Leon Panetta: US military planning for greater role in Syria conflict

[bemildred]

They never learn ...

The Pentagon is “reviewing and planning for a range of additional measures that may be necessary to protect the Syrian people,” Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said Thursday, with top US military planners using the recent US intervention in Libya as a potential template for action.

In testimony before the House Armed Services Committee, Mr. Panetta said the violence in Syria has been “brutal and devastating,” putting the Syrian people “in a desperate” situation.

Iran is helping to prop up Syrian strongmen, Panetta contended, supporting the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad “with material, financial, and technical assistance.” That’s because “no other country stands to lose more than Iran from the eventual fall of the Assad regime,” he added.

http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Military/2012/0419/Leon-Panetta-US-military-planning-for-greater-role-in-Syria-conflict

[gratuitous]

1. Why not?

We got all those troops in Iraq fishing around for something to do now that we've won. All we got are hammers, so every problem looks like a nail.

[tabatha]

4. They have tried to keep out of this as much as possible.

They tried Arab League monitors - that failed.
They tried a ceasefire - that was broken after two days.
They have sent in UN monitors - 8 people were shot in front of the monitors

Clinton is still stating that the UN ceasefire HAS to work.
Nobody wants to get involved.

However, if the slaughter of 100 people a day continues, what does one do?

The first step may be safety corridors for the population.

The numbers are shocking.

And this is to be ready if NEED be, not we are definitely going in as McCain wants.

[gratuitous]

5. Interdicting the flow of weapons into Syria is clearly out of the question

The only solution the American imagination can ever come up with is more and better weaponry. The arms merchants pocket a lot of coin, the popular media get to send in reporters and camera operators to win their "war correspondent" credentials, and the undertakers do a lot of business, so as I said, why not?

If Panetta is testifying before House Committees, the decision to invade has almost certainly been made. All that's left is the timing. This administration is following in the path laid out by the previous administration in ignoring inconveniences in quaint old documents, so the public will be sold on the absolute necessity of invasion, the vital strategic importance of Syria (heretofore unknown), and how much it will hurt Iran for Syria to be occupied by our star-spangled troops.

[tabatha]

7. The weapons flowing into Syria are from Iran and Russia (acknowledged) to the Syrian regime.

The US has not supplied weapons to the opposition and has asked the GCC countries and Turkey not to do so either. The opposition has not seen weapons other than the black market, and often had to retreat because they have no weapons. There may have been a few from Libya, but it is not certain that they made their way to the rebels because the Syrian regime was tipped off by someone in the US that an attempt was being made to deliver weapons from Libya to Syria.

Nothing in your post is based on fact; even the statement "decision has certainly made" is a supposition.

You are guessing - something I thought was only the realm of the right wing.

[Zalatix]

2. This is all I have to say about the prospect of intervention...

[img][/img]

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

3. "Smoke 'em out!" "Bring 'em on!" is popular in campaign season.

Gotta have a lot of flags and constipated looking generals explaining the grave threat of Syrian marines storming Malibu.

[indepat]

6. Wish the US had been as assidious in protecting the Iraqi people

from all the brutal and devastating violence associated with its invasion and its occupation.

[MadHound]

8. Gotta keep the MIC well fed and cared for

Meanwhile we the people continue to starve and suffer at home.

[KG]

9. this admin is just as ready to blow shit up as the last one, or any other one.

[Luminous Animal]

10. +1