Meanwhile in Iraq & Syria

[TheReal_ND]

"Oh boy Mr. President this guy Assad needs to go. Look at the chemical weapons!"

Some time after Assad gets a proctological rooting with rusty rebarb.

"lol whoops we can't find any WMD's Mr. President. But boy you sure showed those Saudis who's boss! Surely your reelection will benefit from your in no way rash decision!"

[The Conservative]

This guy just keeps on winning.


Well, at least one government is speaking to the frustrated! Too bad if it's not their own.

If you can convince me what Assad would gain from using WMD's to kill less than 100 people I will consider trusting the CIA.

Look, point blank, if he attacks Assad he loses half his die-hard base that supported him because he was America First.

Bush Jr. wanted to be the educational president...that didn't turn out so well for him either did it?

[Fife]

I'm not sayin'. I'm just sayin'.

I'm looking for some obvious explanation here.

[adwinistrator]

The Hill - Trump on Assad: 'Something should happen' after chemical weapons attack
By Jordan Fabian - 04/06/17 03:16 PM EDT

President Trump said Thursday that “something should happen” to Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad in response to a chemical weapons attack carried out by his forces.

“He’s there, and I guess he’s running things, so I guess something should happen,” Trump told reporters on Air Force One when asked whether Assad should step down.

Trump declined to say what steps the U.S. would take to help oust Assad or comment on reports he is considering using military force.

“I don’t want to say what I’m going to be doing with respect to Syria,” the president said.

The Trump administration has reversed course and expressed a desire to take a tougher approach in Syria following this week’s gas attack, which left dozens dead including children.

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson told reporters Thursday “there would be no role for [Assad] to govern the Syrian people,” days after saying the people should decide whether the leader stays in power.

Tillerson said the U.S. would work with international partners to defeat ISIS, help bring an end to the country’s civil war, and then implement a “political process that would lead to Assad leaving."

“Those steps are underway,” he said.

[TheReal_ND]

[Smitty-48]

Calm down, folks, there's not going to be any US military action taken against Assad, regardless of what he does, as the Russians have deployed a comprehensive integrated air defense system to Syria, everything from S1 Panstyr to S-400 Triumf, with Su-35's flying CAP/QRA, not to mention the Russian forces are integrated alongside Assad's forces, thus, the Russians are shielding Assad from any sort of kinetic military action whatsoever, zero chance the US is going to send US forces downtown into the teeth of the Russian IADS, because this ain't the Iraqi's, and the Russians could and would inflict heavy casualties on US forces attempting to do so, and there's no way to hit Assad without killing significant numbers of Russian forces in the process, so there's no viable military option for Trump, the Pentagon would simply tell him how many planes and pilots he was likely to lose in the first wave, and that would be the end of that discussion right there, right thur, full stop.

So long as the Russians are in the way, the US is not going to be able to strike, which is exactly why the Russians have put themselves in the way in the first place.

[adwinistrator]

Reporter: "Will you and President Trump organize an international coalition to remove Assad?"
Sec. Tillerson: “Those steps are underway.”

[adwinistrator]

Calm down, folks, there's not going to be any US military action taken against Assad, regardless of what he does, as the Russians have deployed a comprehensive integrated air defense system to Syria, everything from S1 Panstyr to S-400 Triumf, with Su-35's flying CAP/QRA, not to mention the Russian forces are integrated alongside Assad's forces, thus, the Russians are shielding Assad from any sort of kinetic military action whatsoever, zero chance the US is going to send US forces downtown into the teeth of the Russian IADS, because this ain't the Iraqi's, and the Russians could and would inflict heavy casualties on US forces attempting to do so, and there's no way to hit Assad without killing significant numbers of Russian forces in the process, so there's no viable military option for Trump, the Pentagon would simply tell him how many planes and pilots he was likely to lose in the first wave, and that would be the end of that discussion right there, right thur, full stop.

So long as the Russians are in the way, the US is not going to be able to strike, which is exactly why the Russians have put themselves in the way in the first place.

Welcome back Smitty!

I agree with you on kinetic military action, not going to happen. With all of the statements being made, I'm interested in what Tillerson and his State Department can do, as that's where any meaningful attempt at influencing this situation will come from.

[Fife]

Hmmm. I see the sarin wafted its way to the north side of the lake, like a fake news smelling salt. Happy Spring, Smits, is the sap finally starting to rise?

[StCapps]

Tillerson said the U.S. would work with international partners to defeat ISIS, help bring an end to the country’s civil war, and then implement a “political process that would lead to Assad leaving."

“Those steps are underway,” he said.

Meaning after they have done the first two steps they are free to bail on the third, in the meantime he placates the neocons by acting "tough on Assad" with some tough sounding words and placates the Democrats by sprinkling humanitarian pixie dust on Syria and claims the pictures of the dead kiddies moved him to "change his mind". Trump seems to be playing this situation quite shrewd politically speaking, at least thus far.

I see no need for panic just yet, just because Trump blamed Assad for this chemical attack when it was politically expedient to do so, doesn't mean he's going to immediately try and oust Assad via military action. He just didn't want to play this the way that Ron Paul would, no big deal. Trump's base might get antsy because the media is beating the war drum, and are twisting Trump's words to mean that he's coming around to their perspective, but it's just wishful thinking on their part.