American-Led Strike in Syria Risks Return to Reckless Cowboy Era

08/30/2013

[nickcarraway]

American-Led Strike in Syria Risks Return to Reckless Cowboy Era (Huffington Post article. I asked for and received Jim Rob's approval before posting)

[Cyber Liberty]

O/T: Are we prohibited from posting articles from HP? I understand it’s usually garbage, but are they in Stormfront territory now?

[Vince Ferrer]

Congressional republicans need to start reminding top military that their oath was to the constitution, not the president.

[Colonel_Flagg]

Given the hoops Bush jumped through before Iraq, the ‘cowboy’ era hasn’t started until The Imperial Presidency of Baraq I.

[yefragetuwrabrumuy]

To clarify, in Europe, because of Hollywood movies, Americans are thought of as either “cowboys” or “gangsters”, and oddly enough, there is some truth in this.

The American heartland is all cowboy, with the attitudes of individualism, hard work, freedom and liberty, prosperity; and importantly, dealing with problems when they are small, so they don’t become big. They are the substance of conservative republicanism.

The big cities are the realm of the gangsters. Big city machines, corruption, and a top down organized crime type hierarchy, where everything is for “the big boss”, who then rewards his friends and punishes his enemies. Theirs is the realm of liberal Democrats.

In any event, Europeans have been so beaten down by 1500 years of war that they prefer a miserable and slowly declining status quo to fixing problems. They reject the very idea of decisive action, and prefer committee meetings and inaction.

Left to them, they would always bow down to tyrants no matter how horrible they behaved. The trouble with this theory that instead of nipping things in the bud, by the time they *have* to act, the only way left to act is by slinging nuclear weapons at whoever.

To America’s advantage, at least the eastern Europeans have more sense. For years under Soviet oppression, they saw western Europe quite content to leave them in bondage; with only America continually pushing for their freedom.

But to America’s friends and enemies alike, American foreign policy under Democrats is a disaster, whimsical chaos by the Democrat “big boss”, who will sit on his thumbs, then throw a few missiles and declare victory.

[Old Yeller]

[henkster]

I agree with you 100%. You will never find me arguing that we need someone’s permission to wage war. It helps to have some sort of international approval before you do, but it is absolutely our soveriegn right as a nation to fight if we so chose. Somebody don’t like it, they can beat us at it.

My assessment of the merits of military action in Syria, or anywhere else, has nothing to do with the UN.

As for Iraq, I felt all along that W was taking care of daddy’s unfinished business. I know why we tried to do what we did, but “nation building” is just as realistically doable as socialism. It just doesn’t work. As for Afghanistan, I approved going in to kill terrorists, but we should not have stayed as long as we have. Again, it is the failure of “nation building.” We should have limited ourselves to killing bad people and leaving.

[Yosemitest]

Maybe we should bomb the GUILTY PARTY instead.
Bomb the Muslim Brotherhood, and Saudi Prince Bandar since they're the ones who supplied and did the chemical attack in Syria.
Now the ILLEGAL ALIEN IN CHIEF is really in a quandrum.
No wait, Obama has no problem lying about the facts.
And the LAME Stream Media SELLS his LIES to anyone that will buy them.

EXCLUSIVE: Syrians In Ghouta Claim Saudi-Supplied Rebels Behind Chemical Attack
Rebels and local residents in Ghouta accuse Saudi Prince Bandar bin Sultan of providing chemical weapons to an al-Qaida linked rebel group.
By Dale Gavlak and Yahya Ababneh | August 29, 2013

This article is a collaboration between Dale Gavlak reporting for Mint Press News and Yahya Ababneh.

Ghouta, Syria — As the machinery for a U.S.-led military intervention in Syria gathers pace following last week’s chemical weapons attack, the U.S. and its allies may be targeting the wrong culprit.

Interviews with people in Damascus and Ghouta, a suburb of the Syrian capital, where the humanitarian agency Doctors Without Borders said at least 355 people had died last week from what it believed to be a neurotoxic agent, appear to indicate as much.

The U.S., Britain, and France as well as the Arab League have accused the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad for carrying out the chemical weapons attack, which mainly targeted civilians. U.S. warships are stationed in the Mediterranean Sea to launch military strikes against Syria in punishment for carrying out a massive chemical weapons attack. The U.S. and others are not interested in examining any contrary evidence, with U.S Secretary of State John Kerry saying Monday that Assad’s guilt was “a judgment … already clear to the world.”

However, from numerous interviews with doctors, Ghouta residents, rebel fighters and their families, a different picture emerges. Many believe that certain rebels received chemical weapons via the Saudi intelligence chief, Prince Bandar bin Sultan, and were responsible for carrying out the dealing gas attack.

“My son came to me two weeks ago asking what I thought the weapons were that he had been asked to carry,” said Abu Abdel-Moneim, the father of a rebel fighting to unseat Assad, who lives in Ghouta.

Abdel-Moneim said his son and 12 other rebels were killed inside of a tunnel used to store weapons provided by a Saudi militant, known as Abu Ayesha, who was leading a fighting battalion. The father described the weapons as having a “tube-like structure” while others were like a “huge gas bottle.”

Ghouta townspeople said the rebels were using mosques and private houses to sleep while storing their weapons in tunnels.

Abdel-Moneim said his son and the others died during the chemical weapons attack. That same day, the militant group Jabhat al-Nusra, which is linked to al-Qaida, announced that it would similarly attack civilians in the Assad regime’s heartland of Latakia on Syria’s western coast, in purported retaliation.

“They didn’t tell us what these arms were or how to use them,” complained a female fighter named ‘K.’ “We didn’t know they were chemical weapons. We never imagined they were chemical weapons.”

“When Saudi Prince Bandar gives such weapons to people, he must give them to those who know how to handle and use them,” she warned. She, like other Syrians, do not want to use their full names for fear of retribution.

A well-known rebel leader in Ghouta named ‘J’ agreed. “Jabhat al-Nusra militants do not cooperate with other rebels, except with fighting on the ground. They do not share secret information. They merely used some ordinary rebels to carry and operate this material,” he said.

“We were very curious about these arms. And unfortunately, some of the fighters handled the weapons improperly and set off the explosions,” ‘J’ said.

Doctors who treated the chemical weapons attack victims cautioned interviewers to be careful about asking questions regarding who, exactly, was responsible for the deadly assault.

The humanitarian group Doctors Without Borders added that health workers aiding 3,600 patients also reported experiencing similar symptoms, including frothing at the mouth, respiratory distress, convulsions and blurry vision. The group has not been able to independently verify the information.

More than a dozen rebels interviewed reported that their salaries came from the Saudi government.

Saudi involvement

In a recent article for Business Insider, reporter Geoffrey Ingersoll highlighted Saudi Prince Bandar’s role in the two-and-a-half year Syrian civil war. Many observers believe Bandar, with his close ties to Washington, has been at the very heart of the push for war by the U.S. against Assad.

Ingersoll referred to an article in the U.K.’s Daily Telegraph about secret Russian-Saudi talks alleging that Bandar offered Russian President Vladimir Putin cheap oil in exchange for dumping Assad.

“Prince Bandar pledged to safeguard Russia’s naval base in Syria if the Assad regime is toppled, but he also hinted at Chechen terrorist attacks on Russia’s Winter Olympics in Sochi if there is no accord,” Ingersoll wrote.

“I can give you a guarantee to protect the Winter Olympics next year. The Chechen groups that threaten the security of the games are controlled by us,” Bandar allegedly told the Russians.

“Along with Saudi officials, the U.S. allegedly gave the Saudi intelligence chief the thumbs up to conduct these talks with Russia, which comes as no surprise,” Ingersoll wrote.

“Bandar is American-educated, both military and collegiate, served as a highly influential Saudi Ambassador to the U.S., and the CIA totally loves this guy,” he added.

According to U.K.’s Independent newspaper, it was Prince Bandar’s intelligence agency that first brought allegations of the use of sarin gas by the regime to the attention of Western allies in February.

The Wall Street Journal recently reported that the CIA realized Saudi Arabia was “serious” about toppling Assad when the Saudi king named Prince Bandar to lead the effort.

“They believed that Prince Bandar, a veteran of the diplomatic intrigues of Washington and the Arab world, could deliver what the CIA couldn’t: planeloads of money and arms, and, as one U.S. diplomat put it, wasta, Arabic for under-the-table clout,” it said.

Bandar has been advancing Saudi Arabia’s top foreign policy goal, WSJ reported, of defeating Assad and his Iranian and Hezbollah allies.

To that aim, Bandar worked Washington to back a program to arm and train rebels out of a planned military base in Jordan. The newspaper reports that he met with the “uneasy Jordanians about such a base”:

His meetings in Amman with Jordan’s King Abdullah sometimes ran to eight hours in a single sitting. “The king would joke: ‘Oh, Bandar’s coming again? Let’s clear two days for the meeting,’ ” said a person familiar with the meetings.

Jordan’s financial dependence on Saudi Arabia may have given the Saudis strong leverage. An operations center in Jordan started going online in the summer of 2012, including an airstrip and warehouses for arms. Saudi-procured AK-47s and ammunition arrived, WSJ reported, citing Arab officials.

Although Saudi Arabia has officially maintained that it supported more moderate rebels, the newspaper reported that “funds and arms were being funneled to radicals on the side, simply to counter the influence of rival Islamists backed by Qatar.”

But rebels interviewed said Prince Bandar is referred to as “al-Habib” or ‘the lover’ by al-Qaida militants fighting in Syria.

Peter Oborne, writing in the Daily Telegraph on Thursday, has issued a word of caution about Washington’s rush to punish the Assad regime with so-called ‘limited’ strikes not meant to overthrow the Syrian leader but diminish his capacity to use chemical weapons:

Consider this: the only beneficiaries from the atrocity were the rebels, previously losing the war, who now have Britain and America ready to intervene on their side. While there seems to be little doubt that chemical weapons were used, there is doubt about who deployed them.

It is important to remember that Assad has been accused of using poison gas against civilians before. But on that occasion, Carla del Ponte, a U.N. commissioner on Syria, concluded that the rebels, not Assad, were probably responsible.

Some information in this article could not be independently verified. Mint Press News will continue to provide further information and updates .

Dale Gavlak is a Middle East correspondent for Mint Press News and has reported from Amman, Jordan, writing for the Associated Press, NPR and BBC. An expert in Middle Eastern affairs, Gavlak covers the Levant region, writing on topics including politics, social issues and economic trends. Dale holds a M.A. in Middle Eastern Studies from the University of Chicago. Contact Dale at dgavlak@mintpressnews.com

Yahya Ababneh is a Jordanian freelance journalist and is currently working on a master’s degree in journalism, He has covered events in Jordan, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Russia and Libya. His stories have appeared on Amman Net, Saraya News, Gerasa News and elsewhere.

[nickcarraway]

I don’t know. I thought we were allowed to post links, but I had one pulled last week. I don’t know what the official policy is now, which is why I asked to be able t post this.

[Cyber Liberty]

Gotcha. Thanks....

[alloysteel]

Bronco Bama - who said he doesn’t carry the capacity and dignity to be a wartime leader?

Just about everybody who ever studied his background. “Cunning” and “daring” are not adjectives that come quickly to mind.

Benito Mussolini had him beat on both scores. And he still wound up hanging from a lamp post.

[JSteff]

And the only horse this cowboy is ridding is a Wookie....

[null and void]

I thought it was a Reggie Love Machine...

(Butt maybe I have it backwards)

[JSteff]

He NEVER makes or takes that tough of a stand.... he always has Eric Holder do it.

[JSteff]

All we are saying... is give peace a chance.......

[nathanbedford]

Why should we bomb anybody?

It seems to me the test of declaring war and waging it is the test of national interest. There has been absolutely no showing of any kind that to bomb either party is in the nation's national interest.

[musicman]

(Thanks!!)

[JSteff]

Now follow along...no that is who is riding O. .. and O is riding a Wookie....