Puppet War in Syria

[Gaspar]

We must prove to Assad that we are willing to kill thousands of civilians in response to the killing of thousands of civilians.

Chemicals?

We don't need no stinking chemicals!



Send in the Drone Ranger.



http://bigstory.ap.org/article/syria-said-be-hiding-weapons-moving-troops

[AquaMan]

Why?

Same question I have asked since 2001...and before.  Why would we be concerned enough about that cheap little tin-horn dictator who just happened to kill a couple hundred thousand of the people in his country he didn't like...?  Where is the compelling 'need' to attack and depose him with the full force of our military?  (Especially since we provided him the means to do that...)  And even MORE - the fact that we killed another 800,000+ performing that "liberation" of the people of Iraq!!    And as a nation, we see NO inconsistency in these facts....

It certainly had NOTHING to do with humanitarian reasons... else we would have done something in Congo, Uganda, Rwanda - WAY before doing anything in Iraq!!

Or is there something "worse" about killing 1,400 people with gas than there is from killing a million with clubs and machete's...??


But wait...what is missing from this discussion so far...??  Three guesses, and the first two don't count.

Oil.

You're living in the past. Those were different players, different times, different histories. We let this go by and the other crazies are watching. North Korea, Iran, every tinhorn tyrant in a band uniform. We also lose moral standing. Leadership in the world is tough.

Use a simple business cost/benefit analysis. We have more to lose by ignoring crimes against humanity...today, not yesterday...than we have to gain. We have more to gain by sternly, but narrowly responding than we have to keep walking by with our head down cause it might cause a scene.

400 children with no particular political beliefs were murdered.

[dbacksfan 2.0]

[heironymouspasparagus]

You're living in the past. Those were different players, different times, different histories. We let this go by and the other crazies are watching. North Korea, Iran, every tinhorn tyrant in a band uniform. We also lose moral standing. Leadership in the world is tough.

Use a simple business cost/benefit analysis. We have more to lose by ignoring crimes against humanity...today, not yesterday...than we have to gain. We have more to gain by sternly, but narrowly responding than we have to keep walking by with our head down cause it might cause a scene.

400 children with no particular political beliefs were murdered.

Same ole, same ole...history repeating itself again.  Like it always does.  And we make rationalizations and excuses that somehow it is different.  It's not.

Yep, 400 murdered - that's horrendous.  And on that same day, probably 21,000 children died of dysentery, malaria, starvation, violence and other causes - diseases and events that are manageable in great part and whose deaths are mostly preventable.  7,600,000 per year.  That's the problem with looking at just today, with no consideration of yesterday - rationalizations and excuses.  As so many times in the past, I submit we are we have no sense of perspective.  Relate this to the mote in one's eye compared to the beam in another's.

What this IS moving toward - and I suspect there is much more intent than coincidence - is the entire mid-east is now being 'taken over' by Al Qaeda and related factions.  There has been a concerted effort that certainly has all appearances of being intentional to support regime change across the entire area.  The world has had an Al Qaeda supporting faction in Iran for 30+ years (note the "coincidental" alignment to the Reagan years and the beginning of the rise of the RWRE...?) and apparently that wasn't quite enough to stimulate the desired end game.  Our support and hope for Saddam Hussein in Iraq was that enough spillover of the conflict would start other 'bonfires' in the region.  Didn't work, so we had to get rid of him - and notice how that brought about another similar regime - aligned philosophically with Iran - in Iraq.

So, since the Muammar Gaddafi had shut up and set down - was not doing anything related to terrorism anymore - and Tunisia was hurting, but not really focusing on terrorism, something had to be done.  Support for the "Arab Spring".  So, now we have an Islamist government (read that as the kind of people who support Al Qaeda) as well as one in Libya and another in Egypt, at least for a little while.  The whole area is now being turned into radical Islamist governments/regimes.  And we want it for Syria.  Jordan will be next.  And we have been messing with Afghanistan - talking with the Taliban so we can let them back in power without embarrassment.  And Pakistan is already pretty radical for the most part.  So, when all the new regimes get settled in and start talking to each other, they WILL turn their attention to Israel.

Which is highly likely to start a conflict that will require a LOT more of our help.  It will likely be fairly large in scale, since the Islamists are gonna have the support China and Gog,....er, uh, Russia, that mysterious country to the north.  Which conveniently brings on a conflict of such scale that it could possibly be billed as at least resembling 'Armageddon'.  Seems like someone is trying to force God's hand....

Sounds kind of far fetched...until you step back and look at the scale of religious radicalism that engulfs the world today.  Both Islamist and Christian.  This is not an effort that spans days, weeks or even years.  It spans decades and centuries - and started long ago.  And today we have the infrastructure and technology to actually make it happen.   God will be so proud..!!


Again, the situation IS that Hezbollah and Al Qaeda are killing each other.  And we should stop that, why?

Of course, it could all fall apart with one good zombie epidemic outbreak....

[Gaspar]

You're living in the past. Those were different players, different times, different histories. We let this go by and the other crazies are watching. North Korea, Iran, every tinhorn tyrant in a band uniform. We also lose moral standing. Leadership in the world is tough.

Use a simple business cost/benefit analysis. We have more to lose by ignoring crimes against humanity...today, not yesterday...than we have to gain. We have more to gain by sternly, but narrowly responding than we have to keep walking by with our head down cause it might cause a scene.

400 children with no particular political beliefs were murdered.

When President Clinton made that exact same IDENTICAL CASE in 1998, I was all for it.  Most of us were lulled into the illogical proposition that punishing an irrational person would somehow result in rational behavior.

"He has used them. Not once, but repeatedly. Unleashing chemical weapons against Iranian troops during a decade-long war. Not only against soldiers, but against civilians, firing Scud missiles at the citizens of Israel, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Iran. And not only against a foreign enemy, but even against his own people, gassing Kurdish civilians in Northern Iraq.

The international community had little doubt then, and I have no doubt today, that left unchecked, Saddam Hussein will use these terrible weapons again."

These actions have never resolved with the consequences we naively anticipate.  In this case, we have decided to be even more detached.  The president has opted to present a plan without a goal.  In fact, he has stated as much, that the strikes are not intended to cause regime change, take out any bad guys, or aid the rebels in their civil war.  The purpose of the strike is only to "send a message."  It's a ballistic telegram that says "you are naughty, and we are better than you."

As history has shown, when we take egotistical actions without clear external goals or aspirations, they lead to amplification of the very behaviors we wish to display distain for.

We can't be isolationists, but we shouldn't be the police.  This president has shown an affinity for swift, clandestine, lethal action.  He has ordered the deaths of hundreds, and killed hundreds more inadvertently with his drone program.  These people were executed for sharing information, associating, or just being near people we felt could someday be a threat to US interests.  Now we have a dictator who has blatantly defied the world, vowed to destroy US allies and interests, and murdered hundreds of thousands of people to retain power, and our president's solution is to put on a show, a display, an exhibition. This is political narcissism, and nothing more.

Intensions are not results!

[Gaspar]

Our lawmakers are really taking this seriously.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-politics-live/the-senates-syria-hearing-live-updates/?id=ed01ca14-222b-4a23-b12c-c0b0d9d4fe0a

[Gaspar]

Oh, my!

So. . .WE didn't set a red line?  But I thought that we. . .

Come on, admit it, George Bush set the red line, and Congress approved it.



Red line?  I didn't draw that, somebody else did!

[Gaspar]

When Rangle calls you "embarrassing" that's a special kind of embarrassing.

[heironymouspasparagus]

We can't be isolationists, but we shouldn't be the police.  This president has shown an affinity for swift, clandestine, lethal action.  He has ordered the deaths of hundreds, and killed hundreds more inadvertently with his drone program.  These people were executed for sharing information, associating, or just being near people we felt could someday be a threat to US interests.  Now we have a dictator who has blatantly defied the world, vowed to destroy US allies and interests, and murdered hundreds of thousands of people to retain power, and our president's solution is to put on a show, a display, an exhibition. This is political narcissism, and nothing more.

Intensions are not results!

Welcome to Reagan-Bush-Clinton-Bush-Obama World!!  It is a mad, hysterical, carnival fun-house type place where video games rule the skies with real bombs attached to the other end!!  Yay, Team!!

[Gaspar]

Progressives finally find some common ground with the majority of Democrats, Republicans, Libertarians, and event he Tea Party!

http://www.washingtontimes.com/blog/inside-politics/2013/sep/4/liberals-reject-obamas-case-syria-strikes-believe-/

PCCC says more than 57,000 of its activists weighed in, and 73 percent of them opposed the U.S. taking action in Syria. Just 18 percent supported strikes, and just 14 percent said the U.S. should go ahead unilaterally if it can't find any allies.

Indeed, a majority of the activists don't believe Mr. Obama and Secretary of State John F. Kerry are being honest when they lay out their justifications for taking military action.

Four out of five activists also said they believe U.S. action will lead to deeper involvement in the civil war.

PCCC detailed the findings, which came from a three-day survey of its activists, in a memo to congressional Democrats.


President Obama has finally become the "Great Uniter."  Now we just wait for the sea levels to fall.

[Red Arrow]

Now we just wait for the sea levels to fall.

Global Freezing?

[Gaspar]

Global Freezing?

Climate Change! or Climate Catastrophe, or my new favorite "Global Weirding."

Please try to keep up. 

[Hoss]

Climate Change! or Climate Catastrophe, or my new favorite "Global Weirding."

Please try to keep up. 

With your ADHD posting, it's quite a challenge.

Maybe you should invest in Ritalin?

[Gaspar]

With your ADHD posting, it's quite a challenge.

Maybe you should invest in Ritalin?

Are you ridiculing people with a medical condition?

[Cats Cats Cats]

It is more than likely smoke inhalation