Thread: Military intervention in Syria

U.S. military confirms rebels had sarin

Classified document shows deadly weapon found in home of arrested Islamists

As part of the Obama administration’s repeated insistence – though without offering proof – that the recent sarin gas attack near Damascus was the work of the Assad regime, the administration has downplayed or denied the possibility that al-Qaida-linked Syrian rebels could produce deadly chemical weapons.
However, in a classified document just obtained by WND, the U.S. military confirms that sarin was confiscated earlier this year from members of the Jabhat al-Nusra Front, the most influential of the rebel Islamists fighting in Syria.
The document says sarin from al-Qaida in Iraq made its way into Turkey and that while some was seized, more could have been used in an attack last March on civilians and Syrian military soldiers in Aleppo.
The document, classified Secret/Noforn – “Not for foreign distribution” – came from the U.S. intelligence community’s National Ground Intelligence Center, or NGIC, and was made available to WND Tuesday.
It revealed that AQI had produced a “bench-scale” form of sarin in Iraq and then transferred it to Turkey.
A U.S. military source said there were a number of interrogations as well as some clan reports as part of what the document said were “50 general indicators to monitor progress and characterize the state of the ANF/AQI-associated Sarin chemical warfare agent developing effort.”
“This (document) depicts our assessment of the status of effort at its peak – primarily research and procurement activities – when disrupted in late May 2013 with the arrest of several key individuals in Iraq and Turkey,” the document said.
“Future reporting of indicators not previously observed would suggest that the effort continues to advance despite the arrests,” the NGIC document said.
The May 2013 seizure occurred when Turkish security forces discovered a two-kilogram cylinder with sarin gas while searching homes of Syrian militants from the al-Qaida-linked Jabhat al-Nusra Front following their initial detention.
The sarin gas was found in the homes of suspected Syrian Islamic radicals detained in the southern provinces of Adana and Mersia.
Some 12 suspected members of the al-Nusra Front were arrested. At the time, they were described by Turkish special anti-terror forces as the “most aggressive and successful arm” of the Syrian rebels.
U.S. military confirms rebels had sarin

Originally Posted by ltnt

Kerry's the Stalking Horse for Obama... easily killed off and the blame game is always his fault not mine sort of relationship. Kerry's a Dumb Ass from beginning to end all puffed up over himself.

And he came close to becoming el Presidente. Says much.

Originally Posted by alitongkat

assad is actually the best thing, that can happen to israel - a dictator who keeps the place with a strong hand (down)...

didn't stop them taking out Saddam

Originally Posted by Norton

War on Terror, War on Drugs. War on everything. You missed a few.

Other high-profile examples include the War on Poverty, War on Cancer, War on Gangs, War on Women, and the War on Christmas.

don't forget:

A most excellent interview with President Obama on ABC News:

'This Week' Exclusive Interview: President Obama on Syria | Video - ABC News

“I’m less concerned about style points. I’m much more concerned with getting the policy right,” said Obama

Originally Posted by good2bhappy

Originally Posted by alitongkat

assad is actually the best thing, that can happen to israel - a dictator who keeps the place with a strong hand (down)...

didn't stop them taking out Saddam

They did that to teach Saddam's arch-enemy, Iran, a lesson. Worked out great, for Iran.

Originally Posted by TonyBKK

I’m much more concerned with getting the policy right,”

Insulting statement. Pure hogwash. He's interested in selling his next backflip on previous statements of so called "Policy."

Obama waives ban on arming terrorists to allow aid to Syrian opposition

http://washingtonexaminer.com/obama-...rticle/2535885

The America-hating, white-hating, Jew-hating Muslim Socialist in the White House has finally dispensed with the pretence and come clean about where his sympathies lie and just how determined he is to help the cause of Allah in his remaining term.

By waiving the ban to arm the Jihadists in Syria, Obama confesses that

a) as Putin said, Kerry did indeed lie about "arming just the 'moderates'"
b) he, Obama, knows they are Jihadi terrorists
c) he, Obama, is determined to arm them anyway.

Note that the Arms Control Export Act allows the sitting President to waive prohibitions against arming terrorists if he "determines that the transaction is essential to the national security interests of the United States."

Any of our resident retards care to comment on how arming the MB, AQ and assorted avowed terrorist outfits in Syria is essential to those national security interests?

Doesn't matter, Obama needs to secure his 72 underage girlies.

LOL, if Obama's for it, the Rethuglicans have to oppose it. Another perfect example of a "blacktrack".

The right wing seems to suffer collective amnesia, forgetting that they supported Senator McCain's repeated calls to arm the Syrian rebels.

McCain has been an outspoken voice for arming the opposition Free Syrian Army with better weapons and was able to add language to the Senate resolution emphasizing the goal of shifting the momentum on the battlefield against Assad.

McCain: Most Syrian rebels are moderates


"U.S. Sen. John McCain remains confident that the Syrian people and most of the opposition in Syria’s bloody civil war have moderate instincts and would not allow al-Qaida and other extremists to gain a foothold in the government should President Bashar Assad’s regime collapse."

http://www.azcentral.com/news/politi...cain-says.html

I think McCain is dead wrong, but find the right's hypocritical faux outrage at President Obama's diplomatic solution which avoids military intervention in Syria to be rather ironic.

Originally Posted by OhOh

Now a report which suggests most of the rebels are, or affiliated with " Jihadists and members of hardline Islamist groups".

Must have looted a stock of regular Syrian uniforms, but I guess the footwear and beards give them away.

It just keeps getting better.

Syrian National Coalition, Main Opposition Group, Slams Al Qaeda-Linked Rebels As Extremists

The statement from Syrian National Coalition comes as a truce was reached late Thursday after two days of vicious infighting in which the extremists seized control of the northern town of Azaz, near the border with Turkey, from mainstream opposition fighters. The fighting prompted Turkey to close a major nearby crossing point.

The SNC said the actions of the al-Qaida-linked fighters "counter the principals that the Syrian revolution is trying to achieve" in its battle against President Bashar Assad's regime.

Syrians are "moderate and respect religious and political pluralism while rejecting blind extremism," the SNC said.

The statement also warned that the Islamic fighters are "strengthening their positions" in opposition-controlled areas after they stopped fighting regime forces on several front lines.
Syrian National Coalition, Main Opposition Group, Slams Al Qaeda-Linked Rebels As Extremists


The dwindling amount of moderates still fighting with the opposition, well I couldn't give you an accurate number, but many of them seem to be fighting Al Qaeda now, not the regime. Likewise the Kurds. Al Qaeda is digging in, cementing it's luvly grip over the areas it controls. Oh what a surprise- exactly what happened in Iraq.

There will be a lot more blood shed ridding poor Syria of Al Qaeda.

Originally Posted by sabang

There will be a lot more blood shed ridding poor Syria of Al Qaeda.

Not to worry, US arms manufacturers are still making a shit load of money supplying these people thru their Qatar and Saudi proxies and remember they are only Arabs dying not Americans.

videos uploaded to the YouTube and LiveLeak websites this week claim to show opposition forces launching the 21 August attack on the Damascus suburb of Ghouta. They were swiftly picked up by media outlets in countries allied to Syria, including state-owned TV channel Russia Today.

The poor-quality videos show men standing around an artillery vehicle, wearing what appear to be gas masks, with the cannon's barrel draped in large black flags bearing Islamic symbols and the name of rebel group Liwa al-Islam. In one video, a man mentions the group and - after one blast - the men chant "Allahu Akbar", or "God is great". Liwa al-Islam eventually released a statement declaring the videos to be "completely fabricated" and blaming the Assad government which, it says, is the only force in Syria in possession of the weapons shown in the video. But only after several days of examination by bloggers.

for Kerry and his friends, it wouldn't matter if you had live feed showing the opposition shooting those CW, it wouldn't change a thing for them, it would still be Assad

they are not interested in facts or truth, only in strategic projections of their "grand ME agenda"

Obama has been very weak on foreign affairs, for some reasons he has nominated those 2 dead beats, Clinton and Kerry, both attention whore and agenda carrying individuals.

You think that's bad, Buttplug, we've nominated Tony Blair and they all hate him.

Did Obama Stumble Into A Perfect Diplomatic Solution To Syria, Or Did He Mastermind It?

We thought Obama’s stance on Syria was crazy. Now it looks like he’s playing a long game. If it pans out, he’ll finally deserve that Nobel Peace Prize. Photo of President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden from PolicyMic.Com

Originally Posted by harrybarracuda

You think that's bad, Buttplug, we've nominated Tony Blair and they all hate him.

Tony Blair is a typical delusional Brit

kind of feel bad for the guy, full of good intentions, but all talk and no action

very British, even too British

Originally Posted by TonyBKK

We thought Obama’s stance on Syria was crazy. Now it looks like he’s playing a long game.

he got bailed by Putin after Kerry tried to sandbag him,

Originally Posted by Butterfly

Originally Posted by TonyBKK

We thought Obama’s stance on Syria was crazy. Now it looks like he’s playing a long game.

he got bailed by Putin after Kerry tried to sandbag him,

No, he got Putin to promise a deal Assad will never keep. Now it's Putin having to change his tack.

Originally Posted by sabang

Originally Posted by harrybarracuda

I don't expect you to understand these complex global issues.

I couldn't have put it better myself harry.

I thing you should restrict yourself to whining about the abysmal results, rather than pretending to prognosticate.

Bloviate is more the operative term here...

I wonder how long before the Syrian army snipers open fire on them?

Plan: Syria arsenal inspections by Tuesday

The Associated Press

THE HAGUE, Netherlands — The inspectors responsible for tracking down Syria's chemical arms stockpile and verifying its destruction plan to start work in Syria by Tuesday. They will face their tightest deadlines ever and work right in the heart of a war zone, according to a draft decision obtained Friday by The Associated Press.

The decision is the key to any U.N. resolution on Syria's chemical weapons program.

The five permanent members of the deeply divided U.N. Security Council reached agreement Thursday on a resolution to eliminate Syria's chemical weapons. A vote depends on how soon the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, which is to meet Friday evening at its headquarters in The Hague, can adopt its plan for securing and destroying Syria's stockpile.
The draft agreed upon by Russia, China, the United States, France and Britain includes two legally binding demands — that Syria abandons its chemical stockpile and allows unfettered access to the chemical weapons experts.

If Syria fails to comply, the draft says the Security Council would need to adopt a second resolution to impose possible military and other actions on Damascus.

Nonetheless, after 2 ½ years of paralysis, the agreement represents a breakthrough for the Security Council and rare unity between Russia, which supports Syrian President Bashar Assad's government, and the United States, which backs the opposition.

The proposal to be discussed Friday by the OPCW would allow inspectors into any site suspected of chemical weapons involvement even if Syria's government did not identify the location. That gives the inspectors unusually broad authority.

The draft calls for the organization's secretariat to start inspections "as soon as possible and no later than" Tuesday and it lays out the target of destroying all of Syria's chemical weapons and equipment by the first half of 2014.

In an indication of the enormity of the task ahead, the organization also appealed for donations to fund the disarmament, saying it will have to hire new weapons inspectors and chemical experts.

Once the plan is approved, it gives Damascus a week to give detailed information on its arsenal, including the name and quantity of all chemicals in its stockpile; the type of and quantity of munitions that can be used to fire chemical weapons and the location of weapons, storage facilities and production facilities. The destruction of all chemical weapons production and mixing equipment has to be completed no later than Nov. 1.

The decision calls on Syria to "cooperate fully with all aspects of the implementation of this decision" and let the inspectors examine any location they choose.

The diplomatic push to find some agreement on Syria was triggered by an Aug. 21 poison gas attack that killed hundreds of civilians in a Damascus suburb and President Barack Obama's subsequent threat to use military force.

When U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said Assad could avert U.S. military action by turning over "every single bit of his chemical weapons" to international control within a week, Russia quickly agreed.

Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov signed an agreement in Geneva on Sept. 13 to put Syria's chemical weapons under international control for later destruction. Assad's government accepted the deal and quickly signed up to Chemical Weapons Convention that is policed by the Hague-based OPCW.

Meanwhile, a group of international war crimes experts is calling for the creation of a war crimes court in Damascus to try top-ranking Syrian politicians and soldiers when the country's civil war ends.

The war that began in March 2011 has so far claimed more than 100,000 lives in Syria and forced hundreds of thousands to flee the violence, according to the U.N.

^Not soon enough imo.

Originally Posted by ltnt

^Not soon enough imo.

So you are rooting for the Syrian government to open fire on unarmed weapons inspectors?