.
The regime denies it carried out the attack.
'No doubt'
However, Joe Biden, the US vice president, said that there was no doubt that the Syrian government was responsible for "the heinous use of chemical weapons".
Biden's comments on Tuesday made him the highest-ranking US official to say that the Syrian regime was behind the alleged attack.
No one doubts that innocent men, women and children have been the victims of chemical weapons attacks in Syria. And, there is no doubt who is responsible for this heinous use of chemical weapons in Syria: the Syrian regime.
US Vice President Joe Biden,
Biden said the Syrian government was the only actor in the two-year civil war that possesses and can deliver chemical weapons, adding that Assad has blocked UN investigators from the site and has been bombing it for days.
On Tuesday, Chuck Hagel, the US defence secretary, repeated previous statements that US forces were now positioned to strike Assad should the US President Barack Obama give the order.
"We are prepared. We have moved assets in place to be able to fulfill and comply with whatever option the president wishes to take," Hagel said in an interview with the BBC.
The US has stationed warships armed with cruise missiles in the Mediterranean, and has air bases across the Middle East.
David Cameron, the British prime minister, announced the recall of parliament from summer recess for a debate on Syria on Thursday. His government would consider a "proportionate" response that would deter Assad from using chemical weapons in the future, his office said.
France's President Francois Hollande said his country would step up support for Syrian rebels and "punish those who gassed the innocent", while an Arab League statement condemned the chemical attack.
Meanwhile, UN inspectors on Tuesday cancelled a visit to areas affected by the attack over security fears. The team had come under sniper fire as they travelled to one of the sites a day earlier.
White House spokesman Carney said the team's work was "redundant" and that use of chemical weapons had already been established.
Warnings from the east
As Western powers mulled options, Assad's allies Russia and Iran issued fresh warnings against military intervention.
The Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Tuesday that such an intervention without consulting the United Nations Security Council could have "catastrophic consequences" for the region. Spotlight In-depth coverage of escalating violence across Syria
Russia also expressed regret over a decision by the US to postpone talks on Syria scheduled in the Netherlands for Wednesday.
The US said the meeting had been postponed due to "ongoing consultations" over the alleged chemical weapons attack in Syria.
Separately, Iran repeated its opposition to any US attack by saying that a military intervention will engulf the whole region.
"There will definitely be perilous consequences for the region," Abbas Araqchi, an Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman, said.
When the INSANE are running the ASYLUM In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
“How fortunate for those in power that people never think.” Adolph Hitler
"The rapidly-approaching conflict in Syria has begun to draw a deep rift between two sides of a Republican party that have long been drifting apart over foreign policy, pitting the hawkish holdovers of Bush-era neoconservatism against an ascendant libertarian wing that opposes humanitarian intervention."
"As the Obama administration beats the war drum -- calling the Assad regime's use of chemical weapons against its own citizens a 'moral obscenity,' and insisting intervention is the only acceptable response -- Republicans are scattered all over the philosophical spectrum, without a clear set of talking points, let alone a unified worldview..."
The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness. John Kenneth Galbraith
Exclusive: Intercepted Calls Prove Syrian Army Used Nerve Gas, U.S. Spies Say Posted By Noah Shachtman Tuesday, August 27, 2013 - 8:54 PM Share
Last Wednesday, in the hours after a horrific chemical attack east of Damascus, an official at the Syrian Ministry of Defense exchanged panicked phone calls with a leader of a chemical weapons unit, demanding answers for a nerve agent strike that killed more than 1,000 people. Those conversations were overheard by U.S. intelligence services, The Cable has learned. And that is the major reason why American officials now say they're certain that the attacks were the work of the Bashar al-Assad regime -- and why the U.S. military is likely to attack that regime in a matter of days.
But the intercept raises questions about culpability for the chemical massacre, even as it answers others: Was the attack on Aug. 21 the work of a Syrian officer overstepping his bounds? Or was the strike explicitly directed by senior members of the Assad regime? "It's unclear where control lies," one U.S. intelligence official told The Cable. "Is there just some sort of general blessing to use these things? Or are there explicit orders for each attack?"
Nor are U.S. analysts sure of the Syrian military's rationale for launching the strike -- if it had a rationale at all. Perhaps it was a lone general putting a long-standing battle plan in motion; perhaps it was a miscalculation by the Assad government. Whatever the reason, the attack has triggered worldwide outrage, and put the Obama administration on the brink of launching a strike of its own in Syria. "We don't know exactly why it happened," the intelligence official added. "We just know it was pretty f**king stupid."
American intelligence analysts are certain that chemical weapons were used on Aug. 21 -- the captured phone calls, combined with local doctors' accounts and video documentation of the tragedy -- are considered proof positive. That is why the U.S. government, from the president on down, has been unequivocal in its declarations that the Syrian military gassed thousands of civilians in the East Ghouta region.
However, U.S. spy services still have not acquired the evidence traditionally considered to be the gold standard in chemical weapons cases: soil, blood, and other environmental samples that test positive for reactions with nerve agent. That's the kind of proof that America and its allies processed from earlier, small-scale attacks that the White House described in equivocal tones, and declined to muster a military response to in retaliation.
There is an ongoing debate within the Obama administration about whether to strike Assad immediately -- or whether to allow United Nations inspectors to try and collect that proof before the bombing begins. On Tuesday, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney called the work of that team "redundant ... because it is clearly established already that chemical weapons have been used on a significant scale."
But within the intelligence community, at least, "there's an interest in letting the U.N. piece run its course," the official said. "It puts the period on the end of the sentence."
When news about the Ghouta incident first trickled out, there were questions about whether or not a chemical agent was to blame for the massacre. But when weapons experts and U.S. intelligence analysts began reviewing the dozens of videos and pictures allegedly taken from the scene of the attacks, they quickly concluded that a nerve gas, such as sarin, had been used there. The videos showed young victims who were barely able to breathe and, in some cases, twitching. Close-up photos revealed that their pupils were severely constricted. Doctors and nurses who say they treated the victims reported that they later became short of breath as well. Eyewitnesses talk of young children so confused, they couldn't even indentify their own parents. All of these are classic signs of exposure to a nerve agent like sarin, the Assad regime's chemical weapon of choice.
Making the case even more conclusive were the images of the missiles that supposedly delivered the deadly attacks. If they were carrying conventional warheads, they would have likely been all but destroyed as they detonated. But several missiles in East Ghouta were found largely intact. "Why is there so much rocket left? There shouldn't be so much rocket left," the intelligence official told The Cable. The answer, the official and his colleagues concluded, was that the weapon was filled with nerve agent, not a conventional explosive.
In the days after the attacks, there was a great deal of public discussion about which side in Syria's horrific civil war actually launched the strike. Allies of the Assad regime, like Iran and Russia, pointed the finger at the opposition. The intercepted communications told a different story -- one in which the Syrian government was clearly to blame.
The official White House line is that the president is still considering his options for Syria. But all of Washington is talking about a punitive strike on the Assad government in terms of when, not if. Even some congressional doves have said they're now at least open to the possibility of U.S. airstrikes in Syria. Images of dead children, neatly stacked in rows, have a way of changing minds.
"It's horrible, it's stupid," the intelligence official said about the East Ghouta attack by the Syrian military. "Whatever happens in the next few days -- they get what they deserve."
The government has already made up its mind, fck what the people want is the attitude this government has today and you need no more proof then this issue with Syria.
"In the beginning of a change, the Patriot is a scarce man, brave, hated and scorned. When his cause succeeds, however, the timid join him, for then it costs nothing to be a Patriot."
The government has already made up its mind, fck what the people want is the attitude this government has today and you need no more proof then this issue with Syria.
The people want... More Americans Support Syrian Air Strikes Than Opposed
Quoted Text
Forty-nine percent of Americans back strikes by cruise missiles and drones that don't risk U.S. lives, the Quinnipiac poll found, with 38 percent opposed
The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness. John Kenneth Galbraith
...the hippies were against Vietnam but since Obama (their lord) wants it- they are FOR attacking Syria!
Funny, the difference a letter from the Comintern makes.
"While Foreign Terrorists were plotting to murder and maim using homemade bombs in Boston, Democrap officials in Washington DC, Albany and here were busy watching ME and other law abiding American Citizens who are gun owners and taxpayers, in an effort to blame the nation's lack of security on US so that they could have a political scapegoat."
The government has already made up its mind, fck what the people want is the attitude this government has today and you need no more proof then this issue with Syria.
The NSA has provided phone calls confirming the use of nerve gas.
A new Reuters/Ipsos poll has finally found something that Americans like even less than Congress: the possibility of U.S. military intervention in Syria. Only 9 percent of respondents said that the Obama administration should intervene militarily in Syria; a RealClearPolitics poll average finds Congress has a 15 percent approval rating, making the country’s most hated political body almost twice as popular.
The Reuters/Ipsos poll was taken Aug.19-23, the very same week that horrific reports emerged strongly suggesting that Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad has used chemical weapons against his own people, potentially killing hundreds or even thousands of civilians. If there were ever a time that Americans would support some sort of action, you’d think this would be it. But this is the lowest support for intervention since the poll began tracking opinion on the issue. The survey also found that 60 percent oppose intervention outright, with the rest, perhaps sagely, saying that they don’t know.
Strangely, 25 percent said that they support intervention if Assad uses chemical weapons. I say strangely because the United States announced way back in June that it believed Assad had done exactly this. A large share of people who answered that the United States should intervene if Assad uses chemical weapons are apparently unaware that this line has already been crossed. Presumably, some number of these people would drop their support if they realized the question was no longer hypothetical.
The United States certainly appears to be considering limited strikes on Syria in response to last week’s suspected chemical weapons attack. The calculus for and against is complicated enough in foreign policy terms. But the White House is also a political institution, and it will surely keep the domestic politics, which appear to oppose any intervention very strongly, well in mind.
"In the beginning of a change, the Patriot is a scarce man, brave, hated and scorned. When his cause succeeds, however, the timid join him, for then it costs nothing to be a Patriot."
The NSA has provided phone calls confirming the use of nerve gas.
They could never fabricate such evidence.
Hello, Assad's brother?
Yes, may I help you?
You using nerve gas?
Only on terrorists, yes.
If they had evidence they would have released it already, them delaying such info probably means they're creating it as we speak. I posted a video with a real phone call that was recorded.
"In the beginning of a change, the Patriot is a scarce man, brave, hated and scorned. When his cause succeeds, however, the timid join him, for then it costs nothing to be a Patriot."
These people have to be the dumbest poll respondents ever...
American Voters Say 2-1 Stay Out Of Syria, Quinnipiac University National Poll Finds; Drop In Foreign Policy Approval Keeps Obama Score Low PDF format
American voters say 61 - 27 percent that it is not in the national interest to be involved in Syria and oppose 59 - 27 percent providing arms and military supplies to anti-government groups, according to a Quinnipiac University national poll released today.
Voters support 49 - 38 percent, however, using drones or cruise missiles, which do not risk American lives, to attack Syrian government targets, the independent Quinnipiac (KWIN- uh-pe-ack) University poll finds.
They say Syria is essentially none of our business and then say they support bombing Syria... This is the electorate you get when you have soundbyte news watching.
"Arguing with liberals is like playing chess with a pigeon; no matter how good I am at chess, the pigeon is just going to knock out the pieces, crap on the board, and strut around like it is victorious." - Author Unknown
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