About that No Fly Zone the US Military is recommending - there's one small catch !
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2013/06/14/308970/nofly-zone-over-syria-unlikely-france/
France says imposing a no-fly zone over Syria is unlikely for now, noting that a decision from the United Nations Security Council is required for the measure.
http://dailycaller.com/2013/06/14/white-house-announces-it-will-not-send-troops-into-syria/
( No boots on the ground in Syria either... )
After repeated Israeli attacks, Ya’alon is expected to emphasize a recent assessment by Israeli Air Force Chief Amir Eshel, who declared that Israeli is within “10 minutes” of a full-scale war with Syria.
http://www.veteranstoday.com/2013/06/14/assad-winning-hearts-minds-and-battles-in-syria/
( Is Assad becoming the lesser evil for Syrians - actual Syrians not Qatari / Saudis mercenaries or Al Qaeda islamists ? )
by Stephen Lendman
Turkey says a U.S. announcement that it has conclusive evidence the Syrian regime used chemical weapons against opposition forces corroborates its own findings and is urging the international community to take a decisive stance against the regime's "atrocity."
A Turkish Foreign Ministry statement released Friday calls on the international community to "unite and openly manifest its stance" against Syrian President Bashar Assad. It stated the regime's attacks must be halted and a "democratic transition process" must start in Syria.
Asked about the U.S. assertions, Turkish President Abdullah Gül said: “These are very serious assessments. Using chemical weapons is like a small nuclear weapon. The dimension of this is very dangerous. We know what has been experienced in Halabja. I am sure all diplomats and analysts are evaluating these claims. If this finding has been proved precisely, then it is certain that all things will enter another phase.”
Turkey has said preliminary tests on some injured Syrians indicated that chemical weapons had been used. The country is a major backer of the Syrian opposition.
U.S. officials said President Barack Obama has authorized sending weapons to Syrian rebels after the White House disclosed that Assad's forces used chemical weapons.
US to provide direct military support to Syria rebels
The United States on June 13 accused Syria of using chemical weapons against the rebels, and announced it would offer "military support" to the forces battling President Bashar al-Assad. The declaration - alleging that up to 150 people have been killed in chemical weapons attacks - means that Syria has crossed what President Barack Obama has called a "red line" in the crisis.
But Washington has not yet decided whether to implement a no-fly zone over Syria, where more than 90,000 people have been killed since the conflict erupted in March 2011, according to the United Nations.
"Our intelligence community assesses 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," deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes said in a White House statement.
"The intelligence community estimates that 100 to 150 people have died from detected chemical weapons attacks in Syria to date," he said.
"The president has been clear that the use of chemical weapons -- or the transfer of chemical weapons to terrorist groups - is a red line for the United States," Rhodes noted.
Rhodes did not say if the United States was moving towards directly arming the rebels battling Assad, but said Obama "will be consulting with Congress on these matters in the coming weeks." "The United States and the international community have a number of other legal, financial, diplomatic, and military responses available," he said.
"The president has made a decision about providing more support to the opposition. That will involve providing direct support to the (rebel) Supreme Military Council. That includes military support," Rhodes said, without offering details.
Meanwhile, "It's been reported to me by reliable sources that the president... has decided, he's reached the conclusion that they used chemical weapons, and that they are going to provide arms to the rebels," U.S. Senator McCain told reporters.
The short answer is Iran and Hezbollah according to Congressional sources. “The Syrian army’s victory at al-Qusayr was more than the administration could accept given that town’s strategic position in the region. Its capture by the Assad forces has essentially added Syria to Iran’s list of victories starting with Afghanistan, Lebanon, Iraq, as well as its growing influence in the Gulf.”
Other sources are asserting that Obama actually did not want to invoke direct military aid the rebels fighting to topple the Assad government or even to make use of American military power in Syria for several reasons. Among these are the lack of American public support for yet another American war in the Middle East, the fact that there appears to be no acceptable alternative to the Assad government on the horizon, the position of the US intelligence community and the State Department and Pentagon that intervention in Syria would potentially turn out very badly for the US and gut what’s left of its influence in the region. It short, that the US getting involved in Syria could turn out even worse than Iraq, by intensifying a regional sectarian war without any positive outcome in sight.
Obama was apparently serious earlier about a negotiated diplomatic settlement pre-Qusayr and there were even some positives signs coming from Damascus, Moscow, and even Tehran John Kerry claimed. But that has changed partly because Russia and the US have both hardened their demands. Consequently, the Obama administration has now essentially thrown in the towel on the diplomatic track. This observer was advised by more than one Congressional staffer that Obama’s team has concluded that the Assad government was not getting their message or taking them seriously and that Assad’s recent military gains and rising popular support meant that a serious Geneva II initiative was not going to happen.
In addition, Obama has been weakened recently by domestic politics and a number of distractions and potential scandals not least of which is the disclosures regarding the massive NSA privacy invasion. In addition, the war lobby led by Senators McClain and Lindsay Graham is still pounding their drums and claim that Obama would be in violation of his oath of office and by jeopardizing the national security interest of the United States by allowing Iran to essentially own Syria once Assad quells the uprising.” Both Senators welcomed the chemical weapons assessment. For months they have been saying that Obama has not been doing enough to help the rebels. “U.S. credibility is on the line,” they said in a joint statement this week. “Now is not the time to merely take the next incremental step. Now is the time for more decisive actions,” they said, such as using long-range missiles to degrade Assad’s air power and missile capabilities. Another neo-con, Sen. Robert P. Casey Jr. (D-Pa.) said the opposition forces risk defeat without heavier weapons, but he also warned that may not be enough. “The U.S. should move swiftly to shift the balance on the ground in Syria by considering grounding the Syrian air force with stand-off weapons and protecting a safe zone in northern Syria with Patriot missiles in Turkey,” Casey said.
According to some analysts, Obama could alternatively authorize the arming and training of the Syrian opposition in Jordan without a no-fly zone. That appears unlikely according to this observers Washington interlocutors because the Pentagon wants to end the Syrian crisis by summers end, the observer was advised “rather than working long term with a motley bunch of jihadists who we could never trust or rely on. The administration has come to the conclusion apparently that if they are in for a penny they are in for a pound, meaning would not allow Iran to control Syria and Hezbollah to pocket Lebanon.”
Secretary of State Kerry had meetings with more than two dozen military specialists on 5/13/13. The Washington Post is reporting that Kerry believes supplying the rebels with weapons might be too little and too late to actually flip the balance on the Syrian ground and this calls “for a military strike to paralyze Al-Assad’s military capacities.” A Pentagon source reported that the USA, France, and Britain are considering a decisive decision to reverse the current Assad momentum and quickly construct one in favor of the rebels” within a time period not exceeding the end of this summer.
Shortly after the meetings began, King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia quickly returned to Saudi Arabia from his palace at Casa Blanca, Morocco after receiving a call from his intelligence chief, Prince Bandar Bin Sultan. Bander reportedly had a representative at the White House during the meetings with President Obama’s team. King Abdullah was reportedly advised by Kerry to be prepared for a rapid expansion of the growing regional conflict.
What happens between now and the end of summer is likely to be catastrophic for the Syrian public and perhaps Lebanon. The “chemical weapons-red line” is not taken seriously on Capitol Hill for the reason that the same “inclusive evidence” of months ago is the same that is suddenly being cited to justify what may become essentially an all-out war against the Syrian government and anyone who gets in the way. Hand wringing over the loss of 125 lives due to chemical weapons, whoever did use them, pales in comparison to the more 50,000 additional lives that will be lost in the coming months, a figure that Pentagon planners and the White House have “budgeted” as the price of toppling the Assad government.
“We are going to see a rapid escalation of the conflict”, a staffer on the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee emailed this observer: “The president has made a decision to give whatever humanitarian aid, as well as political and diplomatic support to the opposition that in necessary. Additionally direct support to the (Supreme Military Council), will be provided and that includes military support.” The staffer quoted the words of Deputy National Security Advisor Ben Rhodes to the media on 5/13/13 to the same effect.
A part of this “humanitarian assistance” the US is going to established in the coming weeks a “limited, humanitarian no-fly zone, that will begin along several miles of the Jordanian and Turkish borders in certain military areas into Syrian territory, and would be set up and presented as a limited bid to train and equip rebel forces and protect refugees. But in reality, as we saw in Libya a Syrian no fly zone would very likely include all of Syria.
Libya’s no-fly zones made plain that there is no such thing as a “limited zone”. Put briefly, a “no-fly zone” means essentially a declaration of all-out war. Once the US and its allies start a no fly zone they will expand it and intensify it as they take countless other military actions to protect its zones until the Syrian government falls. “It’s breathtaking to contemplate how this in going to end and how Iran and Russia will respond,” one source concluded.
The White House is trying to assuage the few in Congress as well as a majority of the American public that it can be a limited American involved and that the no-fly zone would not require the destruction of Syrian antiaircraft batteries. This is more nonsense. During the no-fly zone I witnessed from Libya in the summer of 2011 the US backed it up with all manner of refueling, electronic jamming, special-ops on the ground and by mid-July a kid peddling his bike was not safe. Over the 192 days of patrolling the Libyan no-fly zones, NATO countries flew 24,682 sorties including 9,204 bomb strike sorties. NATO claimed it never missed its target but that was also not true. Hundreds of civilians were killed in Libya by no-fly zone attack aircraft that either missed their targets and emptied their bomb bays before returning to base while conducting approximately 48 bombing strikes per day using a variety of bombs and missiles, including more than 350 cruise Tomahawks.
At a Congressional hearing in 2011, then US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates got it right when he explained which discussing Libya “a no-fly zone begins with an attack to destroy all the air defenses … and then you can fly planes around the country and not worry about our guys being shot down. But that’s the way it starts.”
According to the accounts published in American media, Obama could alternatively authorize the arming and training of the Syrian opposition in Jordan without a no-fly zone. That appears unlikely because the Pentagon wants to end the Syrian crisis by summers end, the observer was advised “rather than working long term with a motley bunch of jihadists who we could never trust or rely on. The administration has come to the conclusion apparently that if they are in for a penny they are in for a pound.”
In response to a question from this observer about how he thought event might unfold in this region over the coming months, a very insightful long-term congressional aid replied: “Well Franklin, maybe someone will pull a rabbit out of the hat to stop the push for war. But frankly I doubt it. From where I sit I’d wager that Syria as we have known it may soon be no more. And perhaps some other countries in the region also.”
Nearly 5,000 people in Halabja, mostly women and children immediately died a horrific death in the biggest poison gas attack in history.
The group has requested France to launch a formal investigation into the criminality of the companies.
The plaintiffs say the French companies were definitely aware of how Saddam was using their tons of chemical shipments.
“These companies working with Saddam Hussein to commit genocide against the Iraqi people must be held responsible and must pay for the terrible damage they caused against the innocent Kurds,” said Iraqi journalist Saif al-Khayat.
“There are 427 companies from around Europe that helped Saddam Hussein regime build his military arsenal. The victims of Halabja have 100,000 documents to prove it. It is amazing that many European leaders make grand speeches about human rights, but they also support their destructive arms industry,” he added.
Nearly 5,000 people, mostly women and children, immediately died a horrific death in the biggest poison gas attack in history.
Another 7,000 were injured, crippled, or suffered long-term health problems in the Halabja poison gas attack.
Since 1983, Saddam had illegally used chemical weapons against Iranians during the 1980-1988 Iraqi-imposed war, without facing any significant reaction from the international community.
France is the world’s fourth-largest arms exporter, and for decades, it has shipped weapons to dictators across the Middle East, West and North Africa and other parts of the world. Moreover, eight of the world’s top 12 arms exporters are European nations.
Twenty-five years later, the survivors are demanding justice and financial help with their myriad of health problems.
and......
Israeli army ‘using white phosphorus’ – 12 Jan 2008
Amazing Footage White Phosphorus Gaza
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2013/06/14/308970/nofly-zone-over-syria-unlikely-france/
No-fly zone over Syria unlikely without UN approval: France
Foreign-sponsored militants load a mortar in a suburb of Damascus. (File photo)
Fri Jun 14, 2013 12:58PM
LAST UPDATE
“The problem with this type of measure is that it can only be put in place with approval from the international community. A decision from the United Nations Security Council is needed and not just any decision,” French Foreign Ministry Spokesman Philippe Lalliot said in a statement on Friday.
Earlier in the day, senior Western diplomats said Washington is mulling a no-fly zone close to Syria's southern border with Jordan.
“Washington is considering a no-fly zone to help Assad's opponents … possibly near the Jordanian border,” a diplomat who spoke on condition of anonymity said.
On June 13, US Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes claimed in a White House statement that the Syrian government “has used chemical weapons, including the nerve agent, sarin, on a small scale” against the foreign-backed Takfiri militants “multiple times in the last year.”
Hawkish US Senator John McCain, who is a staunch supporter of arming the militants in Syria, said Washington should even think of plans other than sending weapons to the militants “to change the equation on the battleground.”
The turmoil in Syria erupted in March 2011, and many people, including large numbers of Syrian soldiers and security personnel, have been killed so far.
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay said on June 13 that at least 93,000 people have been killed since the outbreak of the foreign-sponsored militancy against the Syrian government.
In May, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said militants from 29 different countries were fighting against the government in different parts of the country.
MAM/KA/SS
( No boots on the ground in Syria either... )
U.S. troops now stand on the northern Jordan border adjacent to Syria, The Times of London reports. The deployment will reportedly remain there for months under the guise of a training exercise.
The White House said Friday it does not plan to send U.S. troops into Syria, despite offering aid to rebel groups fighting President Bashar al-Assad.
“Nobody has asked us to [go into Syria]. The Syrian opposition does not think that it’s a good idea,” Ben Rhodes, current Deputy National Security Adviser for Strategic Communication, said during a White House press conference Thursday evening. ”We certainly don’t think it’s in our national interest to send U.S. troops.”
The White House distinguished their actions in the Middle East from those of the previous administration’s, expressing a reluctance to enter a scenario similar to the 2003 Iraq War.
“We need to be humble here about our ability to solve the problem in Syria,” Rhodes said. “I think recent history teaches us that even when you have U.S. troops on the ground, you’re not necessarily going to be able to prevent violence amongst civilian populations. We saw that in Iraq, for instance. And at the same time, when U.S. troops are on the ground, that involves us in a much more dramatic way of making us the issue instead of the interest of the country where we are.”
Instead of sending U.S. troops into Syria, Obama plans to help opposition groups on the ground.
“Our stated national policy is for Bashar Al-Assad leave power,” Rhodes said. “It is our preference that this be done politically, but we are going to continue supporting those in Syria who are working for a post-Assad future.”
Rhodes said that the best course of action in Syria is to strengthen a “moderate opposition that would be able to represent the broader Syrian public” by providing aid to the rebel groups, but the administration has yet to comment on the specifics of the aid.
“While I understand the interests, we’re just not going to be able to get into that level of detail about the type of resistance that we provide,” Rhodes said.
“I’m not going to be able to inventory the types of support that we’re going to provide to the [Syrian Military Council], but I’d point to my previous answers — suffice it to say that a decision has been made about providing additional direct support to the SMC to strengthen their effectiveness,” Rhodes said. “This is more a situation where we’re just not going to be able to lay out an inventory of what exactly falls under the scope of that assistance, other than to communicate that we have made that decision.”
Critics opposing U.S. involvement in Syria claim that the White House can never be completely sure who receives American aid within the rebel groups — or how they will use it.
“It is unclear what national security interests we have in the civil war in Syria,” Kentucky Republicans Sen. Rand Paul wrote in a CNN.com piece warning against American intervention in the Middle East. “It is very clear that any attempt to aid the Syrian rebels would be complicated and dangerous, precisely because we don’t know who these people are.”
US and Israel to hold Syria War talks.....
http://news.antiwar.com/2013/06/13/hagel-israeli-dm-talks-to-focus-on-attacking-syria/
Hagel, Israeli DM Talks to Focus on Attacking Syria
Ya'alon to Emphasize Israel and Syria Within '10 Minutes' of War
by Jason Ditz, June 13, 2013
Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel is preparing to meet with his Israeli counterpart Moshe Ya’alon, a multi-day meeting at the Pentagon which is expected to focus almost exclusively on Syria and the prospects of Israel attacking them more.
After repeated Israeli attacks, Ya’alon is expected to emphasize a recent assessment by Israeli Air Force Chief Amir Eshel, who declared that Israeli is within “10 minutes” of a full-scale war with Syria.
Beyond that, Ya’alon is expected to press Hagel to do something to prevent Russia from delivering S-300 air defense systems to Syria, which would make it more difficult for Israel to launch air strikes against them.
Israeli officials have repeatedly told Russia and anyone else that will listen that the delivery of the S-300s will mean war, and Ya’alon even made comments suggesting that Israel was open to attacking the Russian Navy to try to sink the S-300s before their delivery.
Turkey urges action against Syria after chemical weapon revelations.....
( Is Assad becoming the lesser evil for Syrians - actual Syrians not Qatari / Saudis mercenaries or Al Qaeda islamists ? )
Assad: Winning Hearts, Minds and Battles in Syria
by Stephen Lendman
Most Syrians support Assad. They do so for good reason. Mass crowds turn out in liberated areas. Syria’s military is cheered.
Polls show over two-thirds of Syrians back their government. The longer conflict continues, the greater Assad backing grows.
It’s not surprising. Syrians want no part of living under a Washington-imposed dictatorship. They’re willing to sacrifice, fight and die to prevent it. They’ve come this far and won’t quit.
Obama and imperial allies are worried. John Kerry planned a fifth Middle East visit this week. On Tuesday, he was expected in Israel. He’s not coming. He’ll stay in Washington.
High-level meetings on Syria are ongoing. Assad’s been routing US proxy foot soldiers. Qusayar and other impressive victories were won. Syrian forces control most parts of the country.
At issue is what Washington plans next. Supposed consideration about providing weapons doesn’t wash. It’s been ongoing covertly since conflict began. CIA and US special forces are involved.
Perhaps what’s well known will be admitted publicly. Desperation pervades Washington. Regime change plans aren’t going as intended.
Israeli Minister of Intelligence, International Relations and Strategic Affairs Yuval Steinitz admits Assad has the upper hand. He’s beating America at its own game. He’s far from declaring victory.
Washington has powerful tools to use. At issue is what’s planned. Headlines suggest US concerns. On June 10, The New York Times said “Rebel Losses in Syria Complicate Options for US Aid.”
Assad’s gains “prompt(ed) the Obama administration to again consider military options, including arming the rebels and conducting airstrikes to protect civilians and the Syrian opposition, administration officials said on Monday.”
Jeffrey White’s a pro-Israeli Washington Institute for Near East Policy (WINEP) fellow. “I think the rebels are in trouble,” he said. “Speed is of the essence. The regime’s momentum needs to be brought to a halt.”
Insurgent general Salim Idris expressed alarm. Assad’s victories give him no leverage to negotiate. He won’t attend Geneva II without a position of strength.
“What can we ask for when we go very weak,” he said. The Russians and the Iranians and the representatives of the regime will say: ‘You don’t have any power. We are controlling everything. What you are coming to ask for?”
Idris is a turncoat traitor. He was bribed to defect. He sold out for personal gain. He’s in no position to make demands. He should be arrested and tried for treason.
He betrayed his own people. He allied with Washington’s imperial agenda. It’s responsible for mass slaughter and destruction.
Obama’s plans haven’t gone as expected. Assad’s in a position of strength. America lost considerable leverage.
Regaining it, said The Times, depends on greater US intervention. According to the Wall Street Journal, “key US officials have begun to argue that (Assad) now looks likely to survive the war and cling to power.”
Thomas Donnelly‘s an American Enterprise Institute research fellow. AEI is consistently hawkish. It’s notoriously far right of center. On June 7, Donnelly headlined “Losing the Middle East,” saying:
Significant Syrian victories suggest “there is nothing inevitable about the fall of the House of Assad.” They may prove more important than “tactical gain(s).”
Pivotal Aleppo and Homs battles loom. Insurgents are heavily outmanned and outgunned. Routing them from these cities and surrounding areas may entirely turn the tide of war.
It may do so short of direct US-led NATO intervention. It will impede arms flows from Turkey. It will further do so from Lebanon.
According to Donnelly, prevailing in Aleppo would be “crushing” on insurgent forces. Former Obama State Department adviser Vali Nasr said Assad gains benefit Iran.
It “strengthened its relationship with Russia, which may prove to be the most important strategic consequence of the Syrian conflict, should the US continue to sit it out.”
Moscow appears increasingly determined not to let Washington prevail. Supplying Syria sophisticated air defense systems, other military aid, and maintaining a Mediterranean fleet presence suggests it perhaps drew its own red line. It’s badly needed.
According to Donnelly, Obama “let(ting) the Middle East burn is play(ing) with a very dangerous fire.” It keeps burning “if you refuse to fight (it). Sometimes (things) spread and rage out of control.”
Donnelly wants direct US intervention. So does AEI resident fellow/ Fox News contributor Michael Barone. On June 8, he headlined “America will pay a price for President Obama’s inaction in Syria.”
He expected to prevail easily. So did key administration officials advising him. Best laid plans don’t always succeed. No easy choices remain. “(N)on-intervention has a price,” said Barone.
“Obama seems likely to continue his policy of inaction in Syria, for which America will probably pay a price – if not immediately, then some time in the future.”
Like Donnelly and other uberhawks, Barone supports direct intervention. He may get what he wishes for. Other AEI ideologues urge a no-fly zone and targeted air strikes. So have other Beltway warmongers.
Assad’s sophisticated air defense systems won’t make it easy. They’ll challenge overflights and incoming cruise missiles. Syrian forces haven’t come this far to quit.
It remans to be seen if discussions in Washington plan Libya 2.0. Increasing arms and munitions to insurgents alone won’t work. Other options are being considered.
According to National Security Council spokeswoman Bernadette Meehan:
“At the president’s direction, his national security team continues to consider all possible options that would accomplish our objectives of helping the Syrian opposition serve the essential needs of the Syrian people and hastening a political transition to a post-Assad Syria.”
“We have prepared a wide range of options for the president’s consideration, and internal meetings to discuss the situation in Syria are routine.”
“The United States will continue to look for ways to strengthen the capabilities of the Syrian opposition, though we have no new announcements at this time.”
Peace is off the table. Geneva II if held is pretext for regime change. Without leverage to force it, it’ll fail like last year. Perhaps it’ll be called off or postponed.
In June 2012, talks were called a “last-ditch effort” to halt violence. More deaths occurred since then than before. Washington’s agenda remains unchanged. Assad must go is policy. Obama wants him replaced with a US-controlled puppet.
Syrian blood is on his hands. How much more he’ll spill remains to be seen. His death squads do it daily. They murder noncombatant civilians and commit unspeakable atrocities. They’ve done it throughout the conflict.
They’ve used chemical weapons blamed on Assad. They murder people in their homes. They kill children and women. It’s no surprise why Syrians deplore them. They’re invaders. They’re recruited from regional and other countries.
They’re Western-sponsored death squads. Assad’s routing them decisively. Short of US-led NATO intervention, he won the battle for Syria.
Doing so doesn’t mean conflict will end. It certainly won’t soon. Guerrilla tactics can continue interminably. Washington policymakers may have that in mind. It remains to be seen what follows.
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/turkey-urges-stronger-stance-against-syria-after-us-accusations-of-chemical-weapon-use.aspx?pageID=238&nID=48808&NewsCatID=338
Turkey urges stronger stance against Syria after US accusations of chemical weapon use
Members of the Free Syrian Army run to avoid a sniper in Deir al-Zor, June 13, 2013. Picture taken June 13, 2013. REUTERS/Khalil Ashawi
A Turkish Foreign Ministry statement released Friday calls on the international community to "unite and openly manifest its stance" against Syrian President Bashar Assad. It stated the regime's attacks must be halted and a "democratic transition process" must start in Syria.
Asked about the U.S. assertions, Turkish President Abdullah Gül said: “These are very serious assessments. Using chemical weapons is like a small nuclear weapon. The dimension of this is very dangerous. We know what has been experienced in Halabja. I am sure all diplomats and analysts are evaluating these claims. If this finding has been proved precisely, then it is certain that all things will enter another phase.”
Turkey has said preliminary tests on some injured Syrians indicated that chemical weapons had been used. The country is a major backer of the Syrian opposition.
U.S. officials said President Barack Obama has authorized sending weapons to Syrian rebels after the White House disclosed that Assad's forces used chemical weapons.
US to provide direct military support to Syria rebels
The United States on June 13 accused Syria of using chemical weapons against the rebels, and announced it would offer "military support" to the forces battling President Bashar al-Assad. The declaration - alleging that up to 150 people have been killed in chemical weapons attacks - means that Syria has crossed what President Barack Obama has called a "red line" in the crisis.
But Washington has not yet decided whether to implement a no-fly zone over Syria, where more than 90,000 people have been killed since the conflict erupted in March 2011, according to the United Nations.
"Our intelligence community assesses 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," deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes said in a White House statement.
"The intelligence community estimates that 100 to 150 people have died from detected chemical weapons attacks in Syria to date," he said.
"The president has been clear that the use of chemical weapons -- or the transfer of chemical weapons to terrorist groups - is a red line for the United States," Rhodes noted.
Rhodes did not say if the United States was moving towards directly arming the rebels battling Assad, but said Obama "will be consulting with Congress on these matters in the coming weeks." "The United States and the international community have a number of other legal, financial, diplomatic, and military responses available," he said.
"The president has made a decision about providing more support to the opposition. That will involve providing direct support to the (rebel) Supreme Military Council. That includes military support," Rhodes said, without offering details.
Meanwhile, "It's been reported to me by reliable sources that the president... has decided, he's reached the conclusion that they used chemical weapons, and that they are going to provide arms to the rebels," U.S. Senator McCain told reporters.
Why the US is rushing to do " something " regarding Syria now.....
http://beforeitsnews.com/alternative/2013/06/why-obama-is-declaring-war-on-syria-2683316.html
Why Obama is Declaring War on Syria
Friday, June 14, 2013 14:11
by FRANKLIN LAMB
Beirut.The short answer is Iran and Hezbollah according to Congressional sources. “The Syrian army’s victory at al-Qusayr was more than the administration could accept given that town’s strategic position in the region. Its capture by the Assad forces has essentially added Syria to Iran’s list of victories starting with Afghanistan, Lebanon, Iraq, as well as its growing influence in the Gulf.”
Other sources are asserting that Obama actually did not want to invoke direct military aid the rebels fighting to topple the Assad government or even to make use of American military power in Syria for several reasons. Among these are the lack of American public support for yet another American war in the Middle East, the fact that there appears to be no acceptable alternative to the Assad government on the horizon, the position of the US intelligence community and the State Department and Pentagon that intervention in Syria would potentially turn out very badly for the US and gut what’s left of its influence in the region. It short, that the US getting involved in Syria could turn out even worse than Iraq, by intensifying a regional sectarian war without any positive outcome in sight.
Obama was apparently serious earlier about a negotiated diplomatic settlement pre-Qusayr and there were even some positives signs coming from Damascus, Moscow, and even Tehran John Kerry claimed. But that has changed partly because Russia and the US have both hardened their demands. Consequently, the Obama administration has now essentially thrown in the towel on the diplomatic track. This observer was advised by more than one Congressional staffer that Obama’s team has concluded that the Assad government was not getting their message or taking them seriously and that Assad’s recent military gains and rising popular support meant that a serious Geneva II initiative was not going to happen.
In addition, Obama has been weakened recently by domestic politics and a number of distractions and potential scandals not least of which is the disclosures regarding the massive NSA privacy invasion. In addition, the war lobby led by Senators McClain and Lindsay Graham is still pounding their drums and claim that Obama would be in violation of his oath of office and by jeopardizing the national security interest of the United States by allowing Iran to essentially own Syria once Assad quells the uprising.” Both Senators welcomed the chemical weapons assessment. For months they have been saying that Obama has not been doing enough to help the rebels. “U.S. credibility is on the line,” they said in a joint statement this week. “Now is not the time to merely take the next incremental step. Now is the time for more decisive actions,” they said, such as using long-range missiles to degrade Assad’s air power and missile capabilities. Another neo-con, Sen. Robert P. Casey Jr. (D-Pa.) said the opposition forces risk defeat without heavier weapons, but he also warned that may not be enough. “The U.S. should move swiftly to shift the balance on the ground in Syria by considering grounding the Syrian air force with stand-off weapons and protecting a safe zone in northern Syria with Patriot missiles in Turkey,” Casey said.
According to some analysts, Obama could alternatively authorize the arming and training of the Syrian opposition in Jordan without a no-fly zone. That appears unlikely according to this observers Washington interlocutors because the Pentagon wants to end the Syrian crisis by summers end, the observer was advised “rather than working long term with a motley bunch of jihadists who we could never trust or rely on. The administration has come to the conclusion apparently that if they are in for a penny they are in for a pound, meaning would not allow Iran to control Syria and Hezbollah to pocket Lebanon.”
Secretary of State Kerry had meetings with more than two dozen military specialists on 5/13/13. The Washington Post is reporting that Kerry believes supplying the rebels with weapons might be too little and too late to actually flip the balance on the Syrian ground and this calls “for a military strike to paralyze Al-Assad’s military capacities.” A Pentagon source reported that the USA, France, and Britain are considering a decisive decision to reverse the current Assad momentum and quickly construct one in favor of the rebels” within a time period not exceeding the end of this summer.
Shortly after the meetings began, King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia quickly returned to Saudi Arabia from his palace at Casa Blanca, Morocco after receiving a call from his intelligence chief, Prince Bandar Bin Sultan. Bander reportedly had a representative at the White House during the meetings with President Obama’s team. King Abdullah was reportedly advised by Kerry to be prepared for a rapid expansion of the growing regional conflict.
What happens between now and the end of summer is likely to be catastrophic for the Syrian public and perhaps Lebanon. The “chemical weapons-red line” is not taken seriously on Capitol Hill for the reason that the same “inclusive evidence” of months ago is the same that is suddenly being cited to justify what may become essentially an all-out war against the Syrian government and anyone who gets in the way. Hand wringing over the loss of 125 lives due to chemical weapons, whoever did use them, pales in comparison to the more 50,000 additional lives that will be lost in the coming months, a figure that Pentagon planners and the White House have “budgeted” as the price of toppling the Assad government.
“We are going to see a rapid escalation of the conflict”, a staffer on the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee emailed this observer: “The president has made a decision to give whatever humanitarian aid, as well as political and diplomatic support to the opposition that in necessary. Additionally direct support to the (Supreme Military Council), will be provided and that includes military support.” The staffer quoted the words of Deputy National Security Advisor Ben Rhodes to the media on 5/13/13 to the same effect.
A part of this “humanitarian assistance” the US is going to established in the coming weeks a “limited, humanitarian no-fly zone, that will begin along several miles of the Jordanian and Turkish borders in certain military areas into Syrian territory, and would be set up and presented as a limited bid to train and equip rebel forces and protect refugees. But in reality, as we saw in Libya a Syrian no fly zone would very likely include all of Syria.
Libya’s no-fly zones made plain that there is no such thing as a “limited zone”. Put briefly, a “no-fly zone” means essentially a declaration of all-out war. Once the US and its allies start a no fly zone they will expand it and intensify it as they take countless other military actions to protect its zones until the Syrian government falls. “It’s breathtaking to contemplate how this in going to end and how Iran and Russia will respond,” one source concluded.
The White House is trying to assuage the few in Congress as well as a majority of the American public that it can be a limited American involved and that the no-fly zone would not require the destruction of Syrian antiaircraft batteries. This is more nonsense. During the no-fly zone I witnessed from Libya in the summer of 2011 the US backed it up with all manner of refueling, electronic jamming, special-ops on the ground and by mid-July a kid peddling his bike was not safe. Over the 192 days of patrolling the Libyan no-fly zones, NATO countries flew 24,682 sorties including 9,204 bomb strike sorties. NATO claimed it never missed its target but that was also not true. Hundreds of civilians were killed in Libya by no-fly zone attack aircraft that either missed their targets and emptied their bomb bays before returning to base while conducting approximately 48 bombing strikes per day using a variety of bombs and missiles, including more than 350 cruise Tomahawks.
At a Congressional hearing in 2011, then US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates got it right when he explained which discussing Libya “a no-fly zone begins with an attack to destroy all the air defenses … and then you can fly planes around the country and not worry about our guys being shot down. But that’s the way it starts.”
According to the accounts published in American media, Obama could alternatively authorize the arming and training of the Syrian opposition in Jordan without a no-fly zone. That appears unlikely because the Pentagon wants to end the Syrian crisis by summers end, the observer was advised “rather than working long term with a motley bunch of jihadists who we could never trust or rely on. The administration has come to the conclusion apparently that if they are in for a penny they are in for a pound.”
In response to a question from this observer about how he thought event might unfold in this region over the coming months, a very insightful long-term congressional aid replied: “Well Franklin, maybe someone will pull a rabbit out of the hat to stop the push for war. But frankly I doubt it. From where I sit I’d wager that Syria as we have known it may soon be no more. And perhaps some other countries in the region also.”
And some perspective on chemical warfare from years gone by - and the reaction then to thousands actually killed by Saddam ..Or when used against Palestinians.....
Iraqi victims of Halabja chemical attack sue French firms
Fri Jun 14, 2013 4:40PM GMT
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A group of Kurdish victims of the 1988 chemical attack against the Iraqi city of Halabja are filing a lawsuit against two French companies for supplying chemical weapons to Iraq’s former dictator Saddam Hussein, Press TVreports.
The group has requested France to launch a formal investigation into the criminality of the companies.
The plaintiffs say the French companies were definitely aware of how Saddam was using their tons of chemical shipments.
“These companies working with Saddam Hussein to commit genocide against the Iraqi people must be held responsible and must pay for the terrible damage they caused against the innocent Kurds,” said Iraqi journalist Saif al-Khayat.
“There are 427 companies from around Europe that helped Saddam Hussein regime build his military arsenal. The victims of Halabja have 100,000 documents to prove it. It is amazing that many European leaders make grand speeches about human rights, but they also support their destructive arms industry,” he added.
Nearly 5,000 people, mostly women and children, immediately died a horrific death in the biggest poison gas attack in history.
Another 7,000 were injured, crippled, or suffered long-term health problems in the Halabja poison gas attack.
Since 1983, Saddam had illegally used chemical weapons against Iranians during the 1980-1988 Iraqi-imposed war, without facing any significant reaction from the international community.
France is the world’s fourth-largest arms exporter, and for decades, it has shipped weapons to dictators across the Middle East, West and North Africa and other parts of the world. Moreover, eight of the world’s top 12 arms exporters are European nations.
Twenty-five years later, the survivors are demanding justice and financial help with their myriad of health problems.
and......
The US Syria Chemical Weapon Ruse
US Using Main Stream Media to Sell Arming of Syrian Rebels to Unsuspecting American Public
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by Johnny Punish
Today, the U.S. Government announced that it will “officially” arm Syrian rebels with weapons because Syria has been caught using chemical weapons on it’s people.
Excuse me while I laugh!
The U.S., in attempt to justify its actions, is using this so-called crossing the line sales pitch as an excuse to officially get involved.
As the whole world knows, Israel used chemical weapons killing and maiming thousands of men, women and children in Gaza 2008 and the u.S. did nothing. In fact, the chemical weapon used was White Phosphorus; made in the USA and delivered by U.S. taxpayer funded and paid for IDF planes.
Israeli army ‘using white phosphorus’ – 12 Jan 2008
YouTube - Veterans Today -
Amazing Footage White Phosphorus Gaza
YouTube - Veterans Today -
In my view, the pathetic con men running the military industrial complex always need an excuse that they can “sell” to the American people to justify their actions. We’ve seen this story over and over again whether it be fake Weapons of Mass Destruction in Iraq or the creation a fake terrorist to rally the over-worked American peoples for over a decade so that the globalist rulers could rape and pillage with the enthusiastic support of the very people they robbed.
As for Syria, well, now they claim Syria is using chemical weapons against human beings. Whether they are or not, they offer no evidence yet. But I am sure they will come up with something that looks good on CNN for the public consumption. I am thinking maybe a cartoon video presented by Colin Powell…that’s worked before. Or maybe they get that fake terrorist actor guy from IRON MAN 3; actor Ben Kingsley! That would be cool.
All joking aside, the reality is that the American peoples are so busy working and putting food on their tables that they have no time to investigate the truth that the U.s. Israeli axis of global power has already used chemical weapons on human beings. But in the bizarro world of this New World Order, facts don’t matter….only propaganda that fits the today’s news cycle!
Hey, business is business right? Cha-Ching! Hey, I wonder who’s going to win The Voice?
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