USA Holds Off Attack If Syria Turns Over All Chemical Weapons

[taxi]

Sorry, back on topic. Simple yes or no question for you:

Does the USD losing reserve currency status decrease the demand for US dollars?

[mdehaan]

The US is purposely trying to decrease the value of their currency. What do they care about the demand for their dollars? Also, what currency is going to replace the USD as the reserve currency? The Euro? The Ruble? The Yuan? Even if the "petro-dollar" continues to disappear, which it already largely has, it's not going to chance the status of the USD as the reserve currency. The USD is the world's most reliable and stable currency.

You're going off about some conspiracy theory that is 5-10 years out of date. The US is not trying to maintain the value of their currency. In fact, they've gone to great lengths to decrease the value of their currency.

[taxi]

First off, I appreciate the fact that we are able to have a discussion like adults, even though we may not agree I think it is important for both of us. Thanks

Secondly, the only source you have provided was 5 years out of date, and inaccurate, so maybe you should lay of the conspiracy theory garbage. How many people a year ago, would have said the NSA spying on Americans was a conspiracy?!

I don't know what will become the new reserve currency but something eventually will, it always does. Maybe it will be the BRICS nations or a new international currency. Maybe it will be the USD in some other form backed by a basket of commodities?

The USD is the most stable and reliable currency in relation to what?? Other non backed currencies? The US wants to devalue their dollar in relation to other currencies but obviously they want nations to need the USD (demand). Whether they are devaluing or not doesn't matter when talking about international demand for dollars.

If the US loses reserve currency status the dollars will be coming back to the US. Whether its because it is no longer needed for purchasing oil or because nations no longer need to keep it in reserves.

[mdehaan]

There is no other eligble currency for reserve status. 5-10 years ago, there was a genuine threat that the Euro would assume that role. Since then, the Euro has absolutely collapsed and is on the verge of ceasing to exist.

The USD is in no threat of ceasing to be the reserve currency. It's a moot point anyways, as the US doesn't really care anymore. Being the reserve currency saves you transactional costs, but also stops you from easily manipulating/controlling the value of yoru own currency, which is the US's bigger concern right now.

[Dittohead]

USD Up today. $$$

[theminister]

Canada is going to get involved with a prorogued parliament?

Sweeeeeeeeet

[DonLever]

We know it will be an Allied attack. For sure Britain and France will join the coalition. Canada will support the attack but will they actually join in the fighting is unknown. Canada's military resources are stretched pretty thin.

[taxi]

You assume there is no other eligible currency for reserve status. You think you'd know about it before it was public knowledge?

You assume the Euro is on the verge of ceasing to exist, yet the dollar is invincible?

You assume there is no threat to dollar as reserve currency.

And you assume the US doesn't care if it is or isn't.

That's a lot of assumptions because you don't know.

Yes, it all boils down to the US being in the middle east to get the bad guys and to keep Americans safe.

[DonLever]

Intercepted phone calls prove Syrian army used nerve gas, say U.S. spies

STRINGER / REUTERS

Free Syrian Army fighters escort a convoy of UN vehicles carrying a team of United Nations chemical weapons experts during their visit at one of the sites of an alleged chemical weapons attack in Damascus' suburbs of Zamalka on Wednesday.

By:Noah SchactmanForeign Policy, Published on Wed Aug 28 2013.

WASHINGTON — Last Wednesday, in the hours after a horrific chemical attack east of Damascus, an official at the Syrian Ministry of Defence exchanged panicked phone calls with a leader of a chemical weapons unit, demanding answers for a nerve agent strike that killed more than 1,000 people.

Chemical substance used in Syria: UN

Those conversations were overheard by U.S. intelligence services, FP has learned. And that is the major reason why American officials now say they’re certain that the attacks were the work of the Bashar Assad regime — and why the U.S. military is likely to attack that regime in a matter of days.

Drumbeat for military action grows

But the intercept raises questions about culpability for the chemical massacre, even as it answers others: Was the attack on Aug. 21 the work of a Syrian officer overstepping his bounds? Or was the strike explicitly directed by senior members of the Assad regime?

U.K. to present resolution to UN

“It’s unclear where control lies,” one U.S. intelligence official told FP. “Is there just some sort of general blessing to use these things? Or are there explicit orders for each attack?”

Nor are U.S. analysts sure of the Syrian military’s rationale for launching the strike — if it had a rationale at all.

Israeli gas mask demand soars

Perhaps it was a lone general putting a long-standing battle plan in motion; perhaps it was a miscalculation by the Assad government.

Whatever the reason, the attack has triggered worldwide outrage, and put the Obama administration on the brink of launching a strike of its own in Syria. “We don’t know exactly why it happened,” the intelligence official added. “We just know it was pretty [expletive] stupid.”

American intelligence analysts are certain that chemical weapons were used on Aug. 21 — the captured phone calls, combined with local doctors’ accounts and video documentation of the tragedy — are considered proof positive.

That is why the U.S. government, from the president on down, has been unequivocal in its declarations that the Syrian military gassed thousands of civilians in the East Ghouta region.

However, U.S. spy services still have not acquired the evidence traditionally considered to be the gold standard in chemical weapons cases: soil, blood and other environmental samples that test positive for reactions with nerve agent. That’s the kind of proof that America and its allies processed from earlier, small-scale attacks that the White House described in equivocal tones, and declined to muster a military response to in retaliation.

There is an ongoing debate within the Obama administration about whether to strike Assad immediately — or whether to allow United Nations inspectors to try to collect that proof before the bombing begins.

This week, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney called the work of that team “redundant . . . because it is clearly established already that chemical weapons have been used on a significant scale.”

But within the intelligence community, at least, “there’s an interest in letting the UN piece run its course,” the official said. “It puts the period on the end of the sentence.”

When news about the Ghouta incident first trickled out, there were questions about whether or not a chemical agent was to blame for the massacre. But when weapons experts and U.S. intelligence analysts began reviewing the dozens of videos and pictures allegedly taken from the scene of the attacks, they quickly concluded that a nerve gas, such as sarin, had been used there.

The videos showed young victims who were barely able to breathe and, in some cases, twitching. Close-up photos revealed that their pupils were severely constricted. Doctors and nurses who say they treated the victims reported that they later became short of breath as well. Eyewitnesses talk of young children so confused, they couldn’t even indentify their own parents.

All of these are classic signs of exposure to a nerve agent like sarin, the Assad regime’s chemical weapon of choice.

Making the case even more conclusive were the images of the missiles that supposedly delivered the deadly attacks. If they were carrying conventional warheads, they would have likely been all but destroyed as they detonated. But several missiles in East Ghouta were found largely intact.

“Why is there so much rocket left? There shouldn’t be so much rocket left,” the intelligence official told FP. The answer, the official and his colleagues concluded, was that the weapon was filled with nerve agent, not a conventional explosive.

In the days after the attacks, there was a great deal of public discussion about which side in Syria’s horrific civil war actually launched the strike. Allies of the Assad regime, like Iran and Russia, pointed the finger at the opposition. The intercepted communications told a different story — one in which the Syrian government was clearly to blame.

The official White House line is that the president is still considering his options for Syria. But all of Washington is talking about a punitive strike on the Assad government in terms of when, not if. Even some congressional doves have said they’re now at least open to the possibility of U.S. airstrikes in Syria. Images of dead children, neatly stacked in rows, have a way of changing minds.

“It’s horrible, it’s stupid,” the intelligence official said about the East Ghouta attack by the Syrian military. “Whatever happens in the next few days — they get what they deserve.”

[Edler0023]

@News1130radio: (1/2) Don't expect #Canada to play much of a role if it'l community attacks #Syria.

@News1130radio: (2/2) The foreign affairs min says we don't have the armed drones or cruise missiles to contribute to the types of strikes being referred to

[mdehaan]

I'm not assuming anything. There is no other viable Reserve Currency right now. Hence, why nations aren't already lining up to drop their USD. I'm not assuming anything, it's not happening. It's you who is assuming that other nations would readily switch their reserves. Tell me what is this threat to the USD as Reserve Currency? What currency are you talking about?

I'm also not assuming that the US wants to lower the value of their dollar. They've actively been doing that. They've been printing more and more money. They want the value of the dollar to drop.

[Mr.Habitat]

@News1130radio: (1/2) Don't expect #Canada to play much of a role if it'l community attacks #Syria.

@News1130radio: (2/2) The foreign affairs min says we don't have the armed drones or cruise missiles to contribute to the types of strikes being referred to

[Electro Rock]

There's only so much Russia and China can do right now overtly, both countries need a huge arms buildup and modernization before they're anywhere near ready to take on the West openly in conventional warfare.

In order to pay for these programs, they're going to have to play "nice" with the West for a bit longer at least, and won't push a line over Syria unless they're prepared to go nuclear.

[Lancaster]

I don't know. Maybe a gold backed Chinese Yuan? This is just a guess. The Chinese are importing gold like there's no tomorrow.

[Dogbyte]

WW3 coming soon folks.

[DeNiro]

And the US is dummied into another war they can't afford. Seriously, when will they learn?

I wouldn't be surprised if the "rebels" used the gas on their own people in order to get the US involved. If you think the opposition to Assad are the good guys, think again.

[key2thecup]

There's only so much Russia and China can do right now overtly, both countries need a huge arms buildup and modernization before they're anywhere near ready to take on the West openly in conventional warfare.

In order to pay for these programs, they're going to have to play "nice" with the West for a bit longer at least, and won't push a line over Syria unless they're prepared to go nuclear.

[DonLever]

And the US is dummied into another war they can't afford. Seriously, when will they learn?

I wouldn't be surprised if the "rebels" used the gas on their own people in order to get the US involved. If you think the opposition to Assad are the good guys, think again.

[key2thecup]

Freedom is the only f*cking way yeah

[VICanucksfan5551]

Not just US unfortunately. I was just telling someone at work about the latest developments and he just interrupted me saying "What's a Syria?".

He works as a high school tutor. God help us all.