Free Syrian Army rebels reject Russian chemical arms plan

[Bosonic]

Source: AFP

The rebel Free Syrian Army categorically rejected Thursday a Russian proposal for placing Syria's chemical arms under international control, and called for regime officials to be brought to justice.

The Syrian National Coalition opposition group also questioned the initiative, saying it is a "political manoeuvre aimed at buying time" for the regime of President Bashar al-Assad.

"The Free Syrian Army announces its categorical rejection of the Russian initiative that foresees placing chemical weapons under international control," FSA military commander General Selim Idriss said in a video posted on YouTube.

Idriss told world powers they should not "be satisfied only by removing the chemical weapon, which is the tool of a crime, but judge the author of the crime before the International Criminal Court, who has clearly acknowledged possessing it and agreed to get rid of it."

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/free-syrian-army-rebels-reject-russian-chemical-arms-084150464.html

[idwiyo]

1. I guess they haven't been told that Kerry is consulting with Kissenger.

[karynnj]

17. Kissinger is one of the few Americans who has negotiated with Putin

Like him or not, don't you think that it might be good to have a private talk about his experience? I would think it almost negligence if Kerry failed to speak to him and others. It might be that Kissinger will have no relevant observation or that Putin has changed completely since he and Kissinger dealt with each other - but it still seems a prudent thing to do.

I am not a sports fan, but even from the chatter I hear when my husband puts sports radio on, there seems to be a lot of talk that seems to suggest that this same type of thing happens there - with people speaking of how someone (or some team) responded in a similar past encounter.

[idwiyo]

18. Yeah, I'd buy that if Kerry was visiting Kissinger in prison, where that sack of shit belongs.

[karynnj]

20. Well, given that Kissinger is not in prison,

do you hink that Kerry should have not listened to what he had to say. Anything he - or anyone else (other than Obama) - suggests, Kerry will have the choice of ignoring or accepting -- or anything in between.

[idwiyo]

21. I don't beleive Kerry wanted his input on dealing with Putin. There are plenty of others to ask.

That sack of shit Kissinger is responsible for so many military coops, and regime changes, I've lost count of all of them. THAT is what he is an expert in, not negotiating with Putin.

[karynnj]

23. Ridiculous

[idwiyo]

24. Claim that Kerry wanted 'Kissinger's input on negotiating with Putin' is ludicrous, I agree.

[karynnj]

25. No it is not - given that is what Kerry was doing the next day

[idwiyo]

26. Sorry you feel that way. Kerry has zero credibility, IMNSHO.

[karynnj]

27. Kerry has plenty of credibility - or Obama would have sent someone else to Geneva

[idwiyo]

28. Just because Obama trusts him, doesn't mean he has any cred left.

[blue neen]

30. Okay.

Sincere question: what are your suggestions?

[idwiyo]

31. Very simple really. Don't get involved in a civil war in a foreign country.

Check your sources before you bloody quote them as gospel:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1016&pid=73452

Don't treat me as a brainless moron, because I remember build up to Iraq war.

[blue neen]

32. Excuse me?

I didn't quote anything, gospel, bloody, or otherwise.

I also remember the the build-up to the Iraq war and was against it from the very start. A friend of mine who agreed with that opinion (one of the few) is the very person who told me about Democratic Underground. It's a shame. In those days on DU, people could actually ask questions and have discussions about the topics of the day.

Here's hoping you have a nice, relaxing evening.

[idwiyo]

34. It was a generic "you", directed to your and mine governments, not at you as a person.

[another_liberal]

2. They wouldn't want them destroyed, would they . . .?

If the rebels were the ones who actually used chemical weapons on Syrian civilians, they wouldn't want Assad's weapons destroyed, would they? All they will really be satisfied with is an American air assault to assist their side in the civil war, or, better yet, America being draw into Syria with troops joining in the fighting on the ground.

This statement by the rebel leadership makes me even more suspicious that the rebels were indeed responsible for the notorious gas attack in Damascus. They had bragged they held nerve gas seized from Assad's stockpiles, they had the motive to try and force our entry into the civil war by staging an attack blamed on the government forces and now they inexplicably come out against destruction of Assad's remaining chemical weapons. Why else would they not want all chemical weapons in Syria done away with?

An investigation should be started into whether the Syrian rebels were responsible for that attack. We could well be preparing to launch air strikes against the wrong side!

[florida08]

4. we're not getting the whole story

http://truth-out.org/news/item/18559-how-intelligence-was-twisted-to-support-an-attack-on-syria

http://en.rian.ru/world/20130906/183221150/US-Plans-Significantly-Larger-Strike-on-Syria--Reports.html

http://rt.com/news/chemical-aleppo-findings-russia-417/

[another_liberal]

6. Excellent links!

Thank you, florida08.

[florida08]

7. you're welcome

[iamthebandfanman]

12. Yes, an anti war website

and two Russian (funded by the government mind you) sources will really show us, eh ?

[florida08]

15. You certainly are free to disbelieve

I follow Thom Hartmann on RT. Wouldn't call him a radical. But yes I am ant-war when it's over hegemony

[iamthebandfanman]

11. lots of assumptions

youre putting out eh ?

firstly, they never said they didn't want them destroyed.. he said he wants assad brought before a court AS WELL .. there is nothing in that says 'don't destroy the chemical weapons'.. rather, that's not going far enough.

some of you will find anything and anyway to try and support your stance..

its sad.

[another_liberal]

14. Some of us?

Hmmmm?

[florida08]

3. What a mess this has become

There are factions there representing other countries like Qatar and Saudi Arabia who are pulling the country apart. Saudi wants Assad gone. They tried to bribe Russia. We support SA. Qatar supports the Muslim Brotherhood who is there and tried to take over Egypt.

Richard Engel said yesterday that Al Qaeda is pouring over the borders. Syria is a secular country. Al Qaeda sees an opportunity to wrestle that away and make it an Islamic state.

Am afraid the Syrian citizens are losing their country. It's a powder keg we need to stay out of.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/05/31/us-syria-crisis-saudi-insight-idUSBRE94U0ZV20130531

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/energy/oilandgas/10266957/Saudis-offer-Russia-secret-oil-deal-if-it-drops-Syria.html

http://nationalinterest.org/commentary/the-saudi-qatari-clash-over-syria-8685?page=1

[JoePhilly]

5. Doesn't anyone see the word "only" in that quote?

[Sand Wind]

8. Then speech of Idriss :

Dear Brothers and sisters from the free Syrian People, Heroes of the free Syrian Army, All Honorable people in the whole world, Mercy and blessings of God be upon you:

The blessed Syrian Revolution continues among extremely difficult circumstances, and still our people are paying with their lives and everything they have to gain their freedom and to remove the injustice.

Today, with the Assad Regime’s continued killing, destruction, used of chemical weapons, and other things against our people, crossing all red lines, because of the long silence of the international community, we are seeing some practical steps from the international community which our people paid their lives against it; some signs began to appear on the horizon for the falling of Al-Assad criminal gang.

The Presidency of the General Staff of the Syrian Revolution emphasizes that the Syrian people are the origin and foundation of victory, the focus of the solution and the primary goal of our Revolution. So, we declare our unequivocal rejection of the Russian initiative to put the regime’s chemical arsenal under international trusteeship, and request not only to put the regime’s chemical arsenal which is a criminal weapon, under international trusteeship, but to punish the perpetrators of the crime, and to try them before the International Criminal Court, after they confess to possessing of the crime weapon….

Also, the Presidency of the General Staff of the Syrian Revolution calls on all supporting and friendly countries to increase the amounts of arms and ammunition, and asks our Free Syrian Army heroes to keep fighting for the liberation of our country from the hatred and tyranny of Assad’s gang, and to accelerate military operations on all fronts….


[URL=.html][IMG][/IMG][/URL]

[Sunlei]

22. One step at a time. Assad just sent in his letter of intent to join the ban on chemical weapon use.

Now he needs to turn over the chemical weapons to international control.

[blackspade]

9. They just want the weapons for themselves and their Al Quada allies.

[cosmicone]

10. FSA are terrorists and thugs .. they want mayhem and

establish an Islamic republic with sharia and atrocities against women. Their buddies are Al Q'aeda and want to continue the terror around the world.

[iamthebandfanman]

13. Are there terrorists in syria?

Of course, hell there were before the war started!

didn't know if you were aware, but Syria was made a 'state sponsor of terror' during the carter administration.

So yes, there is a lot of terrorist versus terrorist action going on.. but there IS a legitimate faction of rebels that wants nothing but freedom from the oppression of a mad man.

I know you want justification to hate people fighting assad in this war, but at least they aren't gassing children!

[Demit]

16. Why don't YOU stop claiming to know DUers' motivations?

You can have your opinions, and state them, without casting slurs on people who hold different views from you. You don't have to be so antagonistic. Why are you being so antagonistic?

[cosmicone]

29. There are terrorists in every country

We had our own Timothy McVeigh.

However, Assad is a dictator. Why label him and demonize him as a "mad man?" He is an ophthalmologist for heaven's sake and Syria supported the US in the Gulf War of 1990 -- one of the few Arab countries to do so.

If Bashar Assad was such a mad man, why did Kerry and his wife have dinner with him and give him accolades?

Face it, dictators try to hold on to power -- whether they are Chinese, Russian, Chilean, Filipino, Pakistani, Romanian or Syrian.

Our national interest is better served by keeping Assad in power and not letting a fundamentalist Islamic republic coming into power.

[former9thward]

33. Not gassing children?

Except when they are. U.N. human rights investigators have gathered testimony from casualties of Syria's civil war and medical staff indicating that rebel forces have used the nerve agent sarin, one of the lead investigators said on Sunday.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/05/05/us-syria-crisis-un-idUSBRE94409Z20130505

[pampango]

19. Assad has said all along that everyone who opposes him is a thug and a terrorist.

Looks like his message is getting across.

Some 60% of Syrians are Sunni Arabs, i.e., adherents of the Sunni branch of Islam who speak Arabic as their mother tongue. Sunni Arabs also predominate in Jordan and Egypt. Large numbers of Syrian Sunnis are secularists, either nationalists or leftists, and not very observant. Many Syrian Sunnis still follow the tolerant, mystical Sufi form of Islam. Others have come under Saudi influence and are known as Salafis, but this is just a euphemism for Wahhabis, members of the intolerant and rigid form of Islam practiced in Saudi Arabia. A very small number of Sunnis have affiliated with al-Qaeda, but they have had the important battlefield victories in the north.

http://www.juancole.com/2013/09/americans-theyre-threaten.html