The White House says Syria has crossed a ‘red line’ by using chemical weapons against the rebels on multiple occasions, and the U.S. will provide as yet unspecified “direct support” to the rebels.
So far, it looks like we’ll be providing weapons, and may impose a “no fly zone” in part of Syrian territory (McCain is pushing for this, and maybe more).
I don’t like the idea. We’ve had enough military adventure recently, we don’t need to open another front, particularly not by aiding rebels known or believed to have ties to al Qaeda. This isn’t our fight, and I think we should stay out of it.
If John McCain has his way, we’ll be in another ground war. I wish he would just shut the fuck up and retire. Contrary to his own belief, he’s not a war hero and he’s not the fucking president, and another war in the Middle East would court disaster for the US. God damn, but I’m sick of hearing his voice. While I’m sure Obama will take a prudent stance, he’s already been seduced by the clandestine side of things, and listens too willingly to the NSA and CIA.
The spies tell him they can prevent another 9/11 if he lets them have their will. America has shown its willingness to subordinate its freedom, values and ideals for the sake of security. Obama is just giving us our will. At least there is a rational connection between the freedoms we surrender and the security we seek.
It’s about time! I do not see any reason to worry that sending arms to rebels in Syria will lead to us invading Syria. All these comparisons to Iraq and the run up to the Iraq war have no validity whatsoever.
With any luck an empowered FSA will bring everyone to the bargaining table and the removal of Assad.
I don’t think so. Obama can be an opportunist at times, but the tide is turning against the rebels in Syria, and I think Obama really wants to help them as much as he can without US boots on the ground. I think he has the integrity not to use war (or something close to it) as a political tool for his presidency.
Well, let me be the first to say I agree with the US supporting the rebels.
There aren’t any good options here; nothing that is without risk of further escalation in the region.
And whatever the US does they will look like the bad guy for some time (we’ve even had recent threads where the same people have suggested both that the US doing nothing is part of their master plan of Muslims killing Muslims and that if they intervene that’s part of their master plan of securing a strategic port).
One difference between the regime and the rebels is that there is far more evidence of the former performing sectarian massacres of civilians. For that reason I think nations that can help here, should, such as the US, Britain, Turkey.
I do not agree with the current, popular idea that I should care intensely about what happens within my nation’s borders, and not at all about anything outside of them.
The Syrian rebels are not solely or even mostly Islamist anymore than most of the Mujahadeen were Taliban or most of the French Resistance during World War II was Communist.
I don’t think it’ll be anymore of a military adventure then our intervention in Libya was. Also considering that the Assad regime is an Iranian ally and Hezbollah, not to mention the humanitarian situation in Syria, I’d say there’s good grounds for it being “our fight”.
I certainly see this as a good first step in aiding the rebels. Hopefully the US will follow up with a no-fly zone.
My default position is No, not just no, hell, no! Takes a lot to get me over that. And its not that the rebels are Islamist, its that they are Sunni Islamist, which didn’t used to mean as much as it does now, now that Allah has averted His eyes. Dreadful consequence abounds.
We tend to forget that the roots of Al Queda is a virulent Sunni disdain for Shia muslims. They probably hate us more than they hate Iran, but that’s a close call.
What I fear most is this turning into a neo-cons wet dream, of an American and Israeli alliance settling everybody’s hash in one swell foop, turning everybody into unwilling secular humanists under the dominance of America, Israel and allies.
And there is no more wretched set of words in any language than “holy war”. Its blasphemy whether there is a God or no.
Probably this.
The plan to oust Assad through an arranged “Popular Uprising, with absolutely positively no CIA or any US involvement whatsoever” is failing.
Now, obviously, the US just has to intervene, because errm…Assad is Evil and is gassing his own people(!!).
Frankly I’m just not educated enough to have a very strong opinion, but I do think that if you are going to say a million times that using chemical weapons is a red line that will not be crossed without us getting more involved somehow, that it’d be dumb to go back on that. Chemical weapons are awful and if Assad is using them he should be punished and ousted. I’m not really very happy about arming rebels who in a decade or two might end up using them against us or our allies or in aiding the rebels to create a nation that might hate us and sponsor terrorism. I think doing some strategic bombing like Israel is doing is a better option. I’m really leery about handing weapons over to other people. I think even “US boots on the ground” is a more savory option, as opposed to it as I am. At least it seems less chicken-shit and less likely to blow up in our face. Of course that’s easy for me to say as it isn’t me laying my life on the line.
Just a really terrible messy situation. But Assad gassing his own people is just tremendously terrible and he deserves to be stopped.
