Posted on 10/11/2015 1:28:31 AM PDT by Enlightened1
A Saudi Arabian official has reportedly disclosed that the Sunni kingdom sent Syrian rebels a new batch of one of the most effective weapons for battling against the Assad regime this week.
BBC correspondent Frank Gardner tweeted that a Saudi official confirmed the delivery of 500 TOW antitank missiles to the Free Syrian Army (FSA).
The FSA is currently being squeezed from all directions by the Syrian military, Russian airstrikes, and competition from jihadist fighters, including ISIS.
The delivery of the TOW missiles — which have also been provided by the CIA — will increase the capabilities of the FSA against Syrian armor, and it would enable them to more effectively battle against Assad's recent military advances.
"Five hundred TOWs is not an inconsequential number," Jeffrey White, a defense fellow at The Washington Institute, told Business Insider.
(Excerpt) Read more at businessinsider.com ...
The FSA includes Christian groups - so are you trying to claim that the Christians are enthusiastic islamofascists?
????
When did I ever say that? Are you a Troll or did you just forget to take your Meds???
Not once did I ever imply the FSA were Christians you freaking dip$hit!
Can you even tie your own shoes or are you too crosseyed?
How in the world could you ever THINK that is what I said is perplexing?
Unless you are just a Troll.... Go back to D.U where you belong.
Which shall shortly be delivered to ISIS.
Exactly... as always!
After reading this thread I’m starting to believe trump when he says we don’t know who the hell is fighting over there.
The whole thing reads like the Keystone Cops go to war!
Putin 'serves the Christian cause', airstrikes are a source of hope - Syria Archbishop
Saudi's supplying weapons to kill Christians. Say it ain't so.
you either didn’t read or more likely didn’t understand the article
our friends, good friends, the Saudis did not supply ISIS anything
Actually, that line about a most of the 9/11 hijackers being Saudi means Saudi Arabia must have did it is not a very brilliant line of logic, especially when you stop to consider what the purpose of using terrorists is in the first place. Terrorists are used for the purposes of deniability in situations where using one’s own military with all its uniforms displayed and colors flying is likely to cause you to get your arse kicked and your regime changed.
Terrorists are thus selected who don’t have known loyalties to you and who are definitely NOT citizens of your country or its territories. The best ones for the purpose are found in the opposition groups of nations hostile to you , nations which you would not be sorry to see take the heat for your actions.
We know the lead hijacker was actually an Egyptian muslim brotherhood member with contacts in Syria, Aleppo in particular. Does that mean Egypt attacked us? Of course not.
If you were a country planning an attack on the US, a country which could crush you in a heartbeat, would you attack the US with your Army waving your flag? Of course not. Would you attack the US which has very good investigative capability with a bomb which could be traced back to your country? Of course not, if you could think up an alternative.
So what makes you think the Saudis would use Saudis, much less want to hit their best customer? If you were Saudi you’d use Iranians, Europeans, Americans, anything but a Saudi.
I'm sure this was just an isolated instance. /sarc
that makes no difference. Free Republic dogma has it that Saudi Arabia is our enemy and all Islamists are murderers
In repeating the dogmatic doctrine, there was something to post rather than remain silent
Now, I totally agree that Assad is a monster that needs to be removed (with the major caveat being that before his removal it is paramount to ensure that there's a viable alternative, otherwise the outcome will be another Libya or Iraq). I am also under no illusion that the Russians are there to 'solve the problem.' They simply just saw an opportunity for a geopolitical stratagem, and jumped on it. It is simply another 'idea' rattling inside Putin's rabid mind.
However, that doesn't mean it is alright to stretch a far-outlier (a smattering of possible Christians in the FSA) and use that to come to a conclusion that's a lie (that the FSA does have Christian groups) and then turn that into a non-sequitur ("so are you saying Christians are enthusiastic Islamists").
Fact is that the various groups that comprise the FSA are overwhelmingly Sunni Muslim, and a simple rule of thumb is that any group that is fighting Assad that is not Islamic State or Al Nusra 'proper' (proper ....as several FSA groups are affiliated with Al Nusra, which is basically Al Qaeda in Syria) is FSA. Now, some of those groups have minorities - there are even Shia groups (who are virtually anathema to most Sunni fighters, and would be killed and have been killed on sight), and there is even one group that has a mix of Druze and Jurds (although it primary fights against Islamic State), and I am sure there must be some Christian group (although though I am willing to bet that they are also fighting against Islamic State and not Assad). However, the rest are Sunni Muslim, a good number are affiliated with Al Nusra, and a couple even Islamic State.
However, the thing is the non sequitur you used. That was just amazing. Saying "The FSA includes Christian groups - so are you trying to claim that the Christians are enthusiastic islamofascists?" is tantamount to me saying:
Al Qaeda includes American citizens - so are you trying to claim that Americans are enthusiastic islamofascists."
One would rightly say that was an idiotic statement, because while it is true that there might be some people with American passports who are Jihadis, the stretch was simply silly.
I see that often ...especially with the anti-Russia posters. I am as sick and tired of pro-Putin and pro-Russian posts as many of them are, but my approach is to use logic to show how stupid supporting Russia is (eg seeing Russia as the 'protector of Christianity'). However, the average anti-Putin poster will simply immediately rush and call some poster a Putin-troll at first brush, or post a series of cut-and-paste articles (that often have nothing to do with the thread). That simply doesn't work, especially considering showing how silly the Russian approach is is quite easy. Putin is a thug and he's no white knight. What does that have to do with your post? Simply that making certain statements simply makes the rest of what you post on the threat seem jaundiced (eg the very salient post you made about the 911 hijackers).
My post probably won't matter, but after reading that stretch I had to make it. No ill intent, but that stretch from FSA to Christians was something else.
Hey, what’s your first language?
They’re fighting Assad, a tyrant, like your man Putin.
He’s not an American; he’s a Russian. So he’s confusing his left wing propaganda with the right wing propaganda.
They’re killing Christians, cutting off their heads, gang raping them, crucifying them, destroying ancient archaeological treasures.
By the way, what’s your first language?
As a US citizen who tries to follow things, I'm clueless why we side with the Saudis.
Saudi doesn’t make any TOW missiles...Wonder who provided them to Saudi???
I speak and write only a very elegant English.
The Kurds have nothing to do with this.
WW II has nothing to do with this.
Are you using your self-claimed “elegant English” to try to obfuscate?
They already have been. There is no Free Syrian Army.
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