'Red Line' Crossed On Syria, Senators Say

[Purveyor]

Source: Politico

By GINGER GIBSON | 4/25/13 12:32 PM EDT

In response to Thursday’s White House acknowledgement that Syria used chemical weapons, several senators called on the Obama administration to step up its response.

“It’s pretty obvious that red line has been crossed,” Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) told reporters.

McCain called for arming the opposition, a step that the White House has resisted thus far, establishing a safe zone and taking proactive steps to ensure that the chemical weapons don’t fall into the wrong hands. “It does not mean boots on the ground,” McCain said.

Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) stopped short of saying what steps should be taken, but agreed a line has been crossed.




Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2013/04/syria-chemical-weapons-red-line-crossed-senators-90640.html#ixzz2RUjMHUK8

[Comrade Grumpy]

1. McCain never met a war he didnt want to get us into.

[Purveyor]

4. We can't just 'bomb away' chemical weapons, it will take boots on the ground and I nominate

the IDF.

[DainBramaged]

2. Bomb bomb bomb bomb somebody......

fuck you Senator, you go fight

[leveymg]

3. Motherfuckers. Not again! No way.

Have these bastards learned nothing from the Iraq War!

[dixiegrrrrl]

7. Why yes, they HAVE learned a lot from the Iraq wars.

( Desert Storm and Bush 2's war)...
They have learned the value of harbors and oil pipeline routes and oil/mineral content of whatever country we take over next.
They have learned how to destabilize a country so well it will never be able to kick out the "help" we give it.
Besides, Syria is one of the PNAC countries Wolfiwitz and Feith et al. had listed as targets way before 9-11 started the ball rolling.

[harmonicon]

20. My thoughts were along the same lines.

They've learned that they don't actually have to win a war and make a country stable in order to reap HUGE profits from the act of engaging in war. War must be just about the most efficient way of getting money from taxpayers to private business there ever has been.

[dixiegrrrrl]

21. War must be just about the most efficient way of getting money from taxpayers to private business t

That is indeed what history tells us.

For too many years, I thought of war as an aberration of the norm of peace.
Finally figured out it is the other way round.

Whole new perspective opens up when you look thru a different prism.

THIS helped cement the new way of looking at the world:

World Battleground, 1000 years of war in 5 minutes

[alsame]

5. MCCain, lol. He finds a red line every day. nt

[Bosonic]

6. I wish they'd take notice of this red line

[Sunlei]

8. so hit them with drones, do not give the gunrunner corps. sales using Americans Federal funds.

[Xithras]

9. McCain wants to send guns to Al Qaeda?

Send him to Gitmo!

[Purveyor]

11. Won't be the first time we 'armed' them. eom

[daa]

10. Here we go again WMD

how ironic Obama and chimpy are together.

[pampango]

12. There might be just a 'slight' difference in how Obama is approaching this. Read on:

The Obama administration seems to cite the flawed intelligence assessments that led the United States into Iraq as a reason not to let its "decision-making" on the Syrian conflict be "guided" by newly revealed intelligence findings of likely chemical weapons use.

"Given the stakes involved, and what we have learned from our own recent experience, intelligence assessments alone are not sufficient – only credible and corroborated facts that provide us with some degree of certainty will guide our decision-making..." reads the letter, from office of legislative affairs director Miguel E Rodriguez.

The letter states these further reservations:

"The chain of custody is not clear, so we cannot confirm how the exposure occurred and under what conditions. We do believe that any use of chemical weapons in Syria would very likely have originated with the Assad regime. Thus far, we believe that the Assad regime maintains custody of these weapons."

"Precisely because the President takes this issue so seriously, we have an obligation to fully investigate any and all evidence of chemical weapons use within Syria. That is why we are currently pressing for a comprehensive United Nations investigation that can credibly evaluate the evidence and establish what took place.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/middle-east-live/2013/apr/25/syria-rebels-claim-proof-of-chemical-weapons-live

[Agnosticsherbet]

13. President Obama drew that red line, he brightened up its colors in March in Israel...

It seems members of the Senate are not willing to wait for the actual evidence for the game to change.

[Taverner]

14. To be honest, and I will catch flak for this, but the lesser of the two evils is Assad

Hands down

[Xithras]

15. Yep.

And another major negative to our involvement is that Al Nusra, the most successful and well armed part of the rebellion, has already warned the "west" generally, and the United States specifically, against getting involved in Syria. They plan on setting up a Taliban style theocracy in Syria and know we'll get in the way of that. They've stated, repeatedly, that they'll attack our soldiers if we step foot in Syria.

If we intervene on the ground, not only will we be fighting all of Assad's forces, but we'll be fighting against half the FSA as well.

There is no good solution here, but Assad really is the less evil of two evil options.

[Taverner]

16. The best situation would be to broker elections through diplomacy

Anything other than that would be foolish

[pampango]

19. And that is what Assad knew would happen when this started. He is not a dumb guy.

1: When massive peaceful protests occur, repress them as them as violently as you can get away with - snipers, tanks, artillery, arrests, torture, etc.

2. Sometimes repression works to quell the protests. (It's why dictators frequently stay in power so long or inherit their positions from their fathers like in Syria and North Korea.) If repression works, reward your military and security services and go back to being a dictator.

3. If #1 doesn't work right away and massive peaceful protests continue, keep up the repression. First make sure your troops will shoot to defend your rule. (You do have to come up with a strategy to keep the international community at bay. If you already have a powerful international patron, you may be OK. If not you had better find one.) Start talking about the presence of "criminal gangs" or "terrorists" among the protestors. There may not be any yet, but it's good to get the talking point out there for future use.

4. If, after many months, your military and security forces continue to prove to be ineffective in suppressing dissent, don't worry. Do not stop the repression. (As a dictator, the military and security forces are all you have going for you. Peaceful negotiations are a trap. Your assets - the army and internal security forces - cannot help you there.) Eventually frustration will build up among factions of the protesters and some will become willing to resort to violence given the apparent futility of peaceful protest. (You will also lose some of your common soldiers to defection. Many of them will not understand that they signed up to protect you not the country.) And outside groups will begin to take advantage of these frustrations which will predictably fulfill your earlier statements from months ago about 'criminal gangs' and 'terrorists'.

5. At this point you can unleash your military and security forces to the full extent and hope you don't lose the civil war you have created. Given the part of the world you are in, it is likely that actual terrorists will be fighting against you by now. Play the "You are with me or with the terrorists" card. Keep in mind that civil wars are very messy affairs. Be sure to keep your international patron happy.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=607677

This 'Assad' strategy is one that can be used by any dictator particularly those in the Middle East.

[ctsnowman]

17. Well if a made up "free syria" news org says it happened

it must be true. Curve ball.

[benld74]

18. Cindy McCain! Please come get the red highlighter from your husband, hes drawing lines everywhere,,,