PrideInThisTeam Posted June 14, 2013 Share Posted June 14, 2013 http://news.yahoo.co...-220823223.html In a sharp escalation of the U.S. role in Syria's bloody civil war, the White House announced late Thursday that it will provide military aid to rebels fighting to topple President Bashar al-Assad after confirming that his government used chemical weapons against the opposition. Deputy National Security Advisor for Strategic Communications Ben Rhodes told reporters on a conference call that President Barack Obama had heard pleas from Syria's rebel Supreme Military Council (SMC) for more help. "Our aim is to be responsive," Rhodes said, underlining that the new assistance would have "direct military purposes." Rhodes brushed aside repeated questions about whether this meant Washington would now start providing weapons to the rebels, insisting he could not give an "inventory" of the aid. But while he never explicitly confirmed that Obama had decided to to arm the opposition, he left little doubt about Washington's new course of action. "The president has made a decision about providing more support to the opposition. That will involve providing direct support to the SMC. That includes military support. I cannot detail for you all of the types of that support for a variety of reasons," Rhodes said. The assistance is "aimed at strengthening the effectiveness of the SMC on the ground." Obama reached the decision after America's intelligence community concluded that "the Assad regime has used chemical weapons, including the nerve agent sarin, on a small scale against the opposition multiple times in the last year," Rhodes said. Those attacks killed at least 100-150 people, he added. Rhodes said Assad's forces used chemical weapons on March 19, April 13, May 14 and May 23. The confirmation—and a new United Nations study that raised the death toll from Syria's bloody civil war to nearly 93,000—ramped up pressure on Obama to escalate American involvement in the conflict. The president has been weighing whether to arm the opposition, help create safe areas for refugees, or impose “no-fly zones” inside Syria enforced by American-led forces. Obama last year called the confirmed use of chemical weapons a "red line" that would make him reconsider whether to arm the rebels, but he later hedged on that statement. And here comes the next stage of bloodshed.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
naslund.is.king Posted June 14, 2013 Share Posted June 14, 2013 This will has some serious repercussions!....Looking back it would have been better 2 do this alot sooner.Now you have a lot more extremists present in the country fighting the rebels cause .I guess this is something that must be done though, nobody ever wanted to step a foot in there to help. 5000 people are dying each month i think its time for Assad to go!...hopefully in a similiar fashion as Gadaffi Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Henrik Kesler Posted June 14, 2013 Share Posted June 14, 2013 WOOOOOO! (yes that was sarcastic). Syria is going to be the new Afghanistan for the US. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HTania Posted June 14, 2013 Share Posted June 14, 2013 WOOOOOO! (yes that was sarcastic). Syria is going to be the new Afghanistan for the US. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PrideInThisTeam Posted June 14, 2013 Author Share Posted June 14, 2013 I wonder how long after this is over before we see the repercussions or end up into another country, not long I'd imagine. And of course, the Assad regime denounces the use of chemical weapons as a lie used to give reasons to arm the rebels, this will be getting ugly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Special Ed Posted June 14, 2013 Share Posted June 14, 2013 They never learn. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CanuckRow Posted June 14, 2013 Share Posted June 14, 2013 Yeah, that's how you fix a countries civil war, give one side more guns and ammunition. America and the amount of taxpayers money it invests into military and warfare is what is most wrong in this world. Complete joke. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drouin Posted June 14, 2013 Share Posted June 14, 2013 They never learn. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
taxi Posted June 14, 2013 Share Posted June 14, 2013 Yeah, that's how you fix a countries civil war, give one side more guns and ammunition. America and the amount of taxpayers money it invests into military and warfare is what is most wrong in this world. Complete joke. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kurtis Posted June 14, 2013 Share Posted June 14, 2013 total bs. THere is more proof the FSA used gas then the SAA.. Turky even captured FSA members with gas before it was moved into Syria. WHy in gods name do we support the FSA who are killing Christians and want to turn Syria upside down on its head... and Futhermore the Americans used Wp in IRaq and Afganistan... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kurtis Posted June 14, 2013 Share Posted June 14, 2013 The issue is that Assad's regime is being supplied heavily with weapons from Russia. They also now have thousands of hightly trained Iranian and Hezbollah soldiers fighting on their side. That being said, the groups they are supplying weapons to aren't exactly saints either. Damned if you do and damned if you don't situation. If they don't supply weapons, the rebels will eventually be overun by the regime, which has them. If they do supply them, they could be supplying them to islamic groups (see Afganistan). Also, there's no way to predict whether this move will prolong or shorten the civil war, which is most certainly already happening regardless of US aid. They could be supplying the rebels with the weapons they need to win or they could be merely prolonging a situation that will result in the rebels being crushed either way. No right answer here. You either sit back and do nothing while the regime slaughters its own civilians or you risk prolonging a civil war. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kurtis Posted June 14, 2013 Share Posted June 14, 2013 This will has some serious repercussions!....Looking back it would have been better 2 do this alot sooner.Now you have a lot more extremists present in the country fighting the rebels cause .I guess this is something that must be done though, nobody ever wanted to step a foot in there to help. 5000 people are dying each month i think its time for Assad to go!...hopefully in a similiar fashion as Gadaffi Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kurtis Posted June 14, 2013 Share Posted June 14, 2013 total bs. THere is more proof the FSA used gas then the SAA.. Turky even captured FSA members with gas before it was moved into Syria. WHy in gods name do we support the FSA who are killing Christians and want to turn Syria upside down on its head... and Futhermore the Americans used Wp in IRaq and Afganistan... lets not forget that AMerica said Saddam had Nukes, Look where that lead them... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
taxi Posted June 14, 2013 Share Posted June 14, 2013 They arent slaughtering there own civilians. Are you in Syria.. I have 2 friends who currently live there who say completly otherwise. Both stuided in Canada.... FSA = Foreign Syrian Army. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TOMapleLaughs Posted June 14, 2013 Share Posted June 14, 2013 Syria is soon to be colored red i guess. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
naslund.is.king Posted June 14, 2013 Share Posted June 14, 2013 Stop talking about crap you dont understand. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
morrissex95 Posted June 15, 2013 Share Posted June 15, 2013 Yeah, that's how you fix a countries civil war, give one side more guns and ammunition. America and the amount of taxpayers money it invests into military and warfare is what is most wrong in this world. Complete joke. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jägermeister Posted June 15, 2013 Share Posted June 15, 2013 Manifest Destiny Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
naslund.is.king Posted June 15, 2013 Share Posted June 15, 2013 . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Salmonberries Posted June 15, 2013 Share Posted June 15, 2013 Actually, it was the 'rebels' aka Al-CIAda that used chemical weapons, I'm reading. http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022805089 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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