2010 in Damascus. pl
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The AMUF Obama wants Congress to vote on is incredibly broad. It would allow endless war from the Maghreb to Pakistan.
See Jack Goldsmith here:
http://www.lawfareblog.com/2013/08/why-doesnt-president-obama-seek-congressional-approval-for-syria/
and me earlier here:
http://www.moonofalabama.org/2013/09/obamas-carte-blanche-war-resolution.html
As I have already noted, an ostensible attack on the Assad regime would be total folly for us, gas or no gas. This would be an open ended ill conceived failure which would be more harmful to the US. It really looks like the gas problem involves both sides in the Syria debacle. It is unfortunate, but will result in total disaster if we jump in as President Obama describes.
Should the UN’s report come back and exonerate the Syrian govt, it will prove beyond any doubt that Obama and his team (not incl Hagel, Dempsey) have absolutely no clue what they are doing.
The certainty with which John Kerry and the administration are making the rounds to indicate that congress will approve this adventure is interesting. If they’re wrong, it will decimate the credibility of anything emanating from DC. Of course, the threat of seeming so weak and stupid at that point might be so great that they then will attack anyways.
The House has already voted on Syria.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/09/01/1235478/-The-House-Already-Voted-on-Syria-including-regime-change-but-they-won-t-breathe-a-word-of-it-now
The House has already voted on Syria, in the defense budget:
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/09/01/1235478/-The-House-Already-Voted-on-Syria-including-regime-change-but-they-won-t-breathe-a-word-of-it-now
This is very scary and should not be allowed to happen!!!! I also notice that all the e-mails I used to receive from the Obama boys have apparently stopped – naturally I would send a note explaining why I think the attack on Assad should not take place – common sense needs to get through. I totally reject Obama’s poorly reasoned desire to attack. America can ill afford this hair brained scheme.
It doesn’t make any difference how embarrassing it may be not to let Obama do this dumb thing – we must not let it happen – for America’s sake!!!!!
Diplomacy, the art of saying nice doggie while looking for a rock. Assad had not found a rock that evening.
I have never understood the need for the US to portray all their enemies as cartoon villain characters.
The Bushmen were just like that. Their renderings of Saddam or Ghadddafi had little to do with reality. They’d rather kill a thousand Arabs rather than compromise their exceptionalness by talking with evildoers. Good heavens, what if that American goodness rubs off on those! How that would legitimise them! I can’t say what dominant in that: Idiocy or vanity? Sure beats me!
With all that hypocrisy and the lying and propaganda – I’d almost wish we were back in the good old days when the King of America would just declare war and spare everybody the farce of faking casus belli first.
BHO paints himself into a corner with his talk of the “red line”. Then he finds a way to maybe wiggle out – put this thing to a Congressional vote! The he goes and paints himself right back into another corner by stating he is certain Congress will vote to attack once it sees the “evidence”. What an incompetent fool.
The administration is loosing it.
P.S. McCain is indicating he will vote against an attack on the grounds that it would be too little. Apparently the man will be satisfied by nothing less than something approaching Armageddon.
I suggest that one reason Samantha Powers and Susan Rice are nowhere to be seen on this issue is that Kerry is the fall guy should anything blow up in the administration’s face. I can just see Ambassador Churkin doing to Ambassador Powers exactly what Adlai Stevenson did to Ambassador Zorin in ’63.
I mean, really, when Mrs. Thatcher went to war over the Falklands she didn’t say stuff like “Admiral Anaya and his Missus are bad people, and I totally despise them!”
Mrs. Thatcher spoke about enemies and war like an adult. What we get from Kerry, his colleagues and some of his predecessors is the Jerry Springer version.
Colonel,
AIPAC, Oil Sheiks, and Secretary Kerry never mention that to take down the Assad regime you also have to take down Iran and Hezbollah. Currently the Syrian Civil War is heading towards a regional Sunni Shiite Jihad that will stretch from Lebanon to Pakistan unless quarantined. An air campaign will only extend the death and destruction without changing the situation on the ground.
Involvement requires a million boots on the ground and, just like Iraq, also requires ethnic cleansing of the Sunnis and Shiites. This demands high thick walls throughout the Levant separating the Jews, Christians, Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds and troops to stand on guard, forever.
Not sure if this took in the other thread, but this is more current to the topic, anyway.
http://www.mintpressnews.com/witnesses-of-gas-attack-say-saudis-supplied-rebels-with-chemical-weapons/168135/
Mint seems legit (via AP)
Did you hear her talk about the IRA?
Important enough to see if you haven’t already: Video of alleged rebels launching sky-blue alleged poison gas munition off front of mobile howitzer. One version is local copy on http://shoebat.com/2013/08/27/evidence-syrian-rebels-used-chemical-weapons-not-assad/ , second video down on page. Also see http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2013/08/actual-video-footage-of-syrian-rebels-launching-chemical-weapons.html
They unload a supply of a handful of munitions off a pickup truck. Each munition is a 4’long iron-strap tubular open superstructure with 4 rocket fins, with a heavy central ramrod to fit down the howitzer barrel, capped by a 2′ sky-blue keg that could hold gas. Most soldiers are wearing fatigues, but one wears a white shirt and the captain?/arms dealer? wears a white polo shirt with a sky-blue blaze across it.
A color patch is in upper left, then right, which I take to be a branding trademark that got smeared out, perhaps.
Munitions are put together by someone really serious with a welding torch but who doesn’t care about silver fuselages. Not homebrew, good design; but not high-tech. A rumor was these were supplied by SA. The “open tube structure” and “bottle” jive with account from Mint.
Not sure what the pounding industrial music signifies.
It would be useful to have an Arabic native speaker translate what’s going on.
The howitzer looked bulky but still towable. Being able to transport in a handful of 6’long munitions off the back of a pickup truck indicates extreme mobility. So false-flag attacks in the middle of the night could, practically, be launched from almost anywhere.
These small ones are much smaller than the huge grey missiles used by Syria. What type of munitions were recovered from the sites?
Colonel, Pepe Escobar starting at 22 minutes on Rice and Samantha Power. Whole thing is good entertainment.
http://scotthorton.org/2013/08/30/83013-pepe-escobar/
And IRA wasn’t something UK could “defeat” militarily. It strikes me that bad mouthing one’s enemies is a very clear sign of impotence.
I read her about the IRA. But my point is this: Even though she had not a friendly word for them, it never went inane as we see it today. The ‘Thug, murderer and Missus’ stuff she left to the Yellow Press.
In the US administration, and not just since Obama/Clinton/Kerry, that tone is akin to the official line, probably listed in talking points.
Way back in school, some of my classmates had a glorious idea for history class. They decided that, since nobody had learned al those booooooring historical dates for the weekly exam, that altogether we would boycott the test! I thought that stupid, said so, and pointed out that they wouldn’t get away with it. They were undetered in their enthusiasm. And indeed, they didn’t get away and spent a few afternoons doing extra history lessons.
The curent policy against Syria is just as childish:
Look, we, the Saudis, Israelis, Brits and the Frech – we all agree on that Assad must go, because that would really stick it to the Iranians. But to do so, we first need to meet that red line we talked Obama into drawing. So how’s that: We all pretend very hard that Assad used CW, and it’ll be Sarin because everybody has heard that word before.
Our buddy Bandar will make sure that so mething like that happens, ideally around when Inspectors are in the country anyway, and we will try to make sure that the UN will just determining THAT Sarin was used (NOT BY WHOM), and we’ll limit their mandate to that.
Aren’t we clever? If we all keep a straight face it’ll sure work, and nobody will be any wiser!
This is Iraq repeating itself as farce.
People get the government they deserve.
“They” re-elected 11% + real unemployment,
doubling of the national debt, gross incompetence and cover up in Benghazi, Obamacare (where the bill is just starting to come due) and on ….and on.
This administration never “had it”….to lose.
I can’t believe no one has remarked upon our national consistency. Which Secretary of State said, “I consider President Mubareks to be a personal friend.”
As usual, SST is ahead of the curve!
Back on 29 August, I put a link in a comment to the posting here — “AP sources: intelligence on weapons no ‘slam dunk’ “. It was to the blog of a professor, a native of Lebanon, who grew up in Beirut and who now teaches in the University of California System. It contained the intriguing photograph of John Kerry and his wife having an intimate-looking dinner with Bashar al-Assad and his wife.
http://angryarab.blogspot.com/2013/08/john-kerry-and-his-wife-and-bashshar-al.html
Subsequently, Col. Lang has put it at the top of this posting, presumably after checking it out.
And now, it has taken off.
The online version of the British Daily Mail newspaper has it today with the headline, “The image John Kerry WON’T want you to see ….”
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2408805/The-image-John-Kerry-WONT-want-U-S-Secretary-State-pictured-dining-Assad-wife-Damascus-restaurant-war-broke-Syria.html
Then, the Drudge Report, with its large readership, has it as the lead; the photograph being at the top with a link to the Daily Mail story and the line, “Kerry’s Dinner With Assad”. This is as of about 10:45 a.m., Central Daylight time, on 2 September. Since drudgereport.com changes its page a lot, the photo and story link may move down and off the page later today.