The Gathering Storm in Syria

[Big Sarge]

It all boils down to Sunni vs Shia or you could say AQ vs Iran. I say we stay out of this and let them use all of the WMDs they want. It just means fewer extremists for us to deal with later.

[Lamplighter]

The White House should give McCain the 2013 "Frog and the Mouse" award.

NBC News
9/4/13
McCain opposes Senate resolution authorizing Syria strikes

Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., on Wednesday told NBC News
that he doesn't support Senate language authorizing President Obama's
desired military intervention in Syria because it is too limited.

This from one day ago...

Roll Call
9/2/13
Voting Against Obama on Syria Would Be ‘Catastrophic,’ McCain Warns

Two senior Republican senators emerged from a meeting
with President Barack Obama on Monday warning that a vote against
striking Syria would be disastrous.

When is Obama going to understand that you can't change the smell of a skunk.

[glatt]

McCain never saw a war he didn't like.

Washington Post had a poll this morning saying about 60% of Americans don't support going to war against Assad. Interestingly, 43% of Republicans and 42% of Democrats support a war. If Obama was a Republican, I bet it would be 65% or Republicans and 20% of Democrats support.

[Spexxvet]

Meh, if the world truly believes that using chemicals for mass murder is bad, then the world should handle it. We can't do everything. Oh, and we'll have to raise taxes to pay for it.

[Big Sarge]

It is time for the Arab League to step up. They have offered to finance our "attack", but why endanger our forces when this is clearly a sectarian situation. The Arab League has the forces to do the mission themselves.

[Griff]

It isn't as colorful as fiddling while Rome burns but...

[glatt]

Who dat?

[Griff]

The Honorable Senator from Arizona shows us how important he finds military interventions. These are not serious people we've elected.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/...c-c0b0d9d4fe0a

[Lamplighter]

McCain did his thing in changing the wording of the Resolution in the Senate Committee...

Although it passed in Committee by a 10-7 vote, only McCain and 2 other Republicans voted in favor.

The Guardian
Dan Roberts and Spencer Ackerman
9/4/13

Syria strikes: Senate committee approves resolution in boost for Obama

Senate foreign relations committee votes 10-7 in favour,
paving way for full vote on Senate floor early next week.<snip>

The influential committee voted by 10 votes to seven in favour
of granting the formal military authorisation requested by Barack Obama,
paving the way for a full vote on the floor of the Senate early next week
in response to alleged chemical weapons use in Syria.

But the committee also voted to accept controversial amendments
proposed by hawkish Republican senator John McCain that would explicitly make it
a policy of the US to seek to "change the momentum of the battlefield"
in ways that would force Assad to negotiate his resignation.

"It is the policy of the United States to change the momentum on the battlefield
in Syria so as to create favourable conditions for a negotiated settlement
that ends the conflict and leads to a democratic government in Syria,"
said the second of two amendments proposed by McCain and Democrat Chris Coons.

"A comprehensive US strategy in Syria should aim, as part of a
co-ordinated international effort, to degrade the capabilities of the Assad regime
to use weapons of mass destruction while upgrading the lethal and non-lethal
military capabilities of vetted elements of Syrian opposition forces,
including the Free Syrian Army," it added.
<snip>
The extended US mission objective may make it harder to secure
sufficient Democrat support in the House though, where a majority of Republicans
are also thought to be opposed.

Essentially, McCain's changes to the resolution will become a poison pill

[Griff]

Interesting poll results. Seems legit.

[Lamplighter]

As I read McCain's Section 5 of the Senate Resolution passed in Committee, the thought
occurred to me that if it is passed that way by the full Congress, Obama should veto it.

By doing so, he could either send it back to Congress to narrow the focus,
or go ahead and act as he intended (narrowly) as Commander in Chief.

It might send a message to McCain, but I doubt McCain could understand it.

[Undertoad]

Reach however hard as you like to believe that Obama is on your side.

[Lamplighter]

Shades of Saddam Hussein...
Will Bashar al-Assad give an accounting that will satisfy the U.S.,
or will he too eventually be found hiding in a hole somewhere.

Washington Post
9/14/13

US, Russia reach agreement on seizure of Syrian chemical weapons arsenal

GENEVA - The United States and Russia agreed Saturday on an outline
for the identification and seizure of Syrian chemical weapons and said Syria
must turn over an accounting of its arsenal within a week.
<snip>
For example, the two delegations never came to terms on exactly how many sites
the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad uses to produce, mix, and store chemical weapons,
nor on whether all of those sites are in areas that remain under regime control,
as the U.S. maintains, and Russia denies

[Adak]

News today is that the Al-Qaeda and Al-Misra hardline Islamic brigades, have run the less radical Rebel brigades, out of a couple towns, between Damascus and the border with Turkey.

They now have complete control of this part of the Rebel controlled area. They have made it plain after murdering a few non hardline brigade leaders, that they are the strongest faction in the Rebel fight, and won't tolerate those who don't follow their lead.



Since they have withdrawn to these towns, it's believed the other Rebels will be especially hard pressed by Assad's regime, in the coming weeks and months.

[Griff]

I read an interesting article from an unreliable source about the Saudis spending $70 Million on congresscritters to get American intervention. I keep forgetting who pulled the 9/11 job.