Posted on 05/03/2013 6:32:48 PM PDT by Pan_Yan
WASHINGTON — The Obama administration, as part of its examination of possible responses to obtaining conclusive proof that President Bashar al-Assad of Syria has used chemical weapons, is considering military options with allies that include attacking Syria’s antiaircraft systems, military aircraft and some of its missile fleet, according to senior officials from several countries.
Those officials say that attacking the chemical stockpiles directly has been all but ruled out. “You could cause exactly the disaster you are trying to prevent,” a senior Israeli military official said in an interview last week in Tel Aviv.
But by attacking Mr. Assad’s main delivery systems, the officials say, they would curtail his ability to transport those weapons any significant distance. “This wouldn’t stop him from using it on a village, or just releasing it on the ground, or handing something to Hezbollah,” said one European official who has been involved in the conversations. “But it would limit the damage greatly.”
The topic was alluded to on Thursday, when Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel met with his British counterpart and talked about “the need for new options” if Mr. Assad uses his chemical arsenal, the officials said. But while the military has been developing and refining options for the White House for months, the discussion appears to have taken a new turn, officials say, as they struggle to determine whether the suspected use of sarin gas near Aleppo and Damascus last month was a prelude to greater use of such weapons.
Asked about the planning, a senior administration official said Friday that “there are a lot of options on the table, and they’re generally carrying equal weight at the moment.”
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
we should pick no favorites in the Syrian civil war - let them duke it out.
I would say let the best man win - but, in Syria there is no best man.
Gee, another war. Why? Let the ragheads fight it out. Mayhap they will kill each other off.
When your enemies are killing each other just stand back and let them go.
This is not America’s war.
Only Obama has a dog in this fight.
No. Bad choice to help future enemies of what ever will be left of America. Let the Mooslims fight each other.
In other words, "blah, blah blah", and a hitting of the snooze alarm for another three months before turning to the next page of the script where "serious concerns" will be the quote of the day.
Why? One crowd is worse than the other there. Assad had kept an uneasy armed peace with Israel. He had not beheaded Syrian Christians. His opposition is killing and kidnapping Christians and promises perpetual war with Israel. Why would we support such people? I can see giving food and shelter to innocent refugee kids in Turkish camps. And asylum visas to Syrian Christians ONLY. But our efforts should end there.
bkmk
I am taking the regime and laying the points.
Anything Obama is for it is a safe bet the opposite will happen.
he’s bound and determined to get us into another shooting war.
Asked about the planning, a senior administration official said Friday that “there are a lot of options on the table, and they’re generally carrying equal weight at the moment.”
If all options have equal weight, it means Obama
can’t decide what to do...
needs a Wag-the-Dog crisis to deflect from the up-coming hearings.
These snakes are always more dangerous when they need to cover butt
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