So How Does Syria Play Out?

DrDonkeyLove · Post by **DrDonkeyLove** » Thu Aug 29, 2013 4:18 pm

I despise Obama but don't see a single thing he can do that has a good outcome.

FWIW, I suspect that the least bad action would be to align with some NATO allies to arm the hell out of the one or two militias who are pro west. If we did that, we could fuck Assad while giving more moderate Syrians the strength to resist the rise of the mullahs after Assad is dead or living in luxury in Tehran.

TerryB · Post by **TerryB** » Thu Aug 29, 2013 4:38 pm

DrDonkeyLove wrote:I despise Obama but don't see a single thing he can do that has a good outcome.

FWIW, I suspect that the least bad action would be to align with some NATO allies to arm the hell out of the one or two militias who are pro west. If we did that, we could fuck Assad while giving more moderate Syrians the strength to resist the rise of the mullahs after Assad is dead or living in luxury in Tehran.

How about just let them fight each other for however long it takes? NObody else is stepping in.

Does anyone really think the U.S. or the U.N. would do squat if, say, some country in middle-Africa gassed a couple hundred of their people? Hell no. This isn't about enforcing some "moral norm", it's about Obama stupidly putting himself in a corner.

powerlifter54 · Post by **powerlifter54** » Thu Aug 29, 2013 5:12 pm

What difference at this point does it make?

Batboy2/75 · Post by **Batboy2/75** » Thu Aug 29, 2013 7:20 pm

protobuilder wrote:Anyone else find it disturbing that the Arab League is pissed at Assad but wants US to do someting about it?

Why can't the Arab League fuel up the jets we've sold/given them and do something on their own?

This is, after all, their back yard.

Why? Because they can't maintain them or fly them.

baffled · Post by **baffled** » Thu Aug 29, 2013 7:41 pm

Batboy2/75 wrote:
protobuilder wrote:Anyone else find it disturbing that the Arab League is pissed at Assad but wants US to do someting about it?

Why can't the Arab League fuel up the jets we've sold/given them and do something on their own?

This is, after all, their back yard.

Why? Because they can't maintain them or fly them.

Money well spent. Gotta keep that foreign and military aid going or else we'll have to deal with shit we don't want to and don't really have the capacity to.

/derp

baffled · Post by **baffled** » Thu Aug 29, 2013 8:04 pm

The intelligence linking Syrian President Bashar Assad or his inner circle to an alleged chemical weapons attack is no "slam dunk," with questions remaining about who actually controls some of Syria's chemical weapons stores and doubts about whether Assad himself ordered the strike, U.S. intelligence officials say.

President Barack Obama declared unequivocally Wednesday that the Syrian government was responsible, while laying the groundwork for an expected U.S. military strike.

"We have concluded that the Syrian government in fact carried these out," Obama said in an interview with "NewsHour" on PBS. "And if that's so, then there need to be international consequences."

However, multiple U.S. officials used the phrase "not a slam dunk" to describe the intelligence picture — a reference to then-CIA Director George Tenet's insistence in 2002 that U.S. intelligence showing Iraq had weapons of mass destruction was a "slam dunk" — intelligence that turned out to be wrong.

Read more here: http://www.thenewstribune.com/2013/08/2 ... rylink=cpy

Given the track record we've had in the last 10+ years of getting these things so unbelievably wrong, how anyone can think this is a good idea is beyond me.

Why not nuke the place? That'll end the violence once and for all. Gotta do it for the children, amirite?

Grandpa's Spells · Post by **Grandpa's Spells** » Thu Aug 29, 2013 8:08 pm

Given the track record we've had in the last 10+ years of getting these things so unbelievably wrong, how anyone can think this is a good idea is beyond me.

Maybe he doesn't. If Obama acted like this was Syria's problem, the GOP would be demanding an invasion. Tell everybody you want to attack, and they'll demand we don't.

baffled · Post by **baffled** » Thu Aug 29, 2013 8:25 pm

Grandpa's Spells wrote:
Given the track record we've had in the last 10+ years of getting these things so unbelievably wrong, how anyone can think this is a good idea is beyond me.
Maybe he doesn't. If Obama acted like this was Syria's problem, the GOP would be demanding an invasion. Tell everybody you want to attack, and they'll demand we don't.

What does he have to gain now? He backs down and he looks like a whimpering dolt. He attacks, and he pisses off Russia, China, Iran (even more), part of Lebanon....

He's grossly overplayed his hand and never should have said anything other than "I hope they work it out. We'll be here when they do."

The Ginger Beard Man · Thu Aug 29, 2013 8:27 pm

Grandpa's Spells wrote:<null>

Maybe he should have the balls to tell them no.
I swear to god Spells, I think you must be a Democratic Party hack in real life. Are you seriously going to try and pin this on the GOP?

Grandpa's Spells · Post by **Grandpa's Spells** » Thu Aug 29, 2013 8:54 pm

The Ginger Beard Man wrote:
Grandpa's Spells wrote:<null>
Maybe he should have the balls to tell them no.
I swear to god Spells, I think you must be a Democratic Party hack in real life. Are you seriously going to try and pin this on the GOP?

Pin what? I don't hear the GOP demanding invasion.

Pinky · Post by **Pinky** » Thu Aug 29, 2013 9:16 pm

I'm confused. What do we learn from the fact that the GOP isn't doing something that you think they might do in an alternate state of the world?

nafod · Post by **nafod** » Fri Aug 30, 2013 2:33 am

OK, I've come around, and think we should stay out. Except we need to strike something, because we said we would and WORD IS BOND.

So just pick some static target, tell them what it is, give them two weeks to figure out how to defend the hell out of it, and then blow it up anyway. We need the practice, and message sent.

Also, send Assad a Christmas card with a front pix of Saddam swinging in the breeze and the phrase, "Thinking of you" on the inside.

baffled · Post by **baffled** » Fri Aug 30, 2013 2:59 am

nafod wrote:OK, I've come around, and think we should stay out. Except we need to strike something, because we said we would and WORD IS BOND.

So just pick some static target, tell them what it is, give them two weeks to figure out how to defend the hell out of it, and then blow it up anyway. We need the practice, and message sent.

Also, send Assad a Christmas card with a front pix of Saddam swinging in the breeze and the phrase, "Thinking of you" on the inside.

I'm not sure if you're serious, but if you are, we're cool.

JamesonBushmill · Post by **JamesonBushmill** » Fri Aug 30, 2013 4:28 am

Pinky wrote:
baffled wrote:Is it possible he works closely with this guy?

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_dRFJ6CF2Mw[/youtube]
No, I don't think Biden works.

Biden is confused why they are using chemical weapons, and not double barrelled shotguns.

That's all anyone really needs for home defense, genocide, or rebellion.

TomFurman · Post by **TomFurman** » Fri Aug 30, 2013 1:00 pm

From a Facebook post by Sonny Puzikas-

Sonny Puzikas
10 hours ago near Dallas, TX ·
On Syria, geopolitics, balls and dough.

Maybe. Just maybe. This is so much more than what our fucking media and our corrupt politicians say.
1. Who used chemical weapons? Where it came from? Can it be verified? IF the answer became clear, with all the proof- it possibly would be a shock of epic proportions to most...
2. Natural gas flows to Europe from Russia. At the rate of 20-30 billion USD per year?... Saudis want in. Assad's Syria is in the way of a pipeline and maybe a 10-20 year EU contract worth 150-300 billion...
3. Assad is Alawite. Not a choice of Saudis. Kingdom is scared of power shift in Middle East. It scares the shit out if them. The Shiite Iran, Iraq and Syria... They are making a power play. Via US hands. Maybe our prez can go there and bow down again... To the power that justifies dollar. Not gold. Oil. As the only reason US greenback is still "mighty" is it's tie to oil price... Guess who controls that?
4. Assad is an a-hole. So was Saddam. So was Mubarak. So was Gaddafi. All of them have one thing in common. They stand- or stood- in the way of what Osama, Zawahiri, Basaev and their Saudi backers are trying to establish. US took active role in removing 3 of them... Russians see it. Chinese see it. West is more interested in curbing growth of those powers and short sighted power play between the 3 super powers... Meanwhile the 4th super power is rising further... Take a guess what that is?
And there is more. So much more than what Miley Cyrus watching public wants to know or can handle... Pathetic, really.

climber511 · Post by **climber511** » Fri Aug 30, 2013 1:14 pm

We're still going to be sending them what a billion and a half dollars in aid? Put that in a box on the ground somewhere and bomb the hell out of it - no one gets hurt and it makes a point as well as anything else we might do over there.

nafod · Post by **nafod** » Fri Aug 30, 2013 1:32 pm

baffled wrote:
nafod wrote:OK, I've come around, and think we should stay out. Except we need to strike something, because we said we would and WORD IS BOND.

So just pick some static target, tell them what it is, give them two weeks to figure out how to defend the hell out of it, and then blow it up anyway. We need the practice, and message sent.

Also, send Assad a Christmas card with a front pix of Saddam swinging in the breeze and the phrase, "Thinking of you" on the inside.
I'm not sure if you're serious, but if you are, we're cool.

Serious as a peanut butter-making nutribullet.

This is all about sending messages. His message was, "I go down and this stuff I just dumped on the rebels gets dumped everywhere."

Our message back should be, "Roger that, we don't like the rebels either, but Chemical Weps crosses a line. Watch this."

We managed to convince the Iraqis during both Gulf Wars not to use Chemical Weps by threatening to jack up any beatdown we were giving them to Level 11. They respect force. Now, we need to keep our cred.

Pinky · Post by **Pinky** » Fri Aug 30, 2013 2:36 pm

nafod wrote:WORD IS BOND.

Not for politicians, ever.

Protobuilder · Post by **Protobuilder** » Fri Aug 30, 2013 2:39 pm

If Obama were concerned about losing face from his red line comments, he should be having fun that the US hasn't been able to convince a single country to join their "international coalition".

Kazuya Mishima · Post by **Kazuya Mishima** » Fri Aug 30, 2013 2:58 pm

Epic fuckery.

http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/0 ... tack/?_r=0

nafod · Post by **nafod** » Fri Aug 30, 2013 3:32 pm

Kazuya Mishima wrote:Epic fuckery.

http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/0 ... tack/?_r=0

I hope the NSA targets all of the 'likes' for death

The Ginger Beard Man · Fri Aug 30, 2013 3:49 pm

So they're mocking us already.

We deserve it, too.

TerryB · Post by **TerryB** » Fri Aug 30, 2013 5:00 pm

Terry B. wrote:If Obama were concerned about losing face from his red line comments, he should be having fun that the US hasn't been able to convince a single country to join their "international coalition".

France is on board because they don't have an election coming up.

The Ginger Beard Man · Fri Aug 30, 2013 6:45 pm

Don't the Russians have a navy base in Syria?

They're backing Assad. Has it occurred to anyone that they may calculate that Obama is weak and risk a shooting war.
How many aircraft carriers are we prepared to lose?
And if Iran lets Hezbollah off the leash, how many MTA busses are we willing to have blown up here in NYC?
And what do we do then?

TerryB · Post by **TerryB** » Fri Aug 30, 2013 7:29 pm

The Ginger Beard Man wrote:And what do we do then?

Get off the NSA's back?

IGX

So How Does Syria Play Out?

Re: So How Does Syria Play Out?

Re: So How Does Syria Play Out?

Re: So How Does Syria Play Out?

Re: So How Does Syria Play Out?

Re: So How Does Syria Play Out?

Re: So How Does Syria Play Out?

Re: So How Does Syria Play Out?

Re: So How Does Syria Play Out?

Re: So How Does Syria Play Out?

Re: So How Does Syria Play Out?

Re: So How Does Syria Play Out?

Re: So How Does Syria Play Out?

Re: So How Does Syria Play Out?

Re: So How Does Syria Play Out?

Re: So How Does Syria Play Out?

Re: So How Does Syria Play Out?

Re: So How Does Syria Play Out?

Re: So How Does Syria Play Out?

Re: So How Does Syria Play Out?

Re: So How Does Syria Play Out?

Re: So How Does Syria Play Out?

Re: So How Does Syria Play Out?

Re: So How Does Syria Play Out?

Re: So How Does Syria Play Out?

Re: So How Does Syria Play Out?