The Constitution specifies that only Congress can declare war. The reason Obama’s going to the Congress for approval seems like such an aberration is because our government has ignored that requirement for decades. We haven’t had a declared war since WWII.
I am reminded of a math problem.If a train leaves New York headed East at 60 miles per hour and anther train leaves San Francisco going West at 50 miles per hour, at what point do they meet?They don’t.The first train plunges into the Atlantic Ocean, the second train plunges into the Pacific Ocean. But very few people read the problem.After days of nothing but Syria news, I think people’s eyes glaze over and they just want it over. Not 10 years of war.
It’s called who, where, when, and how. The US in the 1980’s provided Saddam with chemical weapons to fight Iran in an eight year war. We invaded part way in 1991, and began destroying Saddam’s arsenal, after he’d poisoned the Kurds with those nice things we got for him. By ‘93 the UN inspectors, and others, confirmed his stockpiles, and capacity to manufacture, no longer existed. During the first Gulf war, one of those very large stockpiles was blown up in southern Iraq by U.S. forces, it resulted in the poisoning of a large number of US. troops, and that is part of the “Gulf War Syndrome”, That syndrome also include some 35 men in a company of 135 coming down with ALS (Lou Gehrig’s disease) when normal statistics would be one case in 130,000 people! That was a direct result of exposure to those nerve agents.
Saddam did NOT ship chemical weapons to Syria in 2003, because he no longer HAD any!! Syria acquired their own quite easily on the “market”. Sarin is also pretty easy to make, and it’’s likely the first small use in Syria could well have been the “insurgents” using it, as it appears it was released by canisters, perhaps hand delivered, and not via rockets or artillery shells. The latter, more serious attack DID appear to be from rockets launched from Assad’s secure areas, into the target area. YEs, with satellites, let alone drones, we CAN track where these rockets are launched from. “Iron Dome”, belonging to Israel can track very quickly even much smaller munitions, and destroy them before they reach their targets.
So, who, what, when, where, and how, is a varied story depending on what incident, crime, or “report” you’re referring to, but conspiracy theories are usually derived for folks who don’t know squat about who what where, when, or how, folks like 58, and many others who are afraid to say they just hate Obama because he IS Obama and has a “heritage”.
As to striking Syria, it’s too little, too late, to use cruise missiles, and I hope Congress doesn’t approve an act of war. The very LEAST we need to do is let Obama’s “delay” give time for valid report from the UN on what happened, by whom, and to whom, when, and where. Oh, yes, and how.
It should be up to the International Criminal Court in den Hague to handle the appropriate actions, but remember, the U.S., under our conservatives who could have been charged themselves, did not sign onto the court, and the international community, to seek justice in just such situations as Assad presents today.
larryrhoades over 10 years ago
No snake, no pit.Is a tortoise with “congress” as shell, as drawn.Our president is delegating responsibility and that’s OK.
crlinder over 10 years ago
The Constitution specifies that only Congress can declare war. The reason Obama’s going to the Congress for approval seems like such an aberration is because our government has ignored that requirement for decades. We haven’t had a declared war since WWII.
rockngolfer over 10 years ago
I am reminded of a math problem.If a train leaves New York headed East at 60 miles per hour and anther train leaves San Francisco going West at 50 miles per hour, at what point do they meet?They don’t.The first train plunges into the Atlantic Ocean, the second train plunges into the Pacific Ocean. But very few people read the problem.After days of nothing but Syria news, I think people’s eyes glaze over and they just want it over. Not 10 years of war.
Dtroutma over 10 years ago
It’s called who, where, when, and how. The US in the 1980’s provided Saddam with chemical weapons to fight Iran in an eight year war. We invaded part way in 1991, and began destroying Saddam’s arsenal, after he’d poisoned the Kurds with those nice things we got for him. By ‘93 the UN inspectors, and others, confirmed his stockpiles, and capacity to manufacture, no longer existed. During the first Gulf war, one of those very large stockpiles was blown up in southern Iraq by U.S. forces, it resulted in the poisoning of a large number of US. troops, and that is part of the “Gulf War Syndrome”, That syndrome also include some 35 men in a company of 135 coming down with ALS (Lou Gehrig’s disease) when normal statistics would be one case in 130,000 people! That was a direct result of exposure to those nerve agents.
Saddam did NOT ship chemical weapons to Syria in 2003, because he no longer HAD any!! Syria acquired their own quite easily on the “market”. Sarin is also pretty easy to make, and it’’s likely the first small use in Syria could well have been the “insurgents” using it, as it appears it was released by canisters, perhaps hand delivered, and not via rockets or artillery shells. The latter, more serious attack DID appear to be from rockets launched from Assad’s secure areas, into the target area. YEs, with satellites, let alone drones, we CAN track where these rockets are launched from. “Iron Dome”, belonging to Israel can track very quickly even much smaller munitions, and destroy them before they reach their targets.
So, who, what, when, where, and how, is a varied story depending on what incident, crime, or “report” you’re referring to, but conspiracy theories are usually derived for folks who don’t know squat about who what where, when, or how, folks like 58, and many others who are afraid to say they just hate Obama because he IS Obama and has a “heritage”.
As to striking Syria, it’s too little, too late, to use cruise missiles, and I hope Congress doesn’t approve an act of war. The very LEAST we need to do is let Obama’s “delay” give time for valid report from the UN on what happened, by whom, and to whom, when, and where. Oh, yes, and how.
It should be up to the International Criminal Court in den Hague to handle the appropriate actions, but remember, the U.S., under our conservatives who could have been charged themselves, did not sign onto the court, and the international community, to seek justice in just such situations as Assad presents today.