Friday, September 6, 2013

The Syria Crisis:Insights and Policy

Senator John McCain,R-Arizona,said on Thursday that the President of the United States shared with him and Senator Lindsey Graham,R-South Carolina,his goals for military action against Syria:
1.To degrade Assad's chemical weapons capabilities.
2.To lend greater support to the Free Syria Army and those who seek to prevail.
3.To achieve a change in the battlefield to switch the momentum,which is thanks to Russian and Iranian equipment being flown in and the Iranian Revolutionary Guard.
Unless Bashar al-Assad believes he is going to lose,it will be impossible to get him to negotiate.*
The classified briefing we got on Wednesday was excellent and answered many questions.*
The reason the American people are so opposed to miltary action against Syria is:
1.Americans are very sceptical because of Iraq.
2.The President mishandled it.
Americans don't understand this is a regional war.It's not confined to Syria.*
It's understandable there is oppositon to military action in Congress.There's no more important vote a Member of Congress will cast,Senator McCain pointed out.*
The Pentagon is developing a more intense option for an attack on Syria.This would involve strategic bombers such as the B-52 and B-2 stealth bomber,as well as cruise missiles launched from warships.Strategic bombers can fly from bases in the US and fire missiles at a distance from the target,so they would not have to fly over Syria itself.No final decision has been made.*
According to the BBC,the G20 summit in St.Petersburg,Russia has revealed a split among the nations attending over military action against Syria,which Russia itself strongly opposes.Taking Obama's side,British Prime Minister David Cameron said it would send an appalling message to Assad and others if the US failed to act.German Chancellor Angela Merkel wants to wait until the UN weapons inspectors deliver their report,which could take weeks.

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