[InstituteForTheStudyOfWar] U.S. Navy warships are positioned for a strike against Syria using long range Tomahawk Land Attack Missiles (TLAM). Such an attack could cause varying degrees of limited damage to the Assad regime's ability to use more chemical weapons or continue effective operations against the opposition. It cannot eliminate the regime's military or chemical weapons capabilities, however, nor cause more than a temporary degradation in regime operations. Such a strike will be ineffective unless it is part of a coherent, properly resourced effort towards achieving clearly-articulated U.S. strategic aims in Syria. Those aims should include helping the moderate and more secular elements of the opposition defeat both the Iranian-backed Assad regime and the al Qaeda-affiliated extremists who threaten to hijack the rebellion. Limited TLAM strikes alone will not accomplish such aims.
And that's just the first paragraph of an intro. that links to a nine page PDF.
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/27/2013 10:41 Comments ||
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#3
Well Frank, Vlad had to provide the timeline and no-fly zones. Then there were the MSM deployments to contend with. Theater like this takes planning and a great deal of time.
However, the Syrians have a pretty darned good integrated air defense system
courtesy of our Russian friends. Also, from open source, the Russians have deployed SS-26 "Stone" hypersonic missiles in Syria in locations from which they can take out NATO's Patriot missiles right quick. If we intervene in
Syria with manned aircraft we will risk losing several pilots, risk killing Russian "advisors" and may widen hostilities throughout the region. What will the Iranians do if we attack their Syrian allies? What would Russia do? This symbolic intervention could get ugly early.
[Ynet] US, British top brass prepare for possible attack in Syria, British Daily Mail outs target bank, including Assad's air force, key regime facilities
The British Daily Mail newspaper revealed on Monday the American-British target list in Syria and the forces likely to participate in a military operation -- be it a short or a long one -- in the torn Arab country.
The favored option among top brass is for limited Western action using 'stand-off' weapons from long distance to disrupt Assad's ability to carry out chemical attacks and damage his military machine, the Daily Mail said.
Intelligence on targets would come from drones patrolling the skies above Syria and special forces on the ground.
According to the Daily Mail, military analysts believe an attack could last between 24 and 48 hours and would target key regime installations.
These would include Syria's integrated air defense system, command and control bunkers, communications hubs, government buildings, missile sites and Assad's air force.
The dictator's use of air power has been a huge advantage for the regime, and eliminating or weakening it would tilt the odds toward the rebels, said the report.
Other military options are Arclight airstrikes on Syrian units believed to be responsible for chemical attacks. Reports last week claimed the chemical weapons were fired by the 155th Brigade of the 4th Armoured Division of the Syrian Army.
This division, which has a military base in a mountain range west of Damascus is under the command of the president's brother, Maher Assad.
Forces at the ready
US-led strikes would be launched from warships or submarines patrolling in the eastern Mediterranean or Persian Gulf, or from combat aircraft that can fire missiles from hundreds of miles away.
A US Navy battle group including four destroyers is already in the eastern Mediterranean and has moved closer to Syria in preparation for action.
They are armed with Tomahawk cruise missiles capable of hitting a target from up to 1,200 miles away. Around 124 of the 18ft-long, $468,000 warheads were fired by US and British forces against Colonel Qadaffy's forces during the Libyan war.
The US Air Force could also send B-2 stealth bombers to pound Assad's military installations. Based in Missouri, they can cover the entire world with just one refueling.
The most expensive aircraft ever -- at a cost of $935 million each -- they are almost invisible to radar and can carry 40,000lb of bombs.
According to the Daily Mail, as well as having F-16 fighter jets and refueling aircraft based at airfields in the Middle East, the US also has defensive Patriot missile batteries positioned in Jordan, which neighbors Syria.
British firepower
Despite multi-billion-dollar cuts to the defense budge that have seen top brass axe fast jets, warships, spy planes and 30,000 troops, the British armed forces can still contribute to an assault on Syria.
The Royal Navy could fire Tomahawk missiles from its nuclear-powered Trafalgar-class submarines -- one of which is constantly on patrol in the Middle East.
The subs carry a giant payload of the super-accurate missiles.
Heavily-armed RAF Tornados could, in theory, fly from RAF Marham in the UK to attack targets in Syria -- a 4,200 mile round trip -- or be deployed to Cyprus to launch bombing raids from there.
Carrying precision-guided Storm Shadow missiles, the air crews could devastate enemy defenses including radar stations, anti-aircraft batteries and supply lines.
The Storm Shadows have a range of more than 150 miles, allowing the aircraft to attack targets deep inside enemy territory without getting too close to anti-air defenses.
The 1,300kg missile, which technicians program with the target details before the mission, then uses high-tech GPS systems and terrain-following equipment to fly low under radar to its detonation point.
Despite being fired from 150 miles away, the Storm Shadow is accurate to up to 6ft, reducing collateral damage.
Meanwhile in Syria, snipers opened fire Monday at a UN convoy carrying a team investigating the alleged use of chemical weapons outside of Damascus, a UN front man said. The Syrian government accused rebel forces of firing at the team, while the opposition said a pro-government militia was behind the attack.
Activists said the inspectors eventually arrived in Moadamiyeh, a western suburb of the capital and one of the areas where last week's attack allegedly occurred. They said the team members spent three hours at a makeshift hospital, meeting with doctors and taking samples from victims before they headed back to Damascus.
#1
#1 Syria has agreed to allow UN officials to inspect the site of the recent chemical weapons attack that killed up to 1,400 people, but a "senior U.S. official" says that such an inspection would be "too late to be credible".
#3
...everyone is making bets upon assumptions that they know the character of each of the other players. The big assumption is that someone is going to blink. It's like Sarajevo 1914 all over again.
"Some damned foolish thing in the Balkans" - Bismark
The name of the players change but the story line is the same.
#5
...didn't need one for Libya. Got away with it. So who cares anymore. Of course BushChimpHitler got authorization for military force to use against AQ/Taliban and Iraq from Congress along with a UN approval, but as far as the Left is concerned he's a war criminal. If this was a Trunk prez, I'm sure the Donks and their media propaganda machine would be whispering the 'I' word. This one has no problem making sure no future president ever worries about the War Powers Act.
#6
So 300 or so people got killed with an alleged gas attack. But 100,000 people have been killed in Syria and nobody say jack boo.
And Congress sits on its collective a$$. Criminals all.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
08/27/2013 20:39 Comments ||
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#7
...part of that is the media machine. Hype,action,color. They got to sell their time on air and columns in print. "You furnish the pictures and I'll furnish the war." - William Randolph Hearst
That's why 100,000 didn't count. Obama was still reaping the puff machine adulation. Now with numbers in sky dive, they need to look important.
"We have to protect our phoney baloney jobs here, gentlemen! We must do something about this immediately! Immediately! Immediately! Harrumph! Harrumph! Harrumph!" - Governor William J. Le Petomane
#8
. "You furnish the pictures and I'll furnish the war." - William Randolph Hearst
OK, OK, WE GOT THE PICTURE!!!
(The Twink will Wink first!!!)
Posted by: Bob Snore6814 ||
08/27/2013 22:23 Comments ||
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#9
Pray tell, what "war" is being referred to ???
* CHINESE DEFENSE > US COULD BE BROKE IN TWO MONTHS [mid-October], CONGRESS WARNED.
RELATED CYBERCAST NEWS SERVICE [CNS] > 100 DAYS: US TREASURY HAS KEPT DEBT FROZEN AT US$16,699, 396,000,000.00, for 100 straight days asof 4:00PM 08/27/2013.
Must mean 101.
* Also from CHINESE DEFENSE > [Reuters] REMEMBER BOGUS US EXCUSES FOR IRAQ WAR BEFORE ATTACK ON SYRIA, CHINA'S XINHUA.
* GLOBAL TIMES > US "RED LINE" BLURS AMID SHARPENING SYRIA CRISIS.
Posted by: Frozen Al ||
08/27/2013 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[6 views]
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#1
HHHHMMMM, HHHHHMMMM, wehell, first thingys must come first - the Bammer always says he = USA must have clear-n-convincing/conclusive evidence before undertaking any kind of unilateral milaction, TO WHICH BOTH THE HAGUE[UNO] + RUSSIA CLAIM THERE IS NONE RIGHT NOW AGZ ASSAD.
* E.G. FREEREPUBLIC > WAPO: ONE YEAR AFTER [giving] "RED LINE" ON SYRIA CHEMICAL ATTACK, OBAMA [still] HAS NO LEGAL BASIS TO [launch = initiate any...] ATTACK.
ARTIC = The Bammer Admin has seemingly failed to procure ...
> Any complete US INTEL assessment + analysis = final report.
> Must consult wid Allies + espec the US Congress.
> Needs UNO = UNSC Mandate in support of milaction, or in alternate a NATO Mandate.
Perhaps more importantly, as per the so-called "OBAMA DOCTRINE", IIUC BABY ASSAD - AS THE BAMMER'S PERCEIVED "PERPETRATOR" OF THE DEADLY CHEMICAL ATTACK(S) - MUST BE REMOVED FROM RULING POWER, NOT MERELY ATTACKED + HIS CHEMWAR, WMD? CAPABILITIES DESTROYED.
IOW, any US or US-led "limited strike(s)" agz Assad targeting only his Chemwar capabilities VIOLATES THE "OBAMA DOCTRINE"???
#4
If he's going to take out nerve gas he better have something hot enough to break the chemicals down for a warhead. Many times hotter than the surface of the sun, otherwise we are just helping to gas the mid-east.
#5
In these many years we have only acquired one Guamanian correspondent. Joe single handedly captured the heavily dug in Sgt. Shoichi Yokoi, the last remaining Japanese hold-out soldier of WWII. He writes to us from the lovely shores of Lake Fena. Please do not attack him.
#7
The strategy will be to attack the units in charge of the Chem weapons.
Although if it were me in charge, I send in every Predator or similar plinking tanks, artillery, missiles etc. Until you either run out of targets or run out of predators.
Cruise missiles are so 20th century. But a good excuse to use them up.
#9
Words you will not hear on MSNBC, NBC, CBS, Comedy Central, NPR, CBS, PBS, ABC, etc:
"Beka Valley"
Posted by: no mo uro ||
08/27/2013 7:42 Comments ||
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#10
I don't think it's in American interest to attack Assad even if he did use chemical weapons. I agree with Sarah Palin on Syria. "Let Allah sort it out."
If he's going to take out nerve gas he better have something hot enough to break the chemicals down for a warhead. Many times hotter than the surface of the sun, otherwise we are just helping to gas the mid-east.
FAEs would be plenty hot enough.
Posted by: Rob Crawford ||
08/27/2013 10:05 Comments ||
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#14
This administration seems decidedly against investigations and facts. Ketchup the Hat was on my morning TV and demanded to hold accountable those who are accountable, without an investigation or evidence - not that it matters he is on the sales pitch. Expecting a lot of that and drum beating and moral high ground segments over the next week, with no regard that there are at least 5 teams with their own motives, likely 7 and three sides.
The only thing which would be worse than watching every White Sox game hoping for the playoffs would be anticipating a clean win by this administration on this action. I had better feelings for the 2012 KC Chiefs.
#15
The alleged Syrian WMD crisis is working quite well for them. Not of word of Benghazi or the IRS scandals in the media, or cable nets. F&F is now a fading, distant memory. You've got to hand it to these bastids, they've got an impressive psychological warfare plan in operation.
#16
The Second Gulf War took place only after hundreds of UNSCOM WMD inspection missions, and then only after Saddam ran them out of the country.
And after Saddam invaded Iran and Kuwait, and 15 years after he gassed the Kurds. We went to bat for Sunnis 3x in the decade before the 21st century. Our reward was 9/11. It's time Sunnis resolved their own problems.
Executive Order 12333, Part 2.11 prohibits assassination by US intelligence agencies, though it has often been interpreted loosely with regards to targets "connected to terrorism."
It would also be probable if as lenient an interpretation would be applied to the leader of a foreign government.
Not that any discussion of that will be brought up while this administration is around.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
