Author Topic: Four battleships move within striking range of Syria as President Obama weighs military options after a reported 1,300 are killed in nerve gas attack on Damascus  (Read 1899 times)

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Offline flowers

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    Activists report that a nerve gas attack near Damascus Wednesday killed as many as 1,300
    President Obama is said to be weighing his military options after he warned President Bashar Assad that chemical weapons use would be crossing a 'red line'
    Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said the nerve gas attack needs to be verified but that it 'appears to be what happened'
    UN representative Angela Kane arrived in Syria today to ask President Assad to let investigators into the country to look into the claim
    Military officials told the Associated Press that  four battleships have been moved within the striking zone of Syria and could be used for a Tomahawk missile attack



In light of new reports that the Syrian government used nerve gas against it's own citizens, killing at least 213 and as many as 1,300, President Obama is  considering military options to respond to an action he previously warned the Assad government was crossing a 'red line'.

U.S. naval forces are moving closer as the president emphasized that a quick intervention in the Syrian civil war was problematic, given the international considerations that should precede a military strike.

The White House said the president would meet Saturday with his national security team to consider possible next steps by the United States.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2401382/Syria-U-S-battleships-Obama-weighs-options-1-300-killed-nerve-gas-attack.html


Offline Atomic Cow

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We don't have battleships and haven't since the early 1990s.  The author of the article is an idiot.
"...And these atomic bombs which science burst upon the world that night were strange, even to the men who used them."  H. G. Wells, The World Set Free, 1914

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Offline Cincinnatus

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The author of the article is an idiot.

The people he's writing about are even bigger idiots and may well get us involved in a pointless war in the ME.
We shall never be abandoned by Heaven while we act worthy of its aid ~~ Samuel Adams

Offline SlapLeather

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Isaiah 17

“See, Damascus will no longer be a city
    but will become a heap of ruins.
2 The cities of Aroer will be deserted
    and left to flocks, which will lie down,
    with no one to make them afraid.
3 The fortified city will disappear from Ephraim,
    and royal power from Damascus;
the remnant of Aram will be
    like the glory of the Israelites,”
declares the Lord Almighty.
4 “In that day the glory of Jacob will fade;
    the fat of his body will waste away.
5 It will be as when reapers harvest the standing grain,
    gathering the grain in their arms—
as when someone gleans heads of grain
    in the Valley of Rephaim.
6 Yet some gleanings will remain,
    as when an olive tree is beaten,
leaving two or three olives on the topmost branches,
    four or five on the fruitful boughs,”
declares the Lord, the God of Israel.
7 In that day people will look to their Maker
    and turn their eyes to the Holy One of Israel.
8 They will not look to the altars,
    the work of their hands,
and they will have no regard for the Asherah poles[a]
    and the incense altars their fingers have made.
9 In that day their strong cities, which they left because of the Israelites, will be like places abandoned to thickets and undergrowth. And all will be desolation.

10 You have forgotten God your Savior;
    you have not remembered the Rock, your fortress.
Therefore, though you set out the finest plants
    and plant imported vines,
11 though on the day you set them out, you make them grow,
    and on the morning when you plant them, you bring them to bud,
yet the harvest will be as nothing
    in the day of disease and incurable pain.
12 Woe to the many nations that rage—
    they rage like the raging sea!
Woe to the peoples who roar—
    they roar like the roaring of great waters!
13 Although the peoples roar like the roar of surging waters,
    when he rebukes them they flee far away,
driven before the wind like chaff on the hills,
    like tumbleweed before a gale.
14 In the evening, sudden terror!
    Before the morning, they are gone!
This is the portion of those who loot us,
    the lot of those who plunder us.

Oceander

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The White House said the president would meet Saturday with his national security team to consider possible next steps by the United States.

Firing off blank rounds at night, so they make the sky all sparkly?

Offline Fishrrman

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[[ Four battleships move within striking range of Syria... ]]

"Battleships"? Which ones? The Iowa, the Missouri?

One more example of idiot reporting.

The troubling thing is -- how many really believe them ?

Offline EC

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[[ Four battleships move within striking range of Syria... ]]

"Battleships"? Which ones? The Iowa, the Missouri?

One more example of idiot reporting.

The troubling thing is -- how many really believe them ?

Thing is, it sounds good. The Mail is not noted for it's accuracy at the best of times, preferring sensationalism to truth. After all: they are technically ships that do battle ....  :whistle:
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Offline mountaineer

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US military ready to act over Syria chemical claims: Hagel
By Daniel De Luce | AFP via Yahoo News – 1 hr 50 mins ago

Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said Sunday the US military was ready to take action against the Syrian regime if ordered, but stressed that Washington was still evaluating claims of a chemical weapons attack.

"President Obama has asked the Defense Department to prepare options for all contingencies. We have done that," Hagel told reporters in the Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur.

"Again, we are prepared to exercise whatever option, if he decides to employ one of those options."

He said the US and its allies were assessing intelligence on allegations that President Bashar al-Assad's forces unleashed chemical weapons in an attack near Damascus last week as he battles an uprising that began in March 2011.

"I wouldn't go further than that, until we have more intelligence based on facts," Hagel said.

Hagel spoke after a meeting with his Malaysian counterpart, Hishammuddin Hussein, as he started a week-long Southeast Asia tour to stress Washington's much-touted renewed focus on the Asia-Pacific region.

But his attention has been diverted by crises in Syria and Egypt, where security forces have cracked down on supporters of ousted Islamist president Mohamed Morsi.

Hagel phoned Egypt's army chief from Kuala Lumpur to appeal for a peaceful resolution of political conflicts there, and has been in touch with top US national security advisers on Syria.

Hagel reiterated the US military had presented a range of military options to President Barack Obama over the apparent chemical attack that has sparked international revulsion.

On his flight to Malaysia from Hawaii, he told reporters the American military was moving forces into place as needed, amid speculation Washington might opt for cruise missile strikes to punish Assad's regime.

Obama and British Prime Minister David Cameron appeared to move closer to pinning blame on Assad's forces.

A Downing Street statement said the US and British leaders "are both gravely concerned by... increasing signs that this was a significant chemical weapons attack carried out by the Syrian regime against its own people".

The Syrian government and rebel forces have accused each other of using chemical weapons.

Doctors Without Borders said 355 people had died of "neurotoxic" symptoms stemming from Wednesday's incident.

The United Nations says more than 100,000 people have been killed in the Syrian uprising.

Hagel later gave a speech in which he underlined Washington's bid to rebalance America's strategic focus towards the Asia-Pacific.

The tilt to Asia is seen as based in part on the region's growing economic importance and to counterbalance the expanding military might of China.

Beijing has been accused of raising tensions by aggressively asserting its disputed claim to virtually all of the South China Sea.

Hagel said Washington was "troubled" by a series of resulting confrontations, calling for restraint and a regional agreement on a set of rules to avoid conflict at sea.

China has long been accused of dragging its feet on the idea but this year has agreed to meet Southeast Asian countries to discuss it.

The Pentagon is offering help to regional states in the form of material and training as they try to better monitor their waters.

A senior defence official travelling with Hagel rejected the "myth" that Pentagon budget cuts imperil the Asia "pivot".

"We have adequate means to support this strategy and to do so for the foreseeable future," the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The United States was increasing the number of naval ships in the Asia-Pacific and pursuing agreements to allow vessels, aircraft and troops to rotate through key ports and airfields while avoiding permanent American bases, the official said.

After his two-day stop in Malaysia, Hagel heads to Indonesia and then Brunei for a regional defence gathering that will include China.
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Oceander

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On his flight to Malaysia from Hawaii, he told reporters the American military was moving forces into place as needed, amid speculation Washington might opt for cruise missile strikes to punish Assad's regime.

Cruise missiles are so yesterday.  Why not use Obama's favorite means of attack - unmanned drones - after all, not only do they also blow things up, they let Obama make his own home snuff movies at the same time.

Offline kevindavis007

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So we are helping the rebels who did the chemical weapon attack?
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Offline Cincinnatus

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So we are helping the rebels who did the chemical weapon attack?

Pretty much. It's obvious Obama wants Assad out and the Muslim Brotherhood in, just like in Egypt. The question is: how far will he go to achieve that goal?
We shall never be abandoned by Heaven while we act worthy of its aid ~~ Samuel Adams

Offline Cincinnatus

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This caught my eye: Hagel said Washington was "troubled" by a series of resulting confrontations, calling for restraint and a regional agreement on a set of rules to avoid conflict at sea.

I believe what Hagel actually did was send a Hallmark card to the Chinese asking for them to be our friends and also pleading with them not to hit us as we are bleeders. With love, Chuckie and Barack.
We shall never be abandoned by Heaven while we act worthy of its aid ~~ Samuel Adams

Offline kevindavis007

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So we are helping the rebels who did the chemical weapon attack?

Pretty much. It's obvious Obama wants Assad out and the Muslim Brotherhood in, just like in Egypt. The question is: how far will he go to achieve that goal?

Here is thing.. What will Russia do??? They are helping the Syrian Government..
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Offline 240B

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Comparing a DDG or a Frigate to a Battleship is like comparing a Toyota pickup to a Mack truck frieght hauler.

Me thinks the author meant to say 'warships', which would be correct.
You cannot "COEXIST" with people who want to kill you.
If they kill their own with no conscience, there is nothing to stop them from killing you.
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Offline mountaineer

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So we are helping the rebels who did the chemical weapon attack?
Hell, we probably bought the chemicals for them.
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Offline ABX

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Offline Ghost Bear

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Let it burn.

Offline ABX

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Heh heh, I see what you did there...    :pop41:

Bumped about a half dozen old articles that are dominoes on how we got here.