is there a war coming?

[muppet]

Obama to seek Congressional approval.

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory/obamas-national-security-team-senators-20126166

[Count 10]

Obama to seek Congressional approval.

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory/obamas-national-security-team-senators-20126166

Heard John Kerry claim it's in America's security interest to do something.....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bricNl6IKyc
I don't see how attacking Syria makes America any safer....quite the reverse....it will encourage attacks on American personnel, both military and civilian.....begs the question also...if the evidence is so overwhelming then why has it not been produced.

[muppet]

Obama to seek Congressional approval.

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory/obamas-national-security-team-senators-20126166

Heard John Kerry claim it's in America's security interest to do something.....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bricNl6IKyc
I don't see how attacking Syria makes America any safer....quite the reverse....it will encourage attacks on American personnel, both military and civilian.....begs the question also...if the evidence is so overwhelming then why has it not been produced.

We all know he is not talking about America when he says: 'America's security interest'.

But we are not allowed to mention the blindingly obvious.

[lawnseed]

I take it there is no oil in Syria otherwise this war would be over by now as happened in Libya

[Syferus]

I don't know if we can just pull a Pilate on this one and wash our hands anymore. It's clear the West would like nothing more than not bombing Syria given how slow they've been to respond to what has essentially amounted to continued genocide for over two years so the old reliable of war-mongering Yanks doesn't cut mustard here.

It's a brave decision and if it helps the rebels over-throw Assad the Middle East will be a little better and a little nearer to peace.

[trileacman]

What I would like to see happen is along the following lines:

The US and Russia, and any other influence in the region, need to get to the table, in good faith.
They then all need to agree to jointly announce a warning to all factions to end fighting by a very short deadline.
Any violation will be considered an attack on ALL of the countries sitting with the US and Russia.

If this succeeds then force a disarming of all sides, pending internationally chaired talks.

Couch it so that refusing those terms would be obviously disastrous for either side.

"Nice idea. But it is never, ever that simple."

Getting the US and Russia to sit down and work together in the aftermath of the Snowden debacle is as easily dismissed as the way you dismissed Itchy's suggestion. In fact it is even more easily dismissed.

Not challenging Assad's use of chemical weapons pretty much green lights there use, not only in Syria, but in other conflicts the world over. Like it or not the regime must be punished for it's use of sarin gas on civilian populations.

Throw in what happened in Georgia and it is even further away. But we can hope.

I choose to hope that airstrikes will stay Assad's hand and stop the gassing of civilians. It will not cease the bloodshed between the armies involved but at least those casualties are mostly men fighting for something they believe in not some kid who hasn't a clue whats going on or a mother who just wants the fighting to stop.

[Count 10]

I don't know if we can just pull a Pilate on this one and wash our hands anymore. It's clear the West would like nothing more than not bombing Syria given how slow they've been to respond to what has essentially amounted to continued genocide for over two years so the old reliable of war-mongeting Yanks doesn't cut mustard here.

It's a brave decision and of it helps the rebels over-throw Assad the Middle East will be a little better and a little nearer to peace.

Right, just like it worked in Iraq, Afghanistan, Egypt and Libya....great peace they are enjoying

[trileacman]

I don't know if we can just pull a Pilate on this one and wash our hands anymore.

Agreed I'm no war-monger and I distrust the American's hugely but we can't keep sitting on our hands and doing nothing. Does a young Syrian have to die on your doorstep until you say enough is enough?

Action is needed. Diplomacy won't overcome with the Yanks and Russians at loggerheads. Unfortunately military action looks like the only card to play.

[muppet]

I don't know if we can just pull a Pilate on this one and wash our hands anymore.

Agreed I'm no war-monger and I distrust the American's hugely but we can't keep sitting on our hands and doing nothing. Does a young Syrian have to die on your doorstep until you say enough is enough?

Action is needed. Diplomacy won't overcome with the Yanks and Russians at loggerheads. Unfortunately military action looks like the only card to play.

It is the only card ever played.

The reality in Syria is that Assad is a secularist. The West tolerated him along with Hussein and actively supported the likes of Mubarak because it suited them to have secular governments. As always things never quite work out as planned with powerful megalomaniacal  dictators and it is always eventually decided that they must be removed.

The problem with Egypt, Libya and shortly Syria, is what comes next. The West will want some sort of secular government but the likelihood is that if Syria is left to its own devices, it will become another Islamic regime. If that begins to look like happening expect further civl disorder and regime changes a la Egypt. The various vested interests in Syria will keep the proxy war going because whatever comes next will not be acceptable to someone and someone will always fan the flames. And there will be far more deaths down the line.

[give her dixie]

[lawnseed]

150 irish troops heading for the golan heights this week

[seafoid]

I don't know if we can just pull a Pilate on this one and wash our hands anymore.

Agreed I'm no war-monger and I distrust the American's hugely but we can't keep sitting on our hands and doing nothing. Does a young Syrian have to die on your doorstep until you say enough is enough?

Action is needed. Diplomacy won't overcome with the Yanks and Russians at loggerheads. Unfortunately military action looks like the only card to play.

It is the only card ever played.

The reality in Syria is that Assad is a secularist. The West tolerated him along with Hussein and actively supported the likes of Mubarak because it suited them to have secular governments. As always things never quite work out as planned with powerful megalomaniacal  dictators and it is always eventually decided that they must be removed.

The problem with Egypt, Libya and shortly Syria, is what comes next. The West will want some sort of secular government but the likelihood is that if Syria is left to its own devices, it will become another Islamic regime. If that begins to look like happening expect further civl disorder and regime changes a la Egypt. The various vested interests in Syria will keep the proxy war going because whatever comes next will not be acceptable to someone and someone will always fan the flames. And there will be far more deaths down the line.

Ireland didn't get a secular government until sometime in the 1990s.

[muppet]

I don't know if we can just pull a Pilate on this one and wash our hands anymore.

Agreed I'm no war-monger and I distrust the American's hugely but we can't keep sitting on our hands and doing nothing. Does a young Syrian have to die on your doorstep until you say enough is enough?

Action is needed. Diplomacy won't overcome with the Yanks and Russians at loggerheads. Unfortunately military action looks like the only card to play.

It is the only card ever played.

The reality in Syria is that Assad is a secularist. The West tolerated him along with Hussein and actively supported the likes of Mubarak because it suited them to have secular governments. As always things never quite work out as planned with powerful megalomaniacal  dictators and it is always eventually decided that they must be removed.

The problem with Egypt, Libya and shortly Syria, is what comes next. The West will want some sort of secular government but the likelihood is that if Syria is left to its own devices, it will become another Islamic regime. If that begins to look like happening expect further civl disorder and regime changes a la Egypt. The various vested interests in Syria will keep the proxy war going because whatever comes next will not be acceptable to someone and someone will always fan the flames. And there will be far more deaths down the line.

Ireland didn't get a secular government until sometime in the 1990s.

True, but we weren't Islamic Fundamentalists.

We were Shambolic Kleptocracists.

[seafoid]

I don't know if we can just pull a Pilate on this one and wash our hands anymore.

Agreed I'm no war-monger and I distrust the American's hugely but we can't keep sitting on our hands and doing nothing. Does a young Syrian have to die on your doorstep until you say enough is enough?

Action is needed. Diplomacy won't overcome with the Yanks and Russians at loggerheads. Unfortunately military action looks like the only card to play.

It is the only card ever played.

The reality in Syria is that Assad is a secularist. The West tolerated him along with Hussein and actively supported the likes of Mubarak because it suited them to have secular governments. As always things never quite work out as planned with powerful megalomaniacal  dictators and it is always eventually decided that they must be removed.

The problem with Egypt, Libya and shortly Syria, is what comes next. The West will want some sort of secular government but the likelihood is that if Syria is left to its own devices, it will become another Islamic regime. If that begins to look like happening expect further civl disorder and regime changes a la Egypt. The various vested interests in Syria will keep the proxy war going because whatever comes next will not be acceptable to someone and someone will always fan the flames. And there will be far more deaths down the line.

Ireland didn't get a secular government until sometime in the 1990s.

True, but we weren't Islamic Fundamentalists.

We were Shambolic Kleptocracists.

Catholic fundamentalism doesn't have much time for women either. And that "purity" of all the fundis is very hard on a lot of people who don't conform.

[stew]

I don't know if we can just pull a Pilate on this one and wash our hands anymore.

Agreed I'm no war-monger and I distrust the American's hugely but we can't keep sitting on our hands and doing nothing. Does a young Syrian have to die on your doorstep until you say enough is enough?

Action is needed. Diplomacy won't overcome with the Yanks and Russians at loggerheads. Unfortunately military action looks like the only card to play.

Ach sure you can, it is easy to sit in the cheap seats and throw stones, we have sat on our hands for so long and looked down our noses at the yanks for so long we have lost the ability to hold ourselves and the rest of the world accountable, why the fcuk does the UN not go in and sort this shit out, they are toothless thanks to the power of veto and they have a legacy of shame leaving people to die at the hands of gangsters in Africa, not a peep on here about that!

Maybe you trust the Chinese more? or the Russians for that matter, I trust none of the fcukers but if I had to choose one it would be the yanks all day long.