It is not just the Assad regime that is bracing itself. Jihadists fear the US may seek to kill

[pampango]

two birds with one stone by targeting them as well, amid fears that they emerge the winners if the Assad regime is overthrown. On Foreign Policy, Charles Lister writes:

In a note entitled "Important Instructions... Before the US initiates its Mission," distributed via social media on 27 August, senior Fatah al-Islam leader Abdullah Shaker (Abu Bakr) claimed: "For each and every missile that strikes a [Syrian] missile site, there will be another that targets the mujahideen's positions," suggesting such strikes would aim to kill as many jihadist leaders as possible. Shaker went on to advise all jihadists to "change your positions, take shelter, and do not move in public," and underlined how previous experiences in Mali, Iraq, and Afghanistan had seen "the mujahideen destroyed in a very short time," as the necessary precautions were not undertaken. Shaker also advised against any attempts to deploy anti-aircraft weapons against US "raids" as this would "practically be suicidal."

Similar notes of warning and advice have been distributed by known Jabhat al-Nusra and ISIS members and sympathizers, including an anonymous "brother familiar with the American media." He suggested on 25 August that in addition to US-led strikes targeting Syrian "radar systems, air defence systems, the chemical weapons industry, and stocks of Scud missiles," a second set of strikes would target "the training camps of Jabhat al-Nusra and ISIS, the group's top tier leaders, and the sharia courts."

http://www.theguardian.com/world/middle-east-live/2013/aug/30/syria-us-military-britain-live

This possibility had nor occurred to me. In may just be paranoia in the context of the Syrian situation, but I suppose their fear is based on past experience elsewhere.

[LuvNewcastle]

1. I hadn't thought about that, but it makes sense that

the U.S. would do that. Otherwise, Obama will get a hell of a lot of criticism when Al Qaeda takes over the country.

[Kolesar]

2. Bush destablized Iraq and the refugees fled to Syria,...

...destabilizing that country . We will have to wait on the sidelines and just watch the gassing and the blood bath. Syria's wealthy neighbors are apparently incapable of trying to broker a peace. Life sucks.

[Scootaloo]

5. What wealthy neighbors?

Syria is bordered by Lebanon and Iraq - two utter basket-case nations as there ever were. Jordan's to the south, and Jordan's poor as all fuck because it's Amman and a whole lot of nothing. There's Israel to the Southwest, but we know how that goes. So then, Turkey? the US has been working real hard to make Iran incapable of pitching in very much, and Saudi Arabia, of course, is throwing money at Sunni insurgents.

You know that not every nation in the middle east is populated by oil sheiks from the UAE, right? In fact even the UAE is mostly populated by barrel-bottom wage laborers and slaves.

[Kolesar]

7. Saudi Arabia, of course,

[Scootaloo]

13. Well, one, Syria and Saudi Arabia aren't neighbors

At least, no more than Syria and greece are neighbors.

Two, Saudi Arabia is funding and arming the civil war, so... not too likely to get to work on a peace deal

[East Coast Pirate]

3. That's the first thing I though of.

He'd have the CIA on the ground targeting the.

[paleotn]

4. Alright! Double the targets, double the fun!

...double the collateral damage. I'm sure innocent Syrian civilians, caught in the crossfire, will understand. The again, who cares! If Americans aren't killing brown people overseas, we get bored and cranky.

[Martin Eden]

6. Kill 'em ALL ... we need burnt dead bodies!

Kill the Rebels, Kill Assad
Do it in the name of a loving God
To protect the innocent
And make them free
We need to go on a bombing spree
Their ongoing internal strife
Threaten us and our way of life
Our moral compass won't tolerate
Chemicical weapons launched with hate
So it becomes our self-appointed task
To save them with cruise missiles
Whether or not they ask.

[Kolesar]

8. That was really good

We're screwed.

[LuvNewcastle]

9. That's actually pretty good. Did you just write that?

[Martin Eden]

11. I wrote in in 10 minutes this morning before heading to work, after seeing this thread.

Thanks! Not my best work, but good enough for the time I put into it.

[Martin Eden]

12. Here's one I wrote when Reagan was president, beating his war drums:

Kill the Russians
Destroy Iran
No one fucks with Unlce Sam
We need more guns
We need more troops
We need more tanks, submarines, and nukes
To protect our homeland
And keep ourselves free
We need a new base on the Arabian Sea

The Commies want more
They'll be at our door
Unless we do something fast
To blow them apart
Would be a good start
Let's send them a nuclear blast

Then when they're all dead
Every last stinking Red
We won't have to worry at all;
The earth will be free
And as peaceful as can be --
Just a burnt-out, uninhabited ball.

[joshcryer]

10. A more likely scenario is that Syria uses a strike as a pretext.

Start killing AQ wholesale, blame it on the US meddling in their anti-terrorist activities.