Should the US use military force in Syria?

[Dreadnaught]

If I were an iron fisted dictator, I would start building my chemical weapons stocks.

Meanwhile the Syrians are scattering their chemical weapons caches.

[Hazir]

If I were an iron fisted dictator, I would start building my chemical weapons stocks.

Meanwhile the Syrians are scattering their chemical weapons caches.

Another example of inability to put down the Israeli glasses when looking at Syria. Syria today is not a dictatorship; it is a failed state in which at present one faction has chemical weapons at its disposal. If and what Syria will be after its civil war is near impossible to predict. Besides from the fact that it' s highly unlikely it will be just business as usual under the Assad dynasty.

[Loki]

It's still a dictatorship for the people under Assad's control. That's not to say that a decent portion of those people don't support him, but the S. African apartheid regime enjoyed popular support from the whites as well.

[Dreadnaught]

Another example of inability to put down the Israeli glasses when looking at Syria. Syria today is not a dictatorship; it is a failed state in which at present one faction has chemical weapons at its disposal. If and what Syria will be after its civil war is near impossible to predict. Besides from the fact that it' s highly unlikely it will be just business as usual under the Assad dynasty.

I don't see the Israeli connection.

I do see how any strongman with chemical weapons now understands that he can use those weapons, then negotiate for their release (all the while buying time to crush his enemies and get de-facto backing from the West because he's the only one who "controls" said chemical weapons).

[GGT]

If I were an iron fisted dictator, I would start building my chemical weapons stocks.

I have questions about that. Some news reports said Great Britain has been the main source of supplying/selling chemical weapons to Syria over the years. (I don't doubt the US chemical industry profiting the same way.) So....who the hell is supposed to be safeguarding/limiting/regulating the sale and transfer of this stuff?

We already know multi-national corporations can't/won't "self-regulate" if profits are at stake. Not even when it means selling chemical (or biological) weapons to dictators or terrorist groups. It's perverse and twisted if western democracies have been complicit....then act surprised or outraged.

[Loki]

If you read those stories, you'd see that Syria was buying multi-use material and using them to make chemical weapons.

[Flixy]

Yeah but the companies aren't exactly naive either, that's just the excuse they give to keep complying with sanctions, not what they knew, usually. Which also doesn't fly legally anymore these days - you'll notice that's exactly the excuse Frans van Anraat used for delivering chemicals to Iraq, yet he's been convicted to 17 years for being an accomplice to war crimes.

[RandBlade]

Another example of inability to put down the Israeli glasses when looking at Syria. Syria today is not a dictatorship; it is a failed state in which at present one faction has chemical weapons at its disposal. If and what Syria will be after its civil war is near impossible to predict. Besides from the fact that it' s highly unlikely it will be just business as usual under the Assad dynasty.

I have no connection whatsoever to Israel and Assad still looks like a dictator to me. His state may be failed and he may have lost his grip on some parts of his nation but that doesn't make him any less of a dictator, he's just dictator over what he controls but is still a dictator.

[Loki]

Yeah but the companies aren't exactly naive either, that's just the excuse they give to keep complying with sanctions, not what they knew, usually. Which also doesn't fly legally anymore these days - you'll notice that's exactly the excuse Frans van Anraat used for delivering chemicals to Iraq, yet he's been convicted to 17 years for being an accomplice to war crimes.

From the reports, Syria was much more circumspect about it. Regardless, even if some companies knew what was going on, it doesn't mean the government did.

[Flixy]

From the reports, Syria was much more circumspect about it. Regardless, even if some companies knew what was going on, it doesn't mean the government did.

Well she wasn't saying the governments did...

[Loki]

So if a British company makes GTA, I could say "Britain made GTA"?

[Ominous Gamer]

didn't we blame rhode island for Kingdoms of Amalur?

[GGT]

If you read those stories, you'd see that Syria was buying multi-use material and using them to make chemical weapons.

From the reports, Syria was much more circumspect about it. Regardless, even if some companies knew what was going on, it doesn't mean the government did.

Is there an answer to my question somewhere?

So....who the hell is supposed to be safeguarding/limiting/regulating the sale and transfer of this stuff?

[Loki]

You ignored the part about dual-use products. Are you going to ban the export of any product that can potentially be used to make chemical or biological weapons?

[GGT]

I didn't ignore that part...but it's not like we're discussing common nitrogen-based fertilizer ingredients used in agriculture, or chlorine used in swimming pools. Aren't the components for Sarin gas or VX etc more 'peculiar and particular'? Isn't a better analogy buying/collecting components that can be used to make nuclear weapons?

[Loki]

No, it really isn't.

[katsung47]

War is their purpose. Chemical weapon is just anexcuse.

The Syrian War What You're Not Being Told




UN Investigationhave shown that the rockets used to deliver
the chemicals were homemade rockets, notmilitary or
industrial produced.The chemical was also not industrial
produced, it didn'thave stabilizers.

Why would the Syriangovernment give the US a reason to
strike by attackingtheir own country with chemical weapons?