Many years ago a marvelous advertisement appeared on television. It showed two fat, old men in rumpled shirt and tie, facing off on a hill top and pummeling each other in a clumsy parody of boxing. Gasping and heaving, they staggered around, compelled by the same kind of reasonless hatred that causes them to send younger men to fight and die in the real world. The tag line at the end observed somewhat redundantly that, if those who declare wars had to fight them, there would be none, or something similar. I can’t recall the name of the organization that sponsored the ad, but it was right on the money. Too bad it hasn’t been revived since then.
Since we live in the U.S. most people believe we must be the ones leading the way with our resources of blood and money. There are lots of countries that should be taking a lead in this besides us. It really is of little consequence to us who is in power in Syria. GW Bush did business with Assad. The issue of chemical weapons being used is like the assertion of Hussein building nuclear weapons and chemical weapons. How many here know that at the beginning of the first Gulf War, the Iraqis had a group of scientists here in the U.S. studying how to make nuclear weapons at the invitation of our government? The people in New Mexico finally got the attention of Washington and were allowed to move them out. Besides that, we supplied Hussein with the nerve gas he used against the Kurds.
The key issue is not do we help or not, it is how can we help
here are your picks
Assad regime: I’m going to presume nobody is putting their hand up for more or less obvious reasons
Jihadist Islamist: presently the best organized. Areas occupied however are far from peaceful and have high civilian casualties, may have links with Al-Qaeda
Secular rebels: presently disjointed throughout the country, no central leadership and mostly dissolved to individual communities, medium civilian casualties.
Kurdish rebels: very low civilian casualties, however they do want to break off in order to create a Kurdistan. Turkey is not a fan of this option, would not try to fight in rest of syria
Do you really think that after thousands of years of killing each other, that the fanatics of the middle east are going to be influenced by such an upstart as the US is? And yes, I do feel very unhappy about the many innocents caught up in this, but would our intervention help them at all, or harm them as much as our intervention in Iraq actually harmed innocents in Iraq?
And just exactly how would we know this for certain? After all, the entire country of Syria is rapidly becoming a ruin. How do you tell whether or not people are being gassed in such a ruin, or are being killed in some other horrible way? Besides which, I would hope that if such is discovered that not only would President Obama then go before Congress and ask for a declaration of war against the government of Syria, but that other major powers in the world such as China and Russia would also see the danger of allowing any country to use such agents against people, and join us in such military action as to crush the current government of Syria. After that, the real question in my mind, is just what happens after such a crushing, and who then takes over?
I guess you didn’t see the pictures of the shell fragments that carried the nerve gas with "Made in the USA stamped on them..The Iraqi scientists were here at the invitation of the US gov’t, not going to a university. Besides, no university carries a course on making nuclear weapons. .Iraq purchased weapons from the USSR the same as Iran and Egypt.
War should be only if all else fails. Those 3 want another stupid, costly war, but most people don’t and for sure don’t want to lose anymore of our sons and grandsons dying for a war that really doesn’t concern us.!
I still wouldn’t call McCain a “chickenhawk”, but he is now crazy as a bedbug, and that might be a result of his PTSD. Now King and Graham, I would use another word for also, it starts with “chicken” but ends with what comes out the end, and it ain’t eggs.
Well, having turned the schools into propaganda machines, the only way they can maintain the vestigial portion of domestic manufacturing we have left is to support the import of labor from places which still do have functioning education systems.
Cause and effect, eh? Clearly the commitment to destroying education in this country trumps a functional economy.
Gypsy8 almost 11 years ago
Suggestion: For your vote for invasion to count, you or at least one son, daughter, grandson, or granddaughter must serve on the front lines.
ajhil almost 11 years ago
Many years ago a marvelous advertisement appeared on television. It showed two fat, old men in rumpled shirt and tie, facing off on a hill top and pummeling each other in a clumsy parody of boxing. Gasping and heaving, they staggered around, compelled by the same kind of reasonless hatred that causes them to send younger men to fight and die in the real world. The tag line at the end observed somewhat redundantly that, if those who declare wars had to fight them, there would be none, or something similar. I can’t recall the name of the organization that sponsored the ad, but it was right on the money. Too bad it hasn’t been revived since then.
Justice22 almost 11 years ago
Since we live in the U.S. most people believe we must be the ones leading the way with our resources of blood and money. There are lots of countries that should be taking a lead in this besides us. It really is of little consequence to us who is in power in Syria. GW Bush did business with Assad. The issue of chemical weapons being used is like the assertion of Hussein building nuclear weapons and chemical weapons. How many here know that at the beginning of the first Gulf War, the Iraqis had a group of scientists here in the U.S. studying how to make nuclear weapons at the invitation of our government? The people in New Mexico finally got the attention of Washington and were allowed to move them out. Besides that, we supplied Hussein with the nerve gas he used against the Kurds.
Rickapolis almost 11 years ago
Hasn’t the right learned ANYTHING from rushing into war in Iraq and Afghanistan? Obviously not. And why the party is a international laughingstock.
dickieschmuck almost 11 years ago
@mdavis4183Yeah – name three
Quipss almost 11 years ago
The key issue is not do we help or not, it is how can we help
here are your picks
Assad regime: I’m going to presume nobody is putting their hand up for more or less obvious reasons
Jihadist Islamist: presently the best organized. Areas occupied however are far from peaceful and have high civilian casualties, may have links with Al-Qaeda
Secular rebels: presently disjointed throughout the country, no central leadership and mostly dissolved to individual communities, medium civilian casualties.
Kurdish rebels: very low civilian casualties, however they do want to break off in order to create a Kurdistan. Turkey is not a fan of this option, would not try to fight in rest of syria
frodo1008 almost 11 years ago
Do you really think that after thousands of years of killing each other, that the fanatics of the middle east are going to be influenced by such an upstart as the US is? And yes, I do feel very unhappy about the many innocents caught up in this, but would our intervention help them at all, or harm them as much as our intervention in Iraq actually harmed innocents in Iraq?
frodo1008 almost 11 years ago
And just exactly how would we know this for certain? After all, the entire country of Syria is rapidly becoming a ruin. How do you tell whether or not people are being gassed in such a ruin, or are being killed in some other horrible way? Besides which, I would hope that if such is discovered that not only would President Obama then go before Congress and ask for a declaration of war against the government of Syria, but that other major powers in the world such as China and Russia would also see the danger of allowing any country to use such agents against people, and join us in such military action as to crush the current government of Syria. After that, the real question in my mind, is just what happens after such a crushing, and who then takes over?
Justice22 almost 11 years ago
I guess you didn’t see the pictures of the shell fragments that carried the nerve gas with "Made in the USA stamped on them..The Iraqi scientists were here at the invitation of the US gov’t, not going to a university. Besides, no university carries a course on making nuclear weapons. .Iraq purchased weapons from the USSR the same as Iran and Egypt.
pam Miner almost 11 years ago
War should be only if all else fails. Those 3 want another stupid, costly war, but most people don’t and for sure don’t want to lose anymore of our sons and grandsons dying for a war that really doesn’t concern us.!
Dtroutma almost 11 years ago
I still wouldn’t call McCain a “chickenhawk”, but he is now crazy as a bedbug, and that might be a result of his PTSD. Now King and Graham, I would use another word for also, it starts with “chicken” but ends with what comes out the end, and it ain’t eggs.
Hawthorne almost 11 years ago
@ScottPM
Well, having turned the schools into propaganda machines, the only way they can maintain the vestigial portion of domestic manufacturing we have left is to support the import of labor from places which still do have functioning education systems.
Cause and effect, eh? Clearly the commitment to destroying education in this country trumps a functional economy.