The Gathering Storm in Syria

[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.

[Adak]

Originally Posted by 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.

Your source is correct. Saudi's work tirelessly to cut the influence of Iran, for two reasons:

1) Iran is shia - and so is Syria (largely). Saudi's are shiite, and to say that they don't get along, is the biggest understatement, you could ever make.

Most of the attacks in Iraq today, are shia vs. shiite.

2) Iran's military build up over the last several decades, has been alarming to every nation in the middle east. Now more than ever, since the potential that Iran will build nuclear weapons.

The last thing anyone except Iran wants in the volatile middle east, is a nuclear arms race. What Iran wants is never perfectly clear, but a greater military strength is clearly one major goal.

[tw]

Originally Posted by Griff

I keep forgetting who pulled the 9/11 job.

Humans did it. Which proves all Americans were complicit. Should that be too general, then also too general is to associate any extremist Sunni or Shiite with the actions of any other non-atheist.

The conflicts are directly traceable to extremists. The enemy of all good and decent people - moderates. All extremsits - atheists or non-atheists - are the source of or give comfort to this problem. They use extremist propaganda and hearsay, rather than adult intelligence, to justify their actions and beliefs. They (and not any one religion) are the problem.

[Lamplighter]

I did not know they were working under a deadline...

Washington Post
10/5/13

UN official says chemical weapons inspectors begin destroying Syrian stockpile, machinery

<snip>Their first goal in the undertaking is to scrap the
Assad regime’s capacity to manufacture chemical weapons by Nov. 1.

“Today is the first day of the phase of destruction and disabling.
Verification will also continue,” the official, speaking on
condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter.
“The plan was that two types categories of materials would be destroyed:
one is equipment for making (weapons) — filling and mixing equipment,
some of it mobile, and some it static. The other is actual munitions.”

Developed during the 1980s and 1990s, Syria’s chemical arsenal is believed
to contain mustard gas and the nerve agents sarin, VX and tabun.

Inspectors can use any means to destroy equipment, including crude techniques
like taking sledgehammers to control panels or driving tanks over empty vats.
But the second phase — destroying battle-ready weapons, is more difficult,
time-consuming and expensive. It can be done by incinerating materials
in sealed furnaces at ultra-high temperatures, or by transforming precursor chemicals
or diluting them with water.<snip>