Author Topic: It’s coming: US finalizing plans for military strike on Syria  (Read 945 times)

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Offline happyg

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Two unnamed White House officials told the Associated Press that the Obama administration is still deciding on what Syrian targets will be attacked and to what degree during a military strike that now seems inevitable.

While the strike itself will be conducted only after the White House presents the public with what it believes is “undeniable” proof of chemical weapon use carried out by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, intelligence agencies and policy makers are struggling to decide what goals they hope to achieve by launching an attack.

One of the officials granted anonymity to speak to the AP said, "If there is action taken, it must be clearly defined what the objective is and why" and based on "clear facts.” Meanwhile, another official briefed on a potential strike told the Los Angeles Times that the White House may opt for an attack "just muscular enough not to get mocked," but one that wouldn’t be severe enough to warrant a response from Syrian allies Iran and Russia.

"They are looking at what is just enough to mean something, just enough to be more than symbolic," the Times quoted the source as saying.

The US and its allies already have enough resources throughout the region to strike Syria at any moment. Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel said earlier this week that the American military “was in place to be able to fulfill and comply with whatever option the president wishes to take.” Once Pres. Obama authorizes a strike, he said, US forces were “ready to go, like that.”



Leading White House officials have said previously that a strike will likely be launched with the use of American ships mobilized in the Mediterranean Sea, but Reuters reported that additional firepower could be called up from across Europe and Asia.

According to Reuters, the US may be assisted by a French aircraft carrier, at least one French submarine or ship and at least one British cruise missile-carrying nuclear submarine ready to deploy in the Mediterranean. Additionally, the US has F-16 fighter jets ready to fly over Syria and strike from the sky, and has air-defense Patriot missiles adjacent to both Syria’s northern and southern borders. NATO maintains Patriot missiles to the north in Turkey, and the US has an arsenal of their own to the south in Jordan left behind following a military exercise there earlier this year.

Between the US and its European allies, military bases in Bahrain, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Cyprus and Turkey could all be utilized as well for the limited strike once it is officially ordered to occur.

On Tuesday, Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem said his country would use “all means available” to defend against a US strike.

"We have the means to defend ourselves and we will surprise everyone," he said Tuesday, according to the AP. "We will defend ourselves using all means available. I don't want to say more than that," he added.

http://rt.com/usa/us-military-syria-strike-111/

Oceander

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Re: It’s coming: US finalizing plans for military strike on Syria
« Reply #1 on: August 29, 2013, 01:40:48 am »
This is nothing more than orchestrated theatre for the sake of stroking Obama's wounded ego and trying to distract from the burgeoning scandals.

Offline mountaineer

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Re: It’s coming: US finalizing plans for military strike on Syria
« Reply #2 on: August 29, 2013, 01:35:03 pm »
The "what ifs" of the attack:


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Offline massadvj

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Re: It’s coming: US finalizing plans for military strike on Syria
« Reply #3 on: August 29, 2013, 01:48:09 pm »
"They are looking at what is just enough to mean something, just enough to be more than symbolic," the Times quoted the source as saying.

 :silly:    8888crybaby

Oceander

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Re: It’s coming: US finalizing plans for military strike on Syria
« Reply #4 on: August 30, 2013, 04:23:05 am »
It's coming, it's coming, it's ....  Snails come at a faster pace than this.

Does anyone not think that the Syrians are now very well-prepared to minimize any real damage to the extent possible?  I'm quite sure that they've left some sacrificial targets in place - they know it would make Obama all warm and toasty if he could go on television and show those smart-bomb targeting videos of a smart bomb taking out some air-to-air missile emplacement - a missile emplacement containing outdated, obsolete missiles that the Russians were just about to replace anyways.  In other words, by now the Syrians can give Obama all the visual goodies he wants for his little political theater without actually suffering substantial damage to the military assets they value the most.  And not only that, the Syrians will get a windfall out of the increased anger and hatred of the US any attack on Syria will cause amongst people in the Middle East and elsewhere.  Honestly, I really don't see the Syrians as taking much of a devastating hit from this.

Offline EC

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Re: It’s coming: US finalizing plans for military strike on Syria
« Reply #5 on: August 30, 2013, 10:43:31 am »
The Syrians have been moving assets, dispersing them into hardened shelters. It's a bit inconvenient to need to do that during a civil war, but it means there will be minimal loss of military strength when the attacks happen.
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