Should US bomb Syria?

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tim722

The Fly
Joined
Dec 8, 2006
Messages
160
Just wondering how everyone thinks about this. Part of me feels that we should stop innocent civilians from bring killed. We are/were the greatest country in the world. Kinda the big brother for others. Another part feels that they are in a civil war and whoever wins will still hate us. Why bother? We should just mind our own business, get out of the middle east, and protect ourselves. Any thoughts? It looks like Obama wants to bomb Assad.
 
I don't think that any western country should interfere anymore. Look at what happened in Iraq, look at Afghanistan and now Egypt. Nothing changed, and we keep pouring money and lives of our soldiers in those bottomless pits. Let them fight it out amongst themselves.
 
I don't think that any western country should interfere anymore. Look at what happened in Iraq, look at Afghanistan and now Egypt. Nothing changed, and we keep pouring money and lives of our soldiers in those bottomless pits. Let them fight it out amongst themselves.

Yes I'm thinking you are right. We are hated by so many in the Middle East. It's hard cause they used chemical weapons but I'm starting to feel that it's not our problem. It's sad that this is happening against humanity but why get involved. This isn't like Bosnia. They are not our friends.
 
I never know enough about these sorts of situations to make a comment, and that is most definitely the case here, but it breaks your heart to hear of chemical attacks, and I wish there was a way for other countries or the UN or whatever to put a stop to innocent people being killed.

I remember when the US bombed Iraq. I was in the early years of high school. I remember seeing vision on the news and just feeling so sad about it all.
 
The short answer; no.

The longer answer: there are no good answers, but some tried-and-true anti-sarin-gas assistance mightn't hurt.

Syria, lest we forget, is in the throes of a civil war. The government—a nastily dynastic version of the Ba'athist quasi-fascist ideology that dominated many Arab nations between the mid-1950s and the early noughties—is fighting a varied bunch of rebels. Note that the government is largely dominated by secularized elements of the Shi'ite Alawite minority, who make up around 12% of the population; the majority are Sunni (74%), Christian (10%) and a variety of other sects.

If this sounds like the same sort of demographic split as Iraq, with Christians instead of Kurds, then give yourself a gold star: both "nations" were carved out of the bleeding carcass of the Ottoman Empire by France and the UK in the wake of the First World War under the auspices of the Sykes-Picot Agreement.

Incidentally, the linked piece is worth it just as a check to the 'because Islam' reaction to nearly any trouble afflicting this part of the world.
 
No, it never ends well.

Turn up the nationalism just a little more. :love:

What other country has been there to protect the innocent or donated more money to deserving countries over the last 30 yrs? You go Vlad wherever you are from.
 
I live in Australia, but where I live is irrelevant.

So I guess you strongly believe your country has helped others, can you give me some examples? I want to understand this from your point of view.
 
I live in Australia, but where I live is irrelevant.

So I guess you strongly believe your country has helped others, can you give me some examples? I want to understand this from your point of view.

Not even worth my time Vlad. Enjoy Australia. Hope to visit it some say.
 
Beware the dropbears and crocodiles.

Thanks buddy I will. Heard recently about people getting eaten by the crocs there. Must me a great place to live. Are you living right up close to them? I'll buy you a Fosters when I arrive.
 
Yeah, though I beg to differ. I'm fine with Heineken, it's nothing special but it's drinkable. Bavaria on the other hand...
Don't think I've ever had Fosters.
 
America is to the world what Tony Dungy is to troubled NFL players. Of course we should bomb Syria, as we should bomb anyone that gets out of line. We're 'Murica!
 
No good can come from war. It's a humongous waste of money and no matter who you side, you upset somebody else who will then plot to terrorize your country. Simply not worth it. There has got to be other means to try to end this chemical warfare.
 
Though I can't vouch for its accuracy (it's a picture doing rounds on Facebook), this short summary does give a telling impression of the mess that's the Middle East.
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Interesting...

(CNN) -- [Breaking news alert 1:19 p.m. ET]
A preliminary U.S. government assessment of last week's chemical weapons attack in Syria has made these key findings:

--100 videos attributed to a suspected chemical weapons attack in Syria "show large numbers of bodies exhibiting physical signs consistent with, but not unique to, nerve agent exposure." Some videos show what appear to be fatalities "with no visible injuries" -- imagery "consistent with death from chemical weapons, and inconsistent with death from small-arms, high-explosive munitions or blister agents," said the report, released Friday.

--1,429 people were killed in an August 21 chemical weapons attack in Syria and asserted that "we assess with high confidence that the Syrian government carried out the chemical weapons attack against opposition elements in the Damascus suburbs."

-- The United States says it has "intelligence that leads us to assess that Syrian chemical weapons personnel ... were preparing chemical weapons munitions prior to" what Washington believes was a chemical weapons attack in the Damascus suburbs on August 21. "In the three days prior to the attack, we collected streams of human, signals and geospatial intelligence that reveal regime activities that we assess were associated with preparations for a chemical weapons attack," the U.S. government said in its assessment released Friday.

Citing support from the Arab League, Turkey and France, Secretary of State John Kerry said Friday that "we are not alone in our will to do something about" last week's chemical weapons attack in Syria that he blamed on the regime of President Bashar al-Assad.
Kerry added that the United States "makes our own decisions on our own timelines, based on our own values and interests" in signaling a possible military response to last week's chemical weapons attack in Syria.
Get ready Pac_Mule, we'll be shipped to the Mideast within a year...
 
That's fucking brilliant.

No matter what happens, it's our fault. Would be nice if our friends and allies would occasionally acknowledge the rather difficult position we're pretty much always in (Bush years excepted).

It's strange reading it and knowing that it's an Onion article, but at the same time, it gives me shivers because of how telling it really is.

Called it nationalism or whatever Vlad wants to, but I actually understand a bit of where Tim was coming from in the Big Brother comment he made. I don't know that it's the US's responsibility to deal with these situations, I don't think it is, and yet as human beings how can you look at a situation like this and do nothing. It's such a horrible place to be in. (Hope that made sense).
 
My Predictions:

- US Cruise Missile strike against a few Syrian military targets.
- Syria will hit Israel with missiles and cyber attacks
- Israel will strike back with missiles and cyber attacks
- Iran and Southern Lebanon hit Israel with missiles
- US and Israel will hit Iran and Southern Lebanon with missiles and cyber attacks
- Chaos erupts in the streets of most Middle East countries - mass atrocities
- A major terrorist attack occurs somewhere in the US or Israel
- UK changes stance
- The "Global War on Terror" intensifies big time...over a million NATO troops sent to countries like Egypt, Syria, Iran, Pakistan, Libya, Nigeria...possibly again to Iraq
- Russia and China remain "neutral"
- NATO troops remain in the Mid East for the next 20 years (or until solar grid parity)
 
The declassified version of the US government's intelligence report is not very interesting. It's just a summary with a lot of "we have evidence that says x". That being said, I strongly question whether the Obama Administration would have an incentive to make this up.
 
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