| Submit your comments on this article |
| Syria-Lebanon-Iran |
| U.S. Unable to Determine Syria Chemical Weapons Use |
| 2013-08-23 |
| [An Nahar] The United States said Thursday it has yet to "conclusively determine" that chemical weapons were used in an attack in Syria that allegedly killed hundreds of people. State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said President Barack Obama I think when you spread the wealth around, it's good for everybody... had directed U.S. intelligence to gather information about the reported attack near Damascus. "At this time right now, we are unable to conclusively determine CW use, but we are focused every minute of every day since these events happened yesterday on doing everything possible within our power to nail down the facts," Psaki said. The main Syrian opposition group has charged that as many as 1,300 people were killed in a chemical weapons attack Wednesday near Damascus. Obama has said that chemical weapons use by the Syrian regime would cross a U.S. "red line," but Washington so far has not acted on earlier reports of chemical weapons attacks. "If these reports are true, it would be an outrageous and flagrant escalation of use of chemical weapons by the regime," Psaki said. "The president of course has a range of options that we've talked about before that he can certainly consider and of course discuss with his national security team," she said. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #13 More ... * BIG NEWS NETWORK > [Fox News] KRAUTHAMMER: OBAMA WON'T GET INVOLVED [evar!? IN SYRIA, no matter his Admin's rhetoric or the number of "red lines" violated??? Obama's deliberate intentions, or lack thereof??? Ouchies. * SAME > OBAMA SIDESTEPS SYRIAN + EGYPTIAN CRISES. No UNO = UNSC Mandates [read, Russia + China approval], + no "clear evidence" = NO US MIL INTERVENTION ANYWHERE FOR ANYBODY??? IMO JAPAN + PHILIPPINES + INDIA + PERSIAN GULF, MIDDLE EAST SHOULD JUST SURRENDER NOW TO CHINA + IRAN, + SAVE EVERYBODY THE HASSLE OF A LIMITED [tacical nuclear?]WAR(S). I say "War(s)" in plural because I have no doubts "post-US" China + PLA will be willing to wage multiple Limited Wars to achieve its desired strategic access in East Asia. Its pretty much similar wid Nuke-, OWG Shia Caliphate-wannabe IRAN, whose Mullahs have made it clear they will never submit to any foreign invasion or occupation, + are willing to detonate Nukes-WMDS on their own soil, + in their own Cities-Towns, etc. to defeat such an invasion or occupation. |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2013-08-23 23:55 |
| #12 More ... * BIG NEWS NETWORK > [Fox News] KRAUTHAMMER: OBAMA WON'T GET INVOLVED [evar!? IN SYRIA, no matter his Admin's rhetoric or the number of "red lines" violated??? Obama's deliberate intentions, or lack thereof??? Ouchies. * SAME > OBAMA SIDESTEPS SYRIAN + EGYPTIAN CRISES. No UNO = UNSC Mandates [read, Russia + China approval], + no "clear evidence" = NO US MIL INTERVENTION ANYWHERE FOR ANYBODY??? IMO JAPAN + PHILIPPINES + INDIA + PERSIAN GULF, MIDDLE EAST SHOULD JUST SURRENDER NOW TO CHINA + IRAN, + SAVE EVERYBODY THE HASSLE OF A LIMITED [tacical nuclear?]WAR(S). I say "War(s)" in plural because I have no doubts "post-US" China + PLA will be willing to wage multiple Limited Wars to achieve its desired strategic access in East Asia. Its pretty much similar wid Nuke-, OWG Shia Caliphate-wannabe IRAN, whose Mullahs have made it clear they will never submit to any foreign invasion or occupation, + are willing to detonate Nukes-WMDS on their own soil, + in their own Cities-Towns, etc. to defeat such an invasion or occupation. |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2013-08-23 23:54 |
| #11 See MIDDLE EAST ONLINE > US REFUSES TO SET "RED LINES" AFTER SYRIA [chemical] "MASSACRE". versus * TOPIX > [Christian Science Monitor] "CORE" US INTERESTS NOW AT STAKE IN SYRIA, OBAMA SAYS - WILL HE TAKE ACTION? versus * TOPIX > OBAMA PLAYS DOWN US INTERVENTION IN SYRIA, PCorrectly arguing that the US will not "rush" headlong towards "costly intervention/ interventionism". versus * TOPIX, WORLD NEWS > [CBS NEWS] US PREPS FOR POSSIBLE CRUISE MISSLE STRIKE ON SYRIAN GOVT. FORCES. RELATED SAME > US SENDING SHIPS TO MED TO PREPARE FOR MISSLE STRIKE ON SYRIA. |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2013-08-23 22:52 |
| #10 you'd expect a military target rather than some random suburb 1. It's possible it was a 'military target' that was hit. 2. If the rebels are like the rest of their Arab brethren, the weaponry or weapons lab was in a civilian area. Too bad the there's no meteorological data available. |
| Posted by: Pappy 2013-08-23 18:37 |
| #9 Wasn't the attack on the anniversary of The Wan's "red line" statement? Anyone else think Iran would love to show the US is toothless? |
| Posted by: Rob Crawford 2013-08-23 11:48 |
| #8 I too was looking for Green Helmut Man, had a lot of flags being thrown for the few videos I saw - nothing looked outside of what could be staged but yield to those who would know, and also don't have the time to look for all the video. 1300 is a large claim, certainly not an amount which could be immediately recovered and video'd, especially concerning the heat and normal effects. Should be obvious one way or the other. |
| Posted by: swksvolFF 2013-08-23 10:22 |
| #7 Ooooouch! That really is going to leave a mark. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2013-08-23 08:48 |
| #6 Maybe if they focused less on domestic comm traffic and more on, say, some foreign traffic, maybe the 'uncertainty' factor wouldn't be so high. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2013-08-23 08:40 |
| #5 We would know quite easily, had the intelligence assets been tasked rationally, rather than apparently trying to aid the MB in Egypt, and ignoring the rest of the region. |
| Posted by: OldSpook 2013-08-23 05:22 |
| #4 "It's hard to find a black cat in a dark room..." p.s. Did anybody notice whether one of the rescue workers in the video was wearing a green helmet? |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2013-08-23 03:16 |
| #3 More not-good news indicators for US overseas allies in East-South Asia. |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2013-08-23 02:40 |
| #2 The timing is a bit suspect. The incidents occurred right at the UN Inspection teams came into country. Been pretty hot over there, and those bodies in some of the fotos don't show much sign of what dead bodies do in that kind of heat. Just say'n. I could be wrong, but that's what the UN Inspection team could sort out.... if permitted. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2013-08-23 02:16 |
| #1 Normally, you could write this off as the usual State Department handjob. But in this case, the situation *does* seem uncertain, IMHO. Certainly PencilNeck's side would use chem weps, but you'd expect a military target rather than some random suburb. The rebels, on the otherhand, are at least as unscrupulous and maybe even more savage then the regime. Did they stage a false flag attack in order to gain international sympathy (and arms)? You can't make an omlette without breaking some eggs, right? |
| Posted by: SteveS 2013-08-23 01:58 |