Syria - Update and Information thread

NPR Article

Reuters reports that during a press briefing, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said the new concerns are prompting the White House to prepare contingency plans.

I was listening to NPR on the way home from work last night. Those of you in the US know that NPR isn't one to over-dramatize or sensationalize. Their reporter in Washington said she had spoken to "sources" and the contingency plans were:

1. Sending in Special Forces to secure the chemical weapons sites. However, the Pentagon believes 75,000 troops would be needed to accomplish this because there are so many sites and they're spread far and wide around Syria. (Israel called up 75,000 reserves for the recent Gaza conflict but never used them. Hmmmm...)

2. Preemptively bombing the sites so that Assad can't use them, but also so that they don't fall into the wrong hands - something that Israel and the US are both very nervous about. It was even suggested that Israel could do the bombing. The worry here is that bombing the sites could obviously create a chemical cloud of doom.

Is anybody else both amazed and yet totally unsurprised at how this is all playing out?

reply to post by Curio


Yes but the sad thing is we are just going to sit here and whatch this happen,and be left with another told you so,what isn't being mentioned is the bloodshed would have stopped or not escalated a long time ago if NATO and friends hadn't been involved,and it seems there armchair supporters believe the illegal overthrow of foreign goverments and outright murder of it's citizens is totally acceptible,as long as it's not on there doors step
With freedom comes responsibility people..

Thought I would bring a map I found of "rebel activity" in Syria. Its a bit older (OCT.) but shows the areas of influence or "avenues" that the rebels come and go into Syria. The situation is fluid and like I said the map is older. It doesn't take a tactician to see that the areas of "infiltration" occur along the borders of the country. That the revolution is imported from the outside.

Since the rebels don't have an air force to speak of, their only means of advance into Syria is on the ground from the countries around Syria. According to this map those countries are Turkey in the north, Iraq to the east, and Lebanon / Jordan to the South.

Now if the warmongers can just get a "no fly zone" over the country's airspace, they can accelerate the process of Libya-ization of Syria.


Source of Pic:

www.economist.com...

I can't find a link online, but I heard on Fox News a few minutes ago that some US troops are being deployed to the Syria/Turkey border.

reply to post by ffman


They've been there for over a year now vetting arms , supplies ,fighters, communications and drone support into Syia, that's why Syria is bombing these border regions because most of these "fsa" are coming from outside of there country

Seems that the Chemical lie are been used as a pretext for war.

Breaking From a Reporter in Syria Damascus

The western Reporter Tim Marshall who was granted access in Syria has reported.

Hard to gauge but clearly a significant amount of fighting is by jihadists. Al Nusra emerging as a real force.

Not a very good sign.

I posted something earlier abt the US contemplating adding them to the 'official terrorist list'...Why?! Why now?!

They couldn't possibly be thinking of turning this into 'going after al qaeda', could they?!?? That seems insane, and absurd, even for them...

There's some twist in progress here, besides the chemical weapons thing...

Or, is that it? They're going to acknowledge a.q. now, so that if they can't pull off a credible ' Assad did it', and they want to keep the fiction of the 'freedom fighters' intact, they've got a.q. to 'save everyone from' ?

It's hard for a 'normal' person to figure this pyschotic # out...

it's been reported that the USS Eisenhower is close to Syria right now, I wonder if it's true or not. I remember someone posting a website with the locations of the US warships/aircraft carriers a while ago, what was the link again? Would be interesting to see what the website has to say

ETA:

The French are preparing to intervene in Syria

use the translator of Google Chrome

A troubling video appears on YouTube showing rebel fighters testing chemical weapons in Syria

the video is included in this link, warning though: they test it on 2 rabbits :/

I just wrote a summary in another thread and thought I'd post it here. I did some reading up on the background. For anyone not aware, and feel free to correct me. Also, I know this is overly simplified:

Look, here's a little info, according to my understanding of it:

Assad is probably not an entirely nice guy, though by all appearances he is not nearly half the tyrant his father was, and Syria is pretty much a police state, think Gestapo and the Stasi, though Assad has made some reforms in the last few years.

His father came to rule by an overthrow of the previous govt. During that time, one of the things that happened, was a Muslim Brotherhood uprising, which he put down, brutally yes, but that's pretty much the gist, and you can then see why the ever deepening police state. About 10 years before he died, he got sick and was just about overthrown himself...by his brother, who was pretty much in charge of the military. Yeah. He got better, exiled his brother, jailed/killed the others involved, and carried on. He died and the son came to power, much to the bitterness of the brother. The brother is exiled in France, and guess what? He's all for the 'rebels', who are primarily, you guessed it, Muslim Brotherhood. (that's the Syrians that were involved from the beginning. Of course, by now, the majority of the FSA are non-Syrians that were shipped in).

It is true that the US (and others) has spent millions over the last 10 years or more setting up NGO's all over the middle east, including in Syria, to promote 'freedom and democracy'. Do you think they do this out of altruism? No. They US (and others) also work at fomenting and supporting the malcontents, in this case, the Muslim Brotherhood, ever more bitter since the last go round. A few years go by...and bingo, things start to happen.

So, again, is Assad some kind of Saint? No. Is he what we're told he is? No. Did this 'revolution' just appear out of nowhere? No. Are 'we' involved? Absolutely.

Were there citizens in Syria who genuinely wanted change and political reform, who didn't like Assad? Yes. Was that reform happening? Yes, until the fighting (fomented by 'us') broke out, and all that came to an end until the fighting stops.

Does the FSA, and ergo the Muslim Brotherhood, actually represent that 'freedom and reform'? No, though they seemed to in the beginning. What their aim is, an Islamic state, translates to less freedom, not more. (It is now Secular).

And guess what? A lot of those people who were railing against Assad for change, and even for him to be gone? A lot of them are now on his side, if only because they know what will replace him is worse.

There are also other opposition groups who are calling for change and reform, but it's not a requisite that Assad go. There are those that are okay with Assad going; But what they all agree they do NOT want, is foreign intervention under any circumstances. And guess what? NONE of those groups, or members of those groups, are part of, or even invited to be a part of the 'official opposition' being paraded around by "The Friends of Syria" and now being recognized by other countries as the "Official representatives of the Syrian people".

Saw this in another thread, haven't checked it out yet:

Originally posted by RocksFromSpace

The video is particularly pertinent given reports yesterday that claim President Bashar Al-Assad has ordered the Syrian military to load “the precursor chemicals for sarin, a deadly nerve gas, into aerial bombs,” in preparation for fighter jets to drop the bombs on the civilian population. The Syrian government has repeatedly denied that it will use chemical weapons in its war against opposition rebels.

The evidence contained in the video suggests that the rebels are just as likely to be considering the prospect of using chemical weapons. The clip, obtained by the Syria Tribune, shows lab equipment and chemical containers. Some of the containers display English writing and some bear the label of Tekkim, a Turkish chemicals company.

The video shows a poster on the wall with Arabic text which reads “The Almighty Wind Brigade (Kateebat A Reeh Al Sarsar).” The man in the clip then begins to mix the chemicals in a beaker which subsequently emits gas. Rabbits contained inside a glass box begin to have random convulsions, collapse and die.

“You saw what happened? This will be your fate, you infidel Alawites, I swear by Allah to make you die like these rabbits, one minute only after you inhale the gas,” states the man in the video.

“Judging from the rabbits’ reaction, the gas must be a nerve agent. The number of containers, if not a bluff, indicates ability to produce a considerable amount of this gas. Deployment could be by means of a smoke generator placed in the target area, an explosion, possibly a suicide one, of a ”chemmed” car, or simply by using a humidifier,” reports Syria Tribune.

Given that the only suggestion Assad’s government is preparing to use chemical weapons comes from western media reports and somewhat hysterical proclamations from the Obama administration, the weight of evidence indicates that it is the rebels themselves, who have repeatedly been caught committing atrocities, that are more likely to resort to such tactics.

edit on 6-12-2012 by RocksFromSpace because: (no reason given)

reply to post by Zerschmetterling


She is, but only because she has to pass through that area to get home. She'll be home in Norfolk for Christmas, due to maintenance requirements. She had to rotate home early because her replacement (Nimitz) won't be ready to sail on time in January. Her refit is taking longer than planned. So Ike will return home and have her deck resurfaced, otherwise she'd have to stop flight ops before long. Once that's done she'll sail again. Truman will rotate to the ME sometime early in 2013 to bring us back up to two. Right now Stennis is the only carrier in the region.

Originally posted by Zaphod58
reply to post by Zerschmetterling

 

She is, but only because she has to pass through that area to get home. She'll be home in Norfolk for Christmas, due to maintenance requirements. She had to rotate home early because her replacement (Nimitz) won't be ready to sail on time in January. Her refit is taking longer than planned. So Ike will return home and have her deck resurfaced, otherwise she'd have to stop flight ops before long. Once that's done she'll sail again. Truman will rotate to the ME sometime early in 2013 to bring us back up to two. Right now Stennis is the only carrier in the region.

thanks! Do you have the URL to that website I was asking for?

Saw this in another thread:


Andy Carvin @acarvin
Syria Dep PM Maqdad: We strongly
fear a conspiracy by US & Europe that
they may have supplied chem
weapons to terrorists, then blame us.
AJE twitter.com...

Syria video purports to show use of white phosphorus (The Washington Post Blog)

reply to post by Zerschmetterling

That video showing "Willy Pete"--- White Phosphorous (WP):


Looks like WP. I took a screen shot of the smoke trailers...


Only WP burns like that. Seems awful high to be targeting people on the ground. What do you think Zaphod? Targeting civvies or expedient flares used by the helo crew to foil heat seekers?

reply to post by curiouscanadian777

That video is really scary. But not too scary. I know that it is easy to make certain chemical reactions with household goods. The labels on bathroom cleaners advise us not to use ammonia based and chlorine based chemicals together because they may produce chlorine gas and kill you while cleaning your toilet. Chlorine gas is considered a "chemical weapon". It was used in WWI with great effect. Sometimes rail cars derail and release it... nasty stuff.

Laboratory grade or pure ammonia and bleach could cause the effects we see with the rabbits. I saw lab grade ammonia containers there in the video. I also saw Potassium chlorate and sodium nitrite, etc. These are for making various "lo" explosives of the kind used in fireworks for instance (or basement anarchist pipe bombs). Not saying what it was that killed them rabbits, just can't be proven to be a "nerve agent".

The video is scary. It comes at a time when the US has threatened "red lines" (reminds me of Netanyahu in the UN with the Magic Marker) if chemicals are used. Even if used by the "rebels", it would still be blamed on Assad.

False flag it...

On the chemicals:

The clip, obtained by the Syria Tribune, shows lab equipment and chemical containers. Some of the containers display English writing and some bear the label of Tekkim, a Turkish chemicals company.

Thats a tell. Nato--- I mean Turkey is supplying the insurgents with chemicals too? And already blaming Assad for their use?
Uh, huh.

reply to post by intrptr


Some types of magnesium flares can look like WP flares under the right conditions. WP is used as a smoke screen, not to distract missiles. It burns hot enough, but not intensely enough, like a magnesium flare does.