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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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To: Carl Vehse

ha!


21 posted on 04/09/2018 3:17:40 PM PDT by faithhopecharity ("Politicans aren't born, they're excreted." -Marcus Tillius Cicero (3 BCE))
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

Of course, Iran can bring in any poison gas that Assad needs, since Iran is an ally. The gassing of Syrian citizens is just for practice on what Iran intends to do on Israel.


22 posted on 04/09/2018 3:22:30 PM PDT by jonrick46 (Trump continues to have all the right enemies.)
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

No apologist for 0bama; I am doubtful anything could have been achieved by our involvement in Syria while (by “while” I mean “during that specific period of time 2009-2016) 0bama was president) There is some possibility that “safe zones” might have been constructed for the refugees who have since flooded Europe and there was some kind of talk of this at the time. But IMHO, nobody should delude themselves into thinking this would not be a massive, massive episode of “interference” or “involvement” with a promise of yet another 20, perhaps 50-year duration like Korea or Iraq. And Russia was not a disinterested party during this period, either.

Now if you want discuss Libya, here is a country whose present and future was systematically flushed down a toilet by the 0bama admin in an exercise of pure incompetence and probably corruption and arms trading.


23 posted on 04/09/2018 3:36:44 PM PDT by Attention Surplus Disorder (Apoplectic is where we want them.)
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To: dfwgator
I believe O.J. never made it to Mars


24 posted on 04/09/2018 3:43:47 PM PDT by SaveFerris (Luke 17:28 ... as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold ......)
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To: BobL
Chlorine gas? I thought it was sarin gas. Sarin poisoning is a hell of a way to die:


25 posted on 04/09/2018 3:44:21 PM PDT by jonrick46 (Trump continues to have all the right enemies.)
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To: dfwgator

Yeah.

Amazing how people act so sure about something they know absolutely nothing about. Pure speculation, and still act like that speculation is absolute objective truth. It’s the curse of our time.


26 posted on 04/09/2018 3:48:24 PM PDT by dynoman (Objectivity is the essence of intelligence. - Marilyn vos Savant)
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To: jonrick46

the gas came from McCrazy’s jihadists

it’s obvious


27 posted on 04/09/2018 3:57:42 PM PDT by vooch (America First Drain the Swamp)
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To: zeestephen

It didn’t work the first time it was done...remember Colin Powell’s testimony at the UN?


28 posted on 04/09/2018 4:03:50 PM PDT by VMI70
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To: LouieFisk

Some mysterious CIA guy gave Kerry a hat from Syria....


29 posted on 04/09/2018 4:19:03 PM PDT by Enchante (FusionGPS "dirty dossier" scandal links Hillary, FBI, CIA, Dept of Justice... "Deep State" is real)
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To: Colonel Kangaroo

Agreed. Funny how when Trump starts talking about getting US troops out of Syria, all of a sudden there is a new chemical attack. Now if Trump is signaling that US troops will be leaving, why would Assad be so stupid as to do this and get everybody all riled up again? This was in the interest of those who want the US involved in perpetual war in the Middle East. Why is Trump falling for it?


30 posted on 04/09/2018 4:19:35 PM PDT by Pining_4_TX (For they sow the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind. ~ Hosea 8:7)
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To: jonrick46

No difference...dead is dead. The Neocons need to GROW UP a bit.


31 posted on 04/09/2018 4:27:02 PM PDT by BobL (I shop at Walmart and eat at McDonald's...I just don't tell anyone)
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

Maybe the Sand People should solve Sand People problems. I’m sorry, was that politically incorrect? Tuscan Raiders, then. Seriously, “gas”? Is literally anyone falling for this? How easily manipulated are people? Are the Syrians ripping babies out of incubators? Will we have tearful testimony before Congress this time?


32 posted on 04/09/2018 5:29:51 PM PDT by cdcdawg
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

Obama has the blood on his hands of every single death resulting from war in Syria. I mean, how stupid can you be? Syria is Russia’s #1 ally. I realize Obama was experiencing massive success toppling the governments of several middle east nations in favor of radical extremist fundamentalist Muslims, but it takes a special kind of arrogance to think Putin would abandon Assad. I knew this going in. Putin was going to pull out the stops to insure Assad retained rule in Syria. Obama’s hubris on display. But what does he care if a million people die for his fun and folly.

Anybody who still failed to believe Obama was a Muslim is either horribly dense or just refuses to face the facts — which describes all liberals.


33 posted on 04/09/2018 6:59:35 PM PDT by Freedom_Is_Not_Free (What profits a man if he gains the world yet loses his soul?)
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To: vooch

Any objective proof?


34 posted on 04/09/2018 7:10:25 PM PDT by dynoman (Objectivity is the essence of intelligence. - Marilyn vos Savant)
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To: VMI70
Re: Remember Colin Powell’s testimony at the UN?

You make a good point.

On the other hand, Saddam progressively blocked Weapons Inspectors into Iraq, which flagrantly violated the agreement Iraq signed after the first war, and Saddam started firing missiles and AA at our planes in the No Fly Zone.

In sharp contrast, Assad has denied every chemical weapon attack, and to my knowledge, he has never even threatened USA forces.

In addition, there is no logical reason for Assad to use CWs. This is like the fifth time the USA has claimed that Assad used CWs. What has he gained? Absolutely nothing.

Also, the alleged CW violations take place on land not controlled by Assad. The anti-Assad forces that do control the land refuse to allow credible western observers and analysts into their areas until weeks or months after the alleged attacks take place.

Bottom Line...

Assad's opponents are just as ruthless and homicidal as he is. Why should I believe what anyone in that civil war says about anything?

35 posted on 04/09/2018 10:51:06 PM PDT by zeestephen
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To: Nextrush
If you cut and paste this link:

https://www.amazon.com/worry-beads/s?ie=UTF8&page=1&rh=i%3Aaps%2Ck%3Aworry%20beads

You can get a deal on worry beads at Amazon - Bezos and company appreciate your concerns over Trump.

36 posted on 04/10/2018 2:59:14 AM PDT by trebb (I stopped picking on the mentally ill hypocrites who pose as conservatives...mostly ;-})
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To: Klemper

“Isn’t this thy guy who served in Vietnam?”

I’d heard that somewhere.
:-)


37 posted on 04/10/2018 8:28:04 AM PDT by LouieFisk
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