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Posted on 02/19/2012 6:49:38 PM PST by Hunton Peck
With the Syrian government continuing its deadly crackdown on its citizens, two senior American senators who were on their way to the Middle East spoke out strongly on Sunday in favor of arming the Syrian opposition forces.
¶ The senators, John McCain of Arizona and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, both Republicans, laid out a series of diplomatic, humanitarian and military aid proposals that would put the United States squarely behind the effort to topple President Bashar al-Assad of Syria. The senators, both of whom are on the Senate Armed Services Committee, said that rebel fighters deserved to be armed and that helping them take on the Syrian government would aid Washington’s effort to weaken Iran.
¶ Syria relies on Iran for financial and military support, and the governments in Damascus and Tehran have sectarian ties as well: Iran has strongly backed the Syrian Shiite minority and the offshoot Alawite sect that makes up Syria’s ruling class.
¶ “I believe there are ways to get weapons to the opposition without direct United States involvement,” Mr. McCain said. “The Iranians and the Russians are providing Bashar Assad with weapons. People that are being massacred deserve to have the ability to defend themselves.”
¶ “So I am not only not opposed,” he said, “but I am in favor of weapons being obtained by the opposition.”
¶ Syria’s crackdown continued on Sunday, including action near the heart of Damascus, in the Mezze neighborhood near the presidential palace. A day after security forces opened fire on a large demonstration there, killing at least one person, residents reported a heavy concentration of troops throughout the city, apparently sent to head off another protest.
¶ At least 14 people were reported killed around the country, some by the government and some by armed opposition forces, according...
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
I think we should airdrop McCain and his lady friend into Syria and let them fix it.
Isn’t this the type of action that led to the Taliban formation?
Why are 2 US Senators and al-Qaeda on the same side in support of the rebels? What’s wrong with this picture?
Great! More idiocy from Capt Queeg and his sock puppet
Assad is a brutal thug who is no friend to the United States, to Israel, or to any other decent country or person. However, the opposition is likely to be far worse than Assad. Why would we spend our money and assets on making the situation more dangerous for decent people (a category that does not include either side in the Syrian uprising/civil war)?
Because you don’t know the history of Syria’s relationship and the United States.
How much do you think the average American citizen knows about the “below the radar” relationship between Syria and United States?
The Arab League needs to stop treating us like their paid mercenaries. They condemn the crap going on in Syria but won’t do anything about it.
Instead they apply pressure to us (The Saudis are cutting oil output) so we can go in and piss some more islamderthals off so they don’t have to feel the heat.
I agree with Polster. Look what the genius and the smartest woman on the planet accomplished in North Africa. They are returning us to the 15th Century. I wish we could toss them both out of an airplane into Syria.
arming Muslim Brotherhood side will result in escalating the civil war worse than it is.
Also with Russia and China supporting the government side , could well begin another WW which we don't want. (although it could fix our economy,(think 1941) but then it would give Obama another four years) Holy cow!! what am I saying???
my God
Now, the REPUBLICANS are supporting the MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD
If Assad holds out, Shiite Iran and Russia will be pleased and we are back to square one, with Syria being even more anti American.
If Assad is overthrown, the Sunnis , Al Qaeda , Saudi Arabia win, and Assad and his Alawites along with the Christians will get wiped out.
There is no good outcome for us. - Tom
Make them walk and swim instead.
I say we go for Operation Chaos - arm the rebels and keep this thing going.
I really despise McCain and the weak sister Lyndsay Graham and there ridiculous attempts to be relevant and “involved”. Now they want to support the side in Syria that has included in its many goals the MURDER & EXPULSION of the 10% of the Syrian population that is Christian. In 2014 we need to do whatever we can to rid our government of that South Carolina weak sister. His replacement with Congressman Tim Scott or (not as good as Scott but far better than Graham) Governor Nikki Haley whose term in office ends in 2014.
http://www.bosnewslife.com/20443-breaking-news-syria-christians-in-firing-line-hundreds-killed
Oh you SOB...I clicked on this thread solely to post the same comment...(fail for me!)
I have traveled to that part of the world, and I know a fair amount about our distant past and recent past with Syria. But you're right. If there is something in our history that says it's a good idea to replace Assad with the rebels, I don't know what that could be.
Get the Christains out through Israel then microwave some popcorn and the rest will take care of itself.
I wouldn’t trust either of these idiots to water my plants. Maybe Graham is looking for work over there as a dancing boy.
Jesus Harold Christ, I knew it was these two useless f*cktards before I even read....
LOL it was so easy.
McCain talks a big game about being a fiscal conservative but these endless military adventures get pretty freakin expensive after a while.
These two people are insane.
Giving weapons to the opposition is like a death warrant for Christians in Syria.The Islamics will only be worse than the tyrant Syria has now.
Don’t either of them ever read a paper?
Remember, McCain wants new and increased aid for the radical Muslims now in charge of Libya and Egypt too!
Please elaborate.
The Hama massacre occurred in February 1982, when the Syrian army, under the orders of the country's president, Hafez al-Assad, conducted a scorched earth operation against the town of Hama in order to quell a revolt by the Sunni Muslim community against the regime of al-Assad. The Hama massacre, carried out by the Syrian Army under commanding General Rifaat al-Assad, President Assad's younger brother, effectively ended the campaign begun in 1976 by Sunni Islamic groups, including the Muslim Brotherhood, against Assad's regime, whose leaders were disproportionately from president Assad's own Alawite sect.
The 40,000 MB terrorists killed convinced the Muslim Brotherhood to leave Syria and pretend to renounce violence.
They made themselves busy in Egypt, assassinating two Presidents, but were subject to enough pressure to relocate to Afghanistan and become an integral part of forming al Queda.
Assad Sr. was the only guy the Muslim Brotherhood was afraid of.
I can count only three times Syrians have cooperated with the United States:
1.Sepetember 11
2.Gulf War One
3.USS Cole.
The Syrians are on the list of State Sposored Terrorism list.
Very Good Points
But it's worse than that. The Arab League doesn't pay us. We stupidly act like unpaid mercenaries.
That was my first reaction to the situation. "Why do we want to stop this war."
Both sides, and their supporters are anti- American.
The Al Qaeda backed Sunnis vs the Iranian and Russian backed Alawite Shiites. I would not get in between them. -Tom
McCain and Graham? There is the old idiot from Ariazona... and his Sock Puppet South Carolina. Enough said.
I'd just like to ask either of them... what the hell can we do about anything that goes on there? We can't even control this country anymore. They don't give a damn what we say anymore, and Europe is even more of a joke than we are!
It's out of control. Period.
The only thing I think about that part of the world anymore is there is going to be at least one, if not more, very big explosions there soon, and we can't do a damn thing about it.
Our chance to change the outcome was around the time that Harry Reed proclaimed defeat in Iraq and Nancy Pelosi donned the Studda Bubba scarf to kiss Assad's ring.
Well... Nancy had a bigger enemy back then... a Republican president, so cuddling up with a sadistic Mideast mass murderer was justified in her corrupt little Washington politically calculating mind. She so wanted to insult President Bush that she decided to make love to a thug.
I honestly doubt that she has any regrets... and I honestly doubt she is even capable of regret. Politics is all that matters to her. It helped her and her party at that moment when things could have changed for the better, but gaining a temporary advantage was far more important to her.
Maybe Nancy should call her old buddy Assad and tell him to keep the slaughter to the minimum --- maybe 200,000 --- because all those decaying bodies and the methane they emit might impact global warming. Sort of like UN carnage limits instead of carbon limits. ;~(
Then she can take credit for that at the next Global Warming Circle Jerk.
I'll bet that's three more times than a new Syrian Caliphate would cooperate with us.
Back in the 1970's, mobs protested violently against the Shah. Good ol' Jimmah Carter sided with the mob against the evil dictator. Shah out, Ayatollah in.
The situation is not identical today because Assad is not our ally as the Shah was. But there is still a lesson to be learned.
Syria has been on the U.S. list of state sponsors of terrorism since the list’s inception in 1979 and deems it to be a “safe-haven” for terrorists. In 1986, the U.S. withdrew its ambassador and imposed additional administrative sanctions on Syria in response to evidence of direct Syrian involvement in an attempt to blow up an Israeli airplane
Agreed.
Well, McCain and Graham were all in favor of the same sort of policy in the Balkans, so there’s no surprise here.
After all, it’s only Eastern Christians (in the Balkans just us Orthodox, though in Syria there are Jacobites and Melkite Uniates as well) who will get slaughtered, not Latins or protestants, so who cares? The Saudis will be pleased.
If look at the two incidents at that list those involve Al Queda.Syrian Intelligence did not like Bin Laden. Syrian Intelligence supports Hamas and Hezbollah. Al Qaida has been helping the rebels in Syria.
Hey it's the best govt Saudi oil money can buy.
I’m SO tired of hearing about Sen. Graham....I will be so thankfull when we South Carolinians can vote the goober out in 2014!!
Everybody knows the US will do nothing, or worse, stab a friend in the back, as long as Zer0 or a Rat is President. As we speak Zer0 is doing everything he can to persuade Israel to NOT attack Iran.
Yet we don't hear much from Israel, why is that?
There is one coalition that is backing existing stability as opposed to one side or faction.
That coalition has credibility regarding resolve and the willingness to kill, and they have nuclear weapons. This coalition is universally condemned by all the same entities that condemn Israel. Finally, the members of this coalition have good relations with Israel.
It is possible that returning stability to the Middle East simply requires preventing the Muslim Brotherhood from expanding by having the resolve to kill them wholesale and turn their works into black glass should they become irritating.
McCain and Graham???
War Mongering Rinos!!!!
When the Schumer hits the fan here in the US of A will they be this ready and eager to arm American rebels?
McCain has done so much damage to America. What a disgrace this man is. He needs to retire immediately and just fade away. Everything he does seemed aimed at burning the constitution.
Graham and McCain fall into the category of people whom Pat Buchanan derisively calls “democratists,” that is, people who believe that all peoples everywhere in the world, no matter the nature of their culture or state of development, should have have full democracy, and they should have it right now. The same attitude led George W. Bush to empower Hamas to come to power in the Gaza Strip via democratic elections.
You ain’t seen nothing yet. The neocon warriors are already lusting for a war w Iran.
Isn’t it strange that they promote democracy in those countries but never constitutional republics like ours?
I look forward to the day those two fools are out of office, just as much as that joke, in the white house.
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