US to give Syrian rebels aid

[knickballer]

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/white-house-u-syria-rebels-military-aid-chemical-220823223.html

[QUOTE]In a sharp escalation of the U.S. role in Syria's bloody civil war, the White House announced late Thursday that it will provide military aid to rebels fighting to topple President Bashar al-Assad after confirming that his government used chemical weapons against the opposition.

Deputy National Security Advisor for Strategic Communications Ben Rhodes told reporters on a conference call that President Barack Obama had heard pleas from Syria's rebel Supreme Military Council (SMC) for more help. "Our aim is to be responsive," Rhodes said, underlining that the new assistance would have "direct military purposes."

Rhodes brushed aside repeated questions about whether this meant Washington would now start providing weapons to the rebels, insisting he could not give an "inventory" of the aid. But while he never explicitly confirmed that Obama had decided to to arm the opposition, he left little doubt about Washington's new course of action.

"The president has made a decision about providing more support to the opposition. That will involve providing direct support to the SMC. That includes military support. I cannot detail for you all of the types of that support for a variety of reasons," Rhodes said. The assistance is "aimed at strengthening the effectiveness of the SMC on the ground."

Obama reached the decision after America's intelligence community concluded that "the Assad regime has used chemical weapons, including the nerve agent sarin, on a small scale against the opposition multiple times in the last year," Rhodes said. Those attacks killed at least 100-150 people, he added. Rhodes said Assad's forces used chemical weapons on March 19, April 13, May 14 and May 23.

The confirmation

[ItsMillerTime]

LETS PARTICIPATE IN ALL THE WARS!!

Yay!

[knickballer]

LETS PARTICIPATE IN ALL THE WARS!!

Yay!

Whats worst is that this isn't a real civil war. The rebels are a bunch of Islamist jihadists from foreign countries trying to establish an Islamist state in Syria. It's funny how our media chalks these guys up as freedom fighters when real reports show these rebels as pure savages.. I'm talking about cannibalism, beheading of kids, massacring innocent civilians(especially non-sunni's), etc. US just wants to create a new puppet state in the region and to create a new buffer state..

But I guess our media has the ability to sell us anything?

[macmac]

This world is a real joke. There is no more doubt of how immoral and tyrannical the US Government has become. Anyone who doesn't realize it is blind and naive.

[knickballer]

This world is a real joke. There is no more doubt of how immoral and tyrannical the US Government has become. Anyone who doesn't realize it is blind and naive.

:applause:

I love how the gov't all of a sudden uses the excuse of chemical weapons as a reason to support the rebels. Because using drone strikes to kill innocent civilians is way more humane :rolleyes:

Apparently the pro-assad forces were starting to gain ground and win some key points as well and bam this report comes out! It's Libya 2.0 here

[tomtucker]

Whats worst is that this isn't a real civil war. The rebels are a bunch of Islamist jihadists from foreign countries trying to establish an Islamist state in Syria. It's funny how our media chalks these guys up as freedom fighters when real reports show these rebels as pure savages.. I'm talking about cannibalism, beheading of kids, massacring innocent civilians(especially non-sunni's), etc. US just wants to create a new puppet state in the region and to create a new buffer state..

But I guess our media has the ability to sell us anything?

all true............US needs to stay the fukk out of this conflict

[tomtucker]

:applause:

I love how the gov't all of a sudden uses the excuse of chemical weapons as a reason to support the rebels. Because using drone strikes to kill innocent civilians is way more humane :rolleyes:

Apparently the pro-assad forces were starting to gain ground and win some key points as well and bam this report comes out! It's Libya 2.0 here

you

[macmac]

they did this with Afghanistan and Iran and Iraq, it's a vicious cycle. Play both sides, arm them to the teeth and profit off the mass killings. America's chief export is cheap entertainment and murder on a massive scale.

[tomtucker]

they did this with Afghanistan and Iran and Iraq, it's a vicious cycle. Play both sides, arm them to the teeth and profit off the mass killings. America's chief export is cheap entertainment and murder on a massive scale.

surely obama is too smart to do this ?

[code green]

Goddamnit. I still had a glimmer of hope that we wouldn't get involved, but I knew this was going to come eventually. How ironic is it that he wants to severely tighten arms regulations on his own people, yet he's arming "rebels" (a joke, as knickballer put it) with military weapons knowing damn well they're going to end up in Al Qadeda's hands? And McCain wants to send them TANKS. :oldlol: I don't know how the rest of the world isn't seeing it for what it is. The Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt just officially opened up the borders telling them to join the war. Thousands of bodies have been found with Saudi identification papers. There's YouTube footage of Al Nusra Front soldiers gassing rabbits with sarin and threatening to do the same to minority Muslims. And not to mention there's a friggen election next year anyway...if the "Syrian People" simply wanted to remove him and instill "democracy" (:roll: ), why not do it democratically? I don't know, man. If I didn't have Christian relatives in Syria that could be killed with weapons I helped fund, it would be downright hysterical to me. I'm a proud American, but I really hope Russia has enough pull with NATO and the UN to convince them that this is wrong. And if not, helping Syria out the "democratic" way.

If not, kiss every Alawaite Muslim and Christian goodbye. This isn't going to be good.

[redhonda76]

We are putting a no-fly zone in a country that is not ours.

Why are we involve in Syria? We have enough problem of our own.

[StocktonFan]

proven they use chemical warefare

we decide to put soldiers there

[bmulls]

This is a huge mistake. These "rebels" are literally Al-Qaeda terrorists who want to create an Islamic state under sharia law.

[n00bie]

This is a huge mistake. These "rebels" are literally Al-Qaeda terrorists who want to create an Islamic state under sharia law.

The US gov't is ridiculous. It was just 12 yrs ago that Bush claimed the "taliban and Al-Qaeda" were the biggest threat to our "freedom". Now we are arming them, calling them freedom fighters.

[RidonKs]

so much misinformation :facepalm


the rebel coalition is a highly decentralized loose affiliation of dozens of interests, al-nusra is only a minority
no proof has been offered for/against the sarin charges
there isn't a no-fly zone is on the table
no single nation is arming both sides
assad has been open to talks w/o preconditions for months
the rebels will only negotiate if assad's government is not represented


most importantly with regards to today's headlines, the euro lift of its weapons boycott to the rebels and now american military direct support for rebels will only prolong the conflict and trigger more violence.

if you've been paying attention for the past few weeks, rebels have taken a number of hits. at their high point of territorial control, they had taken 2 of the 16 provincial capitals. now they have only 1 of 16.

with Assad having acknowledged receipt of Russian anti-missiles, a substantial injection of western arms will not tip the scales, it will only balance them and prolong fighting. it will give incentive to the rebels to maintain their no-negotiation stance under the presumption that, like Libya, like Bosnia in the 90s, eventually western democracies will feel compelled to put "boots on the ground" and Assad will at last be vanquished.

these recent decisions are merely extending false hopes that are in all likelihood going to turn true unless serious negotiations in Geneva, that first and foremost acknowledge the Iranian stake in the conflict and its influence in the region, finally conclude with a ceasefire that would at least temporarily consolidate both rebel and gov't positions.

if that doesn't happen, this will continue to be a long and bloody conflict. we'll see what happens if/when Geneva II takes place, and in what form. im not holding my breath especially after this latest announcement.



btw, a report from three weeks ago (http://www.globalresearch.ca/the-cia-qatar-and-the-creation-of-syrias-jabhat-al-nusra/5335453) draws indirect evidence that CIA logistical planning for Qatari arming of rebels throughout 2012 couldn't possibly have prevented weapons from going to Al-Nusra, the offshoot of ISIS, which was the main post-invasion Al-Quaeda affiliate in Iraq. this is drawn from recent statements after Coalition consolidation that Qatar via its CIA consultants were tightening checks on arms flows; of which if you haven't heard its sent approx $3 billion worth. furthermore there is a strong correlation between Qatari arming of the rebels (through Turkey btw, thats how they get north) and increasing death tolls in the north on both sides of the conflict. its chronologically quite striking.

the conclusion to draw from all of that is that the US has already left its imprints on the conflict in ways that 99% could not have occurred without the involvement of their overseas intelligence centers

[JellyBean]

:facepalm Oh boy. Today we are giving aid the rebels. Tomorrow we are fighting the rebels. Do we ever learn? Didn't the whole Bin Laden thing teach us anything? We don't know who the "good" guys are over there. What a mess.

[JtotheIzzo]

Brilliant!

Support a bunch of Muslim Extremists so they can get power and turn another country into their Sharia playground.

A decade later go back and start a war with them because of their extremist society and rhetoric.

I hate to go all conspirator on everyone, but this seems like a future investment in the military industrial complex.

EDIT: Agree with everything JellyBean says above, read his post after posting mine.

[Kews1]

civil war? aint nobody got time fo dat

just ****ing nuke the bastards.

:coleman:

:bowdown:

:rockon:

[tomtucker]

Brilliant!

Support a bunch of Muslim Extremists so they can get power and turn another country into their Sharia playground.

A decade later go back and start a war with them because of their extremist society and rhetoric.

I hate to go all conspirator on everyone, but this seems like a future investment in the military industrial complex.

EDIT: Agree with everything JellyBean says above, read his post after posting mine.

yes, it sounds exactly like afghanistan !....:facepalm ................if obama forgot i will gladly send him a dvd of rambo 2..........

[longhornfan1234]

Where's Jay Carney aka KevinNYC?

[HarryCallahan]

Where's Jay Carney aka KevinNYC?

Awaiting his talking points from the "Nobel peace prize winner" in Chief.

[MadeFromDust]

Here we go again /smh -_-

[bluechox2]

why can we just watch them blow each other up, isnt that a win win, no need to get involved

[ShaqAttack3234]

:facepalm Oh boy. Today we are giving aid the rebels. Tomorrow we are fighting the rebels. Do we ever learn? Didn't the whole Bin Laden thing teach us anything? We don't know who the "good" guys are over there. What a mess.

That's basically what it comes down to for me. That part of the world is so ****ed up, and this type of thing has come back and bitten us on the ass more than once the last few decades, so who is to say it won't again?

[PejaNowitzki]

Good old US of A, doing the bidding of the Saudi's. For anyone keeping notes at home, Saudi Arabia has long been pushing to be the head of an Middle Eastern union, it is entirely coincidental that the only roadblock's in its path such as Saddam Hussein, Mubarak, Assad and Iran are one by one being knocked off.


With this situation, the U.S. can either side with a tyrant in Assad, or a group of "rebels" largely composed of foreign jihadist's looking to instill an authoritarian form of fundamentalist religious government that would make the Taliban proud.


The only win is for the Saudi's, and the various members of the U.S. military-industrial complex.

[code green]

Good old US of A, doing the bidding of the Saudi's. For anyone keeping notes at home, Saudi Arabia has long been pushing to be the head of an Middle Eastern union, it is entirely coincidental that the only roadblock's in its path such as Saddam Hussein, Mubarak, Assad and Iran are one by one being knocked off.


With this situation, the U.S. can either side with a tyrant in Assad, or a group of "rebels" largely composed of foreign jihadist's looking to instill an authoritarian form of fundamentalist religious government that would make the Taliban proud.


The only win is for the Saudi's, and the various members of the U.S. military-industrial complex.

The "tyrant" angle is overblown. He's no saint, but people of all creeds and nationalities have lived in relative peace in Syria even when Assad's father was in control. The Christians support him, as do all Alawites and most Shiites...there are very recent youtube videos of him walking through crowds of at least 10,000 people shaking hands and kissing babies. It looked like he was absolutely revered. You don't get that reaction if you're doing things worth the title "tyrant."

[oh the horror]

Anyone hear about Iran sending troops to aid the Syrian pres?

[HarryCallahan]

The "tyrant" angle is overblown. He's no saint, but people of all creeds and nationalities have lived in relative peace in Syria even when Assad's father was in control. The Christians support him, as do all Alawites and most Shiites...there are very recent youtube videos of him walking through crowds of at least 10,000 people shaking hands and kissing babies. It looked like he was absolutely revered. You don't get that reaction if you're doing things worth the title "tyrant."

Not to mention he ended the decades long rule by mandate of the Ba'ath party. Some polls indicate he has 65-70% approval, unheard of in the west.

[Nanners]

Where's Jay Carney aka KevinNYC?

I have been wondering the same thing. It seems to be quite out of character for him to vanish when big time news with political rammifications shows up on msnbc. He is probably just lurking rather than completely disappeared, as he did post this shortly after being called out in his obama slobberfest thread about a week ago (http://www.insidehoops.com/forum/showpost.php?p=8689155&postcount=303).


I've been staying out of this, because I don't believe many people actually understand how the NSA program works and why judges have found that it's legal and constitutional.

To me those are the prerequisite to having a rational debate on this.

Read that post a few times and let the absurdity of what he is saying really sink in. As other people pointed out, since when has Kevin ever stopped debating someone who doesnt "actually understand how **** works"?? Longhorn of all people would know that Kevin loves to debate people who dont know what the fvck they are talking about.

My guess is that Kevin is unable to find a cnn opinion page or semi credible blog that can accurately describe his opinion, therefore he has gone lurk mode until further notice.

[knickballer]

Didn't see this one coming!

[Nanners]

nice bump. happy to see that i was calling out shilljacksons bullshit 3 years ago :oldlol:

[knickballer]

nice bump. happy to see that i was calling out shilljacksons bullshit 3 years ago :oldlol:

I actually lol'ed when I saw that. I remember some other post you made when you called him out for being a paid Hillary shill as seen on those wikileaks :oldlol:

[Trollsmasher]

I have been wondering the same thing. It seems to be quite out of character for him to vanish when big time news with political rammifications shows up on msnbc. He is probably just lurking rather than completely disappeared, as he did post this shortly after being called out in his obama slobberfest thread about a week ago (http://www.insidehoops.com/forum/showpost.php?p=8689155&postcount=303).



Read that post a few times and let the absurdity of what he is saying really sink in. As other people pointed out, since when has Kevin ever stopped debating someone who doesnt "actually understand how **** works"?? Longhorn of all people would know that Kevin loves to debate people who dont know what the fvck they are talking about.

My guess is that Kevin is unable to find a cnn opinion page or semi credible blog that can accurately describe his opinion, therefore he has gone lurk mode until further notice.
so accurate:lol

[redhonda76]

Syrian rebels = ISIS

[senelcoolidge]

U.S. accidentally :rolleyes: hit syrian troops rather than ISIS...Russia is pissed off. We all know Obama wants Assad out. Obama must support ISIS:confusedshrug: .