The Syrian Conflict Thread

[schumi]

They are already trying to pin it on Assad to get more intervention. That didn't take long it will be quite interesting to see who's side Trump picks. I almost think he will comprise and give the GOPers some more war to make things easier for him at home.

First the obligatory blame Obama

Trump blames Assad and Obama for chemical attack in Syria

Confronted by one of his first foreign crises, President Donald Trump on Tuesday split the blame for Syria's worst chemical weapons attack in years between its Russian-backed leader and former President Barack Obama, as the new American administration struggled to explain what it might do in response.

In a surprising statement, Trump called the assault in an opposition-held town in northern Syria "reprehensible" and one that "cannot be ignored by the civilized world," rhetoric that harkened back to Obama's criticism in 2013 of an earlier chemical attack ascribed to President Bashar Assad's forces. Trump said Assad was responsible for Tuesday's deaths, yet also targeted his predecessor's failed strategy to deter such attacks.

"These heinous actions by the Bashar al-Assad regime are a consequence of the past administration's weakness and irresolution," Trump said. It was a clear reference to four years ago, when Obama failed to deliver on his "red line" when he didn't authorize military action against Assad in response to a sarin gas attack that killed hundreds outside Damascus.

Obama aides declined Tuesday to comment on Trump's assignment of blame.

The political tone of Trump's statement took many U.S. officials by surprise. They noted that U.S. presidents have rarely attacked their predecessors so aggressively for events like a chemical weapons attacks that Democrats and Republicans both abhor.

More at: http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory/white-house-condemns-heinous-attack-syria-46570444

 

[schumi]

Syria chemical 'attack': Russia blames rebel weapons

Russia says that a chemical attack that killed and injured dozens of civilians in a rebel-held town in northern Syria came from rebel weapons on the ground.

Its defence ministry acknowledged that Syrian planes had attacked the town of Khan Sheikhoun in Idlib province.

But it said the aircraft had struck a depot producing mines filled with a poisonous substance, for use in Iraq.

The US and others said Syrian planes dropped chemical weapons, which Damascus denied.

UK Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson responded to the Russian statement by saying: "All the evidence I have seen suggests this was the [Syrian President Bashar] Assad regime... using illegal weapons on their own people."

More at: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-39500319

 

[NarrowBandFtw]

the blame for Syria's worst chemical weapons attack in years between its Russian-backed leader and former President Barack Obama

Ah yes, the "Russian backed" Assad, fighting the US backed ISIS

 

[Unhappy1]

First the obligatory blame Obama

He probably blames Obama when his skin isn't quite the right shade of orange.

Ah yes, the "Russian backed" Assad, fighting the US backed ISIS

Stop wolf crying.

 

[f2wohf]

Ah yes, the "Russian backed" Assad, fighting the US backed ISIS

Not even going to comment this summit of lunacy !

 

[NarrowBandFtw]

Not even going to comment this summit of lunacy !

Great cause you will just be demonstrating your level of ignorance, this thread is the one to go back in, far in history, that the Obama administration has supported and unknowingly (or knowingly perhaps) created the fertile breeding ground that gave birth to ISIS is simply a fact.

 

[Alan]

First the obligatory blame Obama

Trump blames Assad and Obama for chemical attack in Syria

Only fair. Obama did the same to Bush

 

[NarrowBandFtw]

Stop wolf crying.

Your troll bait has grown even weaker than it's been from the start through overuse. The funny thing is you mistakenly think you're proving something by repeatedly puking the same tired attack, when in reality you're just making me laugh :crylaugh:

thanks though, in these dark times every laugh is appreciated

 

[OrbitalDawn]

Guess Russia's "help" in getting Assad to dispose of his chemical weapons was a farce. Quelle surprise.

 

[Alan]

The Obama administration has touted its negotiations to remove chemical weapons from Syria as a major diplomatic achievement.

But a new report from the UN Security Council found that the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad used chemical weapons against civilians in violation of the deal the Obama administration brokered with the help of Russia in 2013. The report confirmed two instances of chlorine-gas attacks carried out by the Assad regime — one in 2014 and one in 2015. "The Assad regime has learned over the past five years that the Obama administration will do absolutely nothing to protect Syrian civilians from mass homicide," Fred Hof, a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council and a former special adviser for transition in Syria under then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, told Business Insider via email.

"That it should return to the use of weaponized chemicals is not at all surprising." And the Obama administration was likely aware that Assad's forces were using chemical weapons before the UN report came out.

"This is not a surprise to the administration," Robert Ford, a senior fellow with the Middle East Institute and US ambassador to Syria between 2010 and 2014, told Business Insider. "We have been getting reports about this chlorine gas for more than a year. Some Syrian doctors testified [to Congress] last year. … So they've known for a long time. Now with the UN report, they're more on the hook." An Obama administration official acknowledged that the US government had suspected the Assad regime was using chlorine gas.

Obama infamously stated in 2012 that his red line with the Assad regime would be the use of chemical weapons. The following year, Assad's forces killed nearly 1,500 people in a chemical-weapons attack.

But the US didn't strike. It instead used the chemical weapons deal as a sort of substitute for military action. Jeffrey Goldberg, who interviewed Obama about his foreign policy for The Atlantic earlier this year, wrote that after the deal was made, Secretary of State John Kerry had "no patience for those who argue, as he himself once did, that Obama should have bombed Assad-regime sites" to protect American credibility on the red line.

And Obama himself said that he was "very proud" of the deal.

"The perception was that my credibility was at stake, that America's credibility was at stake," Obama told The Atlantic. "And so for me to press the pause button at that moment, I knew, would cost me politically. And the fact that I was able to pull back from the immediate pressures and think through in my own mind what was in America's interest, not only with respect to Syria but also with respect to our democracy, was as tough a decision as I've made — and I believe ultimately it was the right decision to make."

Now it's evident that Assad hasn't held up his end of the bargain. "Assad and his allies — Russia and Iran — hold this administration in absolute contempt," Hof said. "Assad rubs the 'red line' in the president's face by returning to chemical warfare; [Russian President Vladimir] Putin authorizes Russian aircraft to strike US-equipped, anti-ISIS Syrian rebel units; and [Iranian Supreme Leader Ali] Khamenei turns loose armed Revolutionary Guard speedboats to harass American naval assets in the Strait of Hormuz." Hof concluded: "They all sense weakness and they all act accordingly." Assad's flouting of the UN resolution puts Obama in a tough spot, Ford said.

"In any case, it seems that what the Obama administration highlighted as its biggest achievement on Syria ... is much less than the administration itself touted. The administration is now left with a response that 'at least the Syrian government is not using sarin,'" he said, referring to one of the most toxic chemical-warfare agents in the world.

http://www.businessinsider.com/syria-chemical-weapons-attacks-2016-8

 

[Unhappy1]

Not even going to comment this summit of lunacy !

Yup no point, its just wolf cry after wolf cry with this guy.

 

[OrbitalDawn]

*snip*

So Alan, since Obama asked Congress for approval to strike against Assad after his 2013 chemical weapons attack and they denied it, when are you going to blame them?

Oh, and what's your boy Trump going to do besides trying to shift the blame.

 

[rietrot]

Guess Russia's "help" in getting Assad to dispose of his chemical weapons was a farce. Quelle surprise.

Some proof would be nice if you make claims like that. The entire world were watching at the time with Obama drawing new red lines daily.

 

[Dave]

Guess Russia's "help" in getting Assad to dispose of his chemical weapons was a farce. Quelle surprise.

While I am of the opinion that Assad needs to go (probably to The Hague) what evidence is there to back your assertion?

There doesn't seem to be any evidence of who perpetrated this crime beyond a lot of hot air from politicians.

 

[f2wohf]

The chemical attack was carried by air strike.

Ask yourself who has planes ? Russia, Syria.

It was thrown on a Syrian rebels held town. I doubt France, Jordan or Turkey will hit the same people they support and use chemical weapons, same for the Us.

 

[OrbitalDawn]

While I am of the opinion that Assad needs to go (probably to The Hague) what evidence is there to back your assertion?

There doesn't seem to be any evidence of who perpetrated this crime beyond a lot of hot air from politicians.

Aside from them having done it before...

https://twitter.com/EliotHiggins

Info from medics, local reporters, international reporters, citizens, non-profits, inconsistencies in the Russian and Syrian government narratives (plus their penchant for lying about stuff like this).

 

[Dave]

The chemical attack was carried by air strike.

Ask yourself who has planes ? Russia, Syria.

It was thrown on a Syrian rebels held town. I doubt France, Jordan or Turkey will hit the same people they support and use chemical weapons, same for the Us.

It came from the air, not necessarily an air strike. Could have been done with something like Qassam rockets, at least until more evidence comes out there's not enough to blame anyone specific.

 

[Dave]

Aside from them having done it before...

https://twitter.com/EliotHiggins

Info from medics, local reporters, international reporters, citizens, non-profits, inconsistencies in the Russian and Syrian government narratives (plus their penchant for lying about stuff like this).

Was the previous chemical attack incontrovertibly linked to the regime? I thought there was no real evidence that time either.

Not hearsay from medics or reporters...

 

[f2wohf]

It came from the air, not necessarily an air strike. Could have been done with something like Qassam rockets, at least until more evidence comes out there's not enough to blame anyone specific.

From planes according to all the reports I see.

 

[rietrot]

The chemical attack was carried by air strike.

Ask yourself who has planes ? Russia, Syria.

It was thrown on a Syrian rebels held town. I doubt France, Jordan or Turkey will hit the same people they support and use chemical weapons, same for the Us.

Really they have been looking for a reason to get more involved since this started. Do you really think any of them give a **** about some Syrian rebels. It was simply some cheap collateral damage. It could have been anyone.