adywan said:
So America are now prepared to arm the Syrian Rebels because they say that the president has used chemical weapons. I'd be very wary of this. It was a very small amount used. Doesn't this ring alarm bells with anyone? Top experts have warned that these weapons were used by the rebels (the UN's investigator Carla del Ponte informed them about this after her investigation), in order to get the support of other nations and they were not used by Assad. But what's more worrying is that it is known that Al Qaeda is fighting alongside the rebels (same thing as what was happening in Lybia). So, if America start providing this military support, they are in danger of arming those they are supposed to be fighting against.
There are some terrible things happening over there, but is it all that we are being told it is? Rebels executed a 15 year old boy in front of his parents because they claimed he used the profit Muhammad's name in an offensive manner. And we've seen the pictures of the rebels eating one of the government soldiers hearts. Is this really the type of people that we should be helping? Also videos of Rebels training to use chemical weapons surfaced.
I'm hoping the Uk stays well out of this but the chances of that happening are slim to none. Shouldn't we be listening to those independent investigators instead of brushing their reports to one side without any evidence to refute their reports?
And, before any one suggests that this is another Anti-American post by a Brit, it isn't. I'm curious to know what you guys over there think about all this.
For all the angst and opposition many express(ed) about Iraq, without that precedent intervention in places like Libya and Syria would not be so practically expected. As in Libya, we're taking sides in a civil war with the goal of not getting our own hands too literally bloodied. The need for UN approval sounds more quaint than ever before.
An unidentified US administration official is quoted:
“Would we have made [the determination Assad had breached the red line] even if we didn’t have the evidence? Probably.”
My fear is that we are mostly now naively assisting Islamist extremists who, as you say, are exploiting these conflicts to expand their influence (something we also saw in Egypt). If we are going to engage in these conflicts, I think we need to take ownership of the consequences (and try to avoid them).
Dr. Ian Malcolm said:
...so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn't stop to think if they should.
