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The Terrible Cost of Obama's Failure in Syria
The Atlantic ^ | April 8, 2018 | by KATHY GILSINAN

Posted on 04/09/2018 2:25:43 PM PDT by Oldeconomybuyer

Four years ago, it almost looked as if chemical attacks on Syrian civilians would stop. “We struck a deal where we got 100 percent of the chemical weapons out,” declared then-Secretary of State John Kerry on Meet the Press in 2014. Kerry was referring to Bashar al-Assad’s declared stockpiles of chemical weapons which, under a 2013 deal struck by the Obama administration following a sarin nerve gas attack that brought the U.S. to the brink of striking Syrian government forces, were dismantled and shipped out of the country.

But there were two important and deadly loopholes. The first was that Assad did not declare everything—a reality that Kerry acknowledged publicly, including in a farewell memo to staff, in which he wrote that “unfortunately other undeclared chemical weapons continue to be used ruthlessly against the Syrian people.” The second was that chlorine gas, which has legitimate civilian uses, was not part of the deal. The Syrian American Medical Society and the White Helmets civil-defense group have documented 200 chemical attacks in Syria since 2012, many involving chlorine.

The deal, The Atlantic’s Jeffrey Goldberg wrote at the time, “was not a complete failure, in that [chemical-weapons] stockpiles were indeed removed, but Assad kept enough of these weapons to allow him to continue murdering civilians with sarin gas. The argument that Obama achieved comprehensive WMD disarmament without going to war is no longer, as they say in Washington, operative.”

(Excerpt) Read more at theatlantic.com ...


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; Government; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: deepstate; failure; hussein; kerry; neocon; propaganda; syria
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1 posted on 04/09/2018 2:25:43 PM PDT by Oldeconomybuyer
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To: Oldeconomybuyer
I think the author of the article, Kathy Gilisnan, ought to go to Syria herself if she is so worried. We have no shortage of people like Kathy who contribute hot air and no action to the cause.
2 posted on 04/09/2018 2:32:42 PM PDT by Colonel Kangaroo
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

“We struck a deal where we got 100 percent of the chemical weapons out,” declared then-Secretary of State John Kerry.


3 posted on 04/09/2018 2:32:44 PM PDT by McGruff (Protect our border not Syria's.)
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

Despite its generally far leftist stance, the Atlantic does publish some useful articles from time to time ( under editors Falliows and now Goldberg). It’s one of the few leftie pubs I still thumb through occasionally. Usually pretty well written/ edited too


4 posted on 04/09/2018 2:33:03 PM PDT by faithhopecharity ("Politicans aren't born, they're excreted." -Marcus Tillius Cicero (3 BCE))
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

It will now be on “Lyndon B. Trump” if he chooses to use force in Syria on the basis of jihadist propaganda about chemical weapons attacks.

The purpose of fighting this war for Saudi Arabia and its jihadists opposing Assad in Syria is about Saudi money, power and influence over Western nations.

But the consequences of such a war I see as the derailing of Trump’s presidency and it’s purposes like securing our southern border and the derailing of Brexit in the UK as well.


5 posted on 04/09/2018 2:33:43 PM PDT by Nextrush (Freedom is everybody's business: Remember Pastor Niemoller)
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To: McGruff

it’s obvious the latest attack was a false flag


6 posted on 04/09/2018 2:35:38 PM PDT by vooch (America First Drain the Swamp)
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To: McGruff

“We struck a deal where we got 100 percent of the chemical weapons out,” declared then-Secretary of State John Kerry.

Means , “I have no idea what I’m doing” ,LOL


7 posted on 04/09/2018 2:38:43 PM PDT by butlerweave
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To: McGruff

“We struck a deal where we got 100 percent of the chemical weapons out,” declared then-Secretary of State John Kerry.”

The really amazing part is J Effen Kerry accomplished this feat during his Christmas vacation in Cambodia!


8 posted on 04/09/2018 2:39:16 PM PDT by LouieFisk
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To: LouieFisk

Isn’t this thy guy who served in Vietnam?


9 posted on 04/09/2018 2:45:28 PM PDT by Klemper (And then... and ONLY then... do they get their only chance to come back into America the legal way.)
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

President Trump, please declassify and release all verifiable evidence that indicates Assad is using chemical weapons in Syria.

I want to read it and make up my own mind.

I have completely lost confidence in the truthfulness and the motives of your Administration on this issue.


10 posted on 04/09/2018 2:46:45 PM PDT by zeestephen
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To: vooch

It’s an illustration of Lincoln’s quote about fooling the people. More people are getting wise to the lies, but sadly there are still some of the people who will be fooled all the time.


11 posted on 04/09/2018 2:47:21 PM PDT by Colonel Kangaroo
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

white helmets are juan mccain’s people. Sorry, I do not trust them


12 posted on 04/09/2018 2:49:01 PM PDT by Undecided 2012
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To: faithhopecharity
"Despite its generally far leftist stance, the Atlantic does publish some useful articles from time to time"

It's like looking for clean sheet in a wad of used toilet paper.

13 posted on 04/09/2018 3:00:31 PM PDT by Carl Vehse
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

I guess I miss something.

If Assad uses Daisy Cutters to kill 50 kids in Syria, it’s ok, I guess. If he uses Chlorine to kill those 50 kids, it’s now worth exchanging cities with Putin, I guess?

Someone, other than the Neocons here, please explain this.


14 posted on 04/09/2018 3:01:30 PM PDT by BobL (I shop at Walmart and eat at McDonald's...I just don't tell anyone)
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To: McGruff
“We struck a deal where we got 100 percent of the chemical weapons out,” declared then-Secretary of State John Kerry.

Pure propaganda....the notion that Assad could remove chemical weapons from areas not under his control is absurd.

The United States occupied Iraq for a decade and didn't remove all the chemical weapons.

15 posted on 04/09/2018 3:01:45 PM PDT by mac_truck (aide toi et dieu t'aidera)
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To: BobL

LOL, like Archie Bunker said, “Would it make you feel any better, little girl, if they was pushed out of windows?”


16 posted on 04/09/2018 3:02:23 PM PDT by dfwgator
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To: vooch

What’s the proof?


17 posted on 04/09/2018 3:03:09 PM PDT by dynoman (Objectivity is the essence of intelligence. - Marilyn vos Savant)
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To: BobL

Can’t explain it.

We aren’t responsible for what happens in every s-hole country around the world.


18 posted on 04/09/2018 3:04:11 PM PDT by Oldeconomybuyer (The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people's money.)
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To: dynoman
What’s the proof?

They're currently filming it in a Hollywood studio.

19 posted on 04/09/2018 3:04:36 PM PDT by dfwgator
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To: LouieFisk

I sometimes wonder why the jihadis never try to take out the devils who are actually behind these evil campaigns which slaughter so many women and children? I mean, are there no Libyans left who realize what Hillary dead-soul Clinton did to Libya? Are Muslims unable to see the evil against innocent Muslims which Obama and his hench-ghouls perpetrated? Are Muslims unable to follow the Brennan drone strikes which slaughtered hundreds aiming to kill one suspected terrorist?


20 posted on 04/09/2018 3:06:59 PM PDT by MHGinTN (A dispensational perspective is a powerful tool for discernment)
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