Robert Ariail for April 30, 2013

Ever see what napalm or white phosphorus does to the human body? Sarin and/or VX are at least “quick”. Oh, right, as McCAin and the righties are all saying, it’s time for some more “shock and awe”, so we once more can get a bunch of our folks killed, off a bunch of civilians, and not have a SINGLE CLUE who will take over, and likely be worse than even Assad.

“Close most overseas (and domestic) military bases.”

Then just close our eyes and hope the unicorns protect us?

You’re the definition of The Loony Left.

Btw Just another O unkept promise. No wonder Iran and N Korea just ignore us.

Tactics vs. Strategy. Just because we don’t see US Marines landing on the shores of Syria doesn’t mean nothing is happening. Apparently, more people are dying from bullets and shelling on a DAILY basis than the number of people killed by gas. Too many are dying.^I have been a long time supporter of a no fly zone in Syria even though such actions will anger Russia who might put resources in between NATO forces and Syrian. I also have a concern that Russian and Chinese observers will assist and advise Syria, not to help Assad, but in order to test our aircraft and look for weaknesses. One of the biggest mistakes of the Iraq war was it gave our enemies training on how to disable our main battle tank, a weapon that should never have been part of urban warfare.^Syria has been preparing for war with Israel, one of the most talented militarys on the planet and has top of the line Russian anti aircraft systems. A “No Fly Zone” is not going to be a cakewalk.Boots on the ground from anyone but CIA resources is a bad idea. Muslims don’t want the “Crusaders” invading another Muslim nation. Cruise missiles disabling military resources at airports, antiaircraft, major military bases would be the safest way to go, but would it stop forces loyal to Assad.^The one consistent report I hear whenever there’s a call to do “something” in Syria concerns WHO are we going to be helping? We helped in Libya, and now there are militant Muslims attacking from Benghazi to Timbuktu in the neighboring nation of Mali, attempting to use weapons given to rebels fighting Gaddafi, to further there conservative Muslim laws. Do we want to create the same situation in Syria?^I don’t have access to the intell, but Sun Tzu’s writings would indicate that slow and careful, when possible, is wisdom. A good strategist would be making sure our forces won’t be sideswiped by allies of the nation being attacked and would make sure we aren’t giving sophisticated weapons to people who want to kill us as much as they want to kill Assad.^All that said, I would like to see some of our older, soon to expire, cruise missles used to soften up some antiaircraft sites on the coast line. Attacking hard sites would limit “collateral” civilian deaths and would cause Assad to move resources to the coast away from rebels. Runway cluster bombs would make it hard for Syria to put jets into the air. We can also assist Syrians deemed to be ‘friendly’ to the USA with satellite and communication intell.^I disagree with Mr. Kent’s isolationist policies. But I do not want another all out war like in Iraq or Afghanistan. Surgical strikes to remove the cancer afflicting Syria.Respectfully,C.

Syria is totally a no-win situation. It’s clear Obama doesn’t want another Iraq/Afghanistan.

Republican intelligence* indicates that it is time to bomb and invade Egypt, Libya, Sudan, Mali, Maldives, Chechnya, the Czech Republic, North Korea, Florida, Ohio, Hollywood, and a draft pick to be named later.*Just kidding, no such thing.

You’re more astute than you may realize, Notso.Thank you for catching my mistake. There should be no unitlateral actions against Syria by the USA unless there is a massive use of WMDs. ^Quite frankly, the nations of the middle east who have bought so many of our aircraft and armaments should be the ones taking the point on any military actions against Syria. Whenever intervention comes from Europe or the USA, the image of the Knights Templar and the Crusades is raised across the region.Since it is unlikely we will get such assistance from the Saudis, Quattar, or Kuwait, I suppose we have to ‘use’ our NATO alliance with Turkey for political cover.^ Your last two sentences were a plan attributed to Bin Laden. During the war with Russia, he and his militants fought until Russia was financially unable to continue the war and withdrew. It was his plan from the beginning to draw the USA into a war of attrition where we spent million dollar weapons killing one or two people at a time. It hasn’t worked as well as he wanted, but it has caused a lot of pain.^ The US polices the world because lobbyists representing companies that make military hardware want us to buy and use that hardware. That’s why they have convinced Congress to buy tanks that the Army doesn’t want, aircraft the Air Force doesn’t need, and ships that the Navy finds problematical.We don’t go to war with military we have, we go to war with the military corporations want to sell us.Thank you again, Notso. You made an important correction to my comment.Respectfully,C.

Ah, but he is so cool!! He is so lovable :(.

No, no. Hollywood plays chest games. :-)

Respectful Troll Said“The one consistent report I hear whenever there’s a call to do “something” in Syria concerns WHO are we going to be helping?”The reason mccain, grahm, et al.. want to help, is the people we would be helping is their friends at haliburton, blackwater, general dynamics, etc………they couldn’t give a damn about how many syrians are killed. they couldn’t give a damn about how many americans are killed, war is about profit. Since Al-queda is in the strongest position in syria right now i’ll be the republicans are in negotiations to sell weapons to both sides. which side you wanna bet on?

I’m tired of listing aid amounts, differentiating conditional aid, military aid, per capita aid…all falls on deaf ears. They believe their own propaganda; what can we do. *shrug

D PB: I was among other things, a CBR (Chemical, Biological, and Radiological) NCO in the Army. My son has more recent exposure as a “disaster preparedness specialist” in the Navy. While a tiny drop of VX nerve agent will kill you in far less than a minute, all those symptoms you describe for sarin can occur on full exposure in less time than it took you to write the paragraph, ending in death.

Also, as poison gases are odorless and colorless, I always get a kick out of the movies and TV showing these clouds of smoke and people hacking, coughing, and covering their faces with handkerchiefs.

Well, at least cyanide smells like almonds, for a moment.

P.S., do you realize the agony of week of suffering with third degree, and second degree burns from napalm, before you die of infections? Do you realize what it’s like to have white phosphorus on you body, burning its way all the way through, and no way to extinguish it, unless submerged in oil?

Obama doesn’t want a war and almost all of the people don’t want to lose more of our young men to die in another stupid costly war.

Report on Tuesday 4/30 that Russian soldiers may be manning/advising Syrian anti-aircraft defenses. Still want to bomb?

Federal Times article 4/29 edition: Boeing CEO 27.5 mil, former Lockheed CEO 27.5, former General Dynamics CEO 27.5, Northrup Grumman CEO 24.4.