Your Ignorance is not as Good; Or, You Don't Know Fuck-All About Syria

[karynnj]

113. I guess that is why high school teachers across the country warn students not

to cite Wikipedia as a source. Though as one teacher a daughter had suggested it could be a good source to start with to find a variety of credible sources.

The problem with Iraq was the WILLFUL deception. This is a problem - and it is clear that it is now being used domestically and internationally to discredit the word of our government. That shows what Bush's actions cost the United States.

As to Syria, the problem is that Obama used the words red line possibly hoping to prevent the use of chemical weapons. He may have actually made the use more likely -- as it may well have been the rebels responsible for the small uses earlier this year.

It does seem more likely than not that the Syrian government had and used the weapons this time. Here, I am more impressed by MaDem's clear posts on how missile delivery of chemical weapons works than anything else. That, with the intercepted phone call, makes a good CIRCUMSTANTIAL case. Coupled with the five days of shelling and keeping the UN out when they are preparing to investigate something that deteriorates quickly rather than reacting with the outrage one would expect when hundreds of your people are killed, the government is very likely complicit. It does seem at this point that we may not have something directly pinning it to Assad or someone in the inner circle. This is FAR more than Bush/Powell even claimed to have.

I suspect that it will not be because other nations do not think Assad did this that they will hold back the effort. I suspect it will because they do not think a response of the type we would be willing to do (VERY LIMITED) would make the situation any better and that it could make it worse.