CBS News: America moving ships in Med to prepare for missile attack on Syria [View all]

[Bolo Boffin]

Last edited Fri Aug 23, 2013, 09:13 PM - Edit history (3)

https://twitter.com/CharlieKayeCBS/status/371038205295861760

BREAKING. @CBSNews has learned that the Pentagon is making the initial preparations for a Cruise missile attack on Syrian government forces

https://twitter.com/CharlieKayeCBS/status/371038840649031681

BREAKING. @CBSDavidMartin: US naval commander orders warships to move closer to Syria to be ready for possible Cruise missile strike.

It's not being confirmed anywhere else yet.

ETA: Chuck Todd of NBC, while not confirming the above details, tweeted this:

https://twitter.com/chucktodd/status/371043672068214784

Obama admin appears to be debating WHAT military action to take against Syria. Not really debating IF anymore more on @nbcnightlynews

(h/t stevil down below)

EATA: A few websites are getting these details and word of a presentation of options for the President tomorrow. Here's a Slate story on why a strike might still not happen.

http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_world_/2013/08/23/the_u_s_is_reportedly_preparing_for_a_cruise_missile_strike_on_syria_is.html

A healthy dose of caution should apply here. Preparing for a possible strike is not the same thing as planning to strike. Despite evidence of a large-scale chemical weapons attack earlier this week, President Barack Obama seems extremely reticent about the idea of intervening in Syria, telling CNN just this morning that “we're still gathering information about this particular event” and that “if the U.S. goes in and attacks another country without a U.N. mandate and without clear evidence that can be presented, then there are questions in terms of whether international law supports it.”

It seems likely that positioning the warships is simply a bit of theater meant to convince Syrian President Bashar al-Assad that the United States means business. None of the other gradual escalations the U.S. has announced in the year since Obama declared the use of chemical weapons to be his “red line" seem to have had much of an impact on the regime’s behavior, but perhaps the hope is that armed warships in the neighborhood will finally get the message across.

I prefer my theater on the stage.