A vote for Hillary is a vote for war in Syria

If you want a return to a neocon foreign policy, then Hillary is your kind of president.

Hillary Clinton will order a "full review" of the United States' strategy on Syria as a "first key task" of her presidency, resetting the policy to emphasise the "murderous" nature of the Assad regime, foreign policy adviser with her campaign has said.
Jeremy Bash, who served as chief of staff for the Pentagon and the Central Intelligence Agency, said Mrs Clinton would both escalate the fight against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, and work to get Bashar al-Assad, the Syrian president, "out of there".

Bash is just the latest Clinton advisor to promise a war against the Assad regime.

Since the days of Ronald Reagan, every president has felt it necessary to prove how tough they are by bombing brown-skinned people. It doesn’t matter which party.

  In the case of President Hillary Clinton, we already know which country she will likely be bombing, and we don’t need to read the NY Post to know it.

The woman expected to run the Pentagon under Hillary Clinton said she would direct U.S. troops to push President Bashar al-Assad’s forces out of southern Syria and would send more American boots to fight the Islamic State in the region.   
   Michele Flournoy, formerly the third-ranking civilian in the Pentagon under President Barack Obama, called for “limited military coercion” to help remove Assad from power in Syria, including a “no bombing” zone over parts of Syria held by U.S.-backed rebels.

  Hillary was already on record for supporting the bombing of the Assad government in 2013.

In October 2015, Clinton broke with the Obama administration and said she would declare a no-fly zone over parts of Syria.
And there is Panetta.

And earlier this month Leon Panetta, former Defense Secretary and CIA Director, who has been advising candidate Clinton, declared in an interview that the next president would have to increase the number of Special Forces and carry out air strikes to help “moderate” groups against President Bashal al-Assad. (When Panetta gave a belligerent speech at the Democratic National Convention on Wednesday night, he was interrupted by chants from the delegates on the floor of “no more war!”
Last month, CNAS published a report
of a “Study Group”
on military policy in Syria on the eve of the organization’s
annual conference. Ostensibly focused on how to defeat the Islamic State, the
report recommends new US military actions against the Assad regime....

Panetta served as Defense Secretary and CIA Director in the Obama administration
when Clinton was Secretary of State, and was Clinton’s ally on Syria policy.
On July 17, he gave
an interview to CBS News
in which he called for steps that partly complemented
and partly paralleled the recommendations in the CNAS paper.

“I think the likelihood is that the next president is gonna have to consider
adding additional special forces on the ground,” Panetta said, “to try to assist
those moderate forces that are taking on ISIS and that are taking on Assad’s
forces.”

Adding to this is an ongoing rift in the State Department of people who think we aren't generating enough carnage in our foreign policy.

   An internal rift over the U.S.- Syria policy could be a headache inherited by the next president, analysts say, because the Obama administration appears unlikely to dramatically alter its current policy.
   In a memo, 51 State Department diplomats indicated their dissatisfaction with the status quo, saying they back stepped-up military engagement that includes targeted airstrikes against the Syrian regime.
   Many of those mostly mid-level employees are likely to be around during the next presidency, Atlantic Council Middle East analyst Faysal Itani said.
  “The next president is going to inherit this internal debate within the State Department that has shifted at least the debate focus of U.S. policy in the run-up to the elections,” Itani said.
   It is a view shared by Richard Haass, a former State Department policy planning director.
“Even if what they [the diplomats] have to say is rejected now, it might be welcomed by the next occupant of the White House – especially if it were to be Hillary Clinton, who, as secretary of state, showed considerable willingness to use military force in pursuit of U.S. foreign policy aims,” said Haass, in an article for the Council on Foreign Relations.

There are complications with this invasion. For instance, Iran has gone “all in” defending the Assad regime, so an invasion of Syria means Obama’s nuclear agreement with Iran will be history.

  And then there is this.

Even U.S. military officials have said that these sorts of no-fly or no-bomb guarantees Flournoy is promising — which Hillary Clinton herself has previously advocated — would risk a military confrontation with Russia. Obama’s defense secretary, Ash Carter, told a Senate hearing last December that the policy Clinton advocates “would require ‘substantial’ ground forces and would put the U.S. military at risk of a direct confrontation with the Syrian regime and Russian forces.”

A military confrontation with a nuclear superpower. What’s not to like?

And then, of course, there is the outcome.

If Hillary becomes president and gets her way with a Syria “re-set” the prime beneficiary will be radical Islamists. There literally is no secular, moderate opposition to the Assad government.

How do we know the jihadists will come out on top? Her last great intervention, the “liberation” of Libya should be precedent. Gaddafi was no angel, but until shortly before he was overthrown he was a Washington ally, a secular counterpart to creeping Islamization of the region. After the 2011 “liberation” strongly backed by Hillary, Libya has turned into a hellhole of competing radical Islamist militias and warlords. ISIS and al-Qaeda were unheard of in Libya before Hillary got her hands on it. Now it is rotten with them.

When it comes to Syria, Hillary means war.

That pretty well sums it up.

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detroitmechworks's picture

Don't piss off half the world by bombing them and then act surprised when you're fighting on 7+ fronts at the SAME TIME.

Irony is I'm an advocate of a strong defense... which means you don't throw it away on fights that don't benefit you.

Course, Clinton isn't in it for the country. She's in it for the 1%. And the 1% makes money off war.

She's a traitor, in that she will endanger the country for her own benefit.

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I do not pretend I know what I do not know.

republicans these days.

They don't give a damn as long as they can pat themselves on the back for being so open-minded and socially tolerant to citizens on US soil. Other than money that seems to be all that they care about. It's pretty terrible.

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Not Henry Kissinger's picture

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The current working assumption appears to be that our Shroedinger's Cat system is still alive. But what if we all suspect it's not, and the real problem is we just can't bring ourselves to open the box?

Steven D's picture

is anyone surprised by this?

I know I'm not. Felt like I was watching a Dubya campaign tour stop from 2004.

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"You can't just leave those who created the problem in charge of the solution."---Tyree Scott

detroitmechworks's picture

I hate officers over the rank of Captain. Because Captain is as high as anybody can rise in the Army without turning into a goddamn politician.

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I do not pretend I know what I do not know.

I flashed back to the '94 wtc bombingZ wtf indeed? War War War War they might as well have been chanting at that asshole 4star. Yeah, I'm scared, but not of tRumpf! Nuclear possibilities? Wheeeee. . . !

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Ya got to be a Spirit, cain't be no Ghost. . .

Explain Bldg #7. . . still waiting. . .

If you’ve ever wondered whether you would have complied in 1930’s Germany,
Now you know. . .
sign at protest march

wilderness voice's picture

had to go turn it off.
And backing the "moderate" rebels. What a joke. On the news this week one such group announced they were "breaking" with Al Qaeda. Hey, whatever brings in US support, they'll tell us whatever we want to hear. Not that there is anything praiseworthy about Assad, except that if we get rid of him experience shows the result is likely to be even worse.

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Nobody in Syria is stupid enough to be our puppets. With Erdogan freshly out for blood in Turkey we don't have any leverage in the area. Piss off Iran and we'll be out of Iraq pretty fast.

This stinks of Bibi Netanyahoo, to whom Hills has already pledged fealty. At this rate she's going to make George W. Bush look like Jimmy Carter.

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Please help support caucus99percent!

dervish's picture

Despite all the noise to the contrary. I suppose they'll just re-brand them as a kinder, gentler head-hunter militia and change the name.

That CNAS sounds pretty creepy, did you notice that Joe Lieberman is on the Board?

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"Obama promised transparency, but Assange is the one who brought it."

ZimInSeattle's picture

death and destruction than even Trump probably would as president. That graphic describing Trump as dangerously incoherent and Hellery as coherently dangerous is most apt.

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"Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." - JFK | "The more I see of the moneyed peoples, the more I understand the guillotine." - G. B. Shaw Bernie/Tulsi 2020

snoopydawg's picture

It is a murderous regime that violates human rights; that has violated international law; used chemical weapons against his own people; has killed hundreds of thousands of people, including tens of thousands of children."

Remember when Hillary didn't have a problem with the sanctions on Iraq that killed 500 thousand children?
Everyone in our government knows that sanctions never hurt the leaders of the countries being sanctioned, just the people who have no input in the government's actions.

The sanctions against Iraq and Iran kept food and medical supplies from the people who had cancer and other illnesses , including those women and children that Hillary and her supporters tell us how she always defends.

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Was Humpty Dumpty pushed?

Zinman's picture

The situation in Syria is seems extremely complicated and dangerous to me. To get myself up to speed, I turned to the BBC, as they seem to offer more detailed and understandable reporting than I have found in the US press. Here is a BBC link with charts and maps:

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-27838034

In my estimation, the UN should lead policy and determine an appropriate international response, not Hillary Clinton.

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Be a Friend of the Earth, cherish it and protect it.

the immigration problems in Europe are directly tied to western intervention in the middle east. As more attacks happen in Europe...

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The neocons want war with Russia, or at the very least a re-start of the Cold War. That scares me more than Trump, who BTW is not the candidate neocons like PNAC co-founder Robert Kagan are backing! They are with HER.

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"We've done the impossible, and that makes us mighty."

dervish's picture

as a hope for peace. Trump is crazy and stupid, but he's probably not as crazy and stupid as CNAS.

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"Obama promised transparency, but Assange is the one who brought it."

Those are Russian planes they're proposing to "no-fly." The Russians don't want to fight with us, but if we force it on them, by attacking their planes, they are expecting it (they follow our news), are prepared, and will not wimp around. They may actually be better prepared than our military is, with tested weapons that work when needed and realistic military people who aren't politicians. As I was told once, in a much smaller situation, you never fight for free. If you have to do it, it has to cost the aggressor. We would pay terribly here at home. Back to the Stone Age.

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dervish's picture

that have under-estimated Russia is very long.

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"Obama promised transparency, but Assange is the one who brought it."

WoodsDweller's picture

It won't end there. She will never pass up an opportunity to send in more troops. Hers will be the bloodiest regime in world history.
Say what you want about Trump, I don't think he itches to conquer the world. That's why the neocons are jumping onto Clinton's (war)ship.

Why can't we live together?

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NqUiQHsMLoc]

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"The greatest shortcoming of the human race is our inability to understand the exponential function." -- Albert Bartlett
"A species that is hurtling toward extinction has no business promoting slow incremental change." -- Caitlin Johnstone

First, these moral arguments are just plain bullshit. The neocon foreign policy establishment could give a rat's ass how many Syrians are killed. They are the ones who have encourage violence. Russians offered UN Security Council a plan to phase out Assad as a part of a peace plan in 2012 according to Finish Noble Prize winner. The death toll was about 7,000 at the time. The plan was rejected. Instead, the American ambassador to Syria encouraged anti-Assad groups to reject any political settlements and engage in rebellion. Our proxies starting shipping arms to dissident groups to fight the regime. Imagine if the US started shipping arms to the Arab Spring protesters in Egypt--instant bloody civil war. Which is what happened in Syria.

But what is Syria truly about then It is about some neocon fantasy of protecting Israel. On Clinton' State department server there was a policy paper which apparently got distributed to Clinton's staff and pointed out by Robert Perry
(https://consortiumnews.com/2016/07/02/how-hillary-clinton-ignores-peace/) The policy paper went on about how toppling Assad would help Israel security ,and jack shit about any suffereing of the Syrian people. The paper tied getting rid of Assad as helping take down Iran's nuke program and as a result protecting Israel's nuke superiority in the region. The paper was looking for any excuse to justify attacks on Assad as benefiting Israel. The paper is here:

https://foia.state.gov/search/results.aspx?searchText=C05794498&beginDat...

But here is this paragraph white paper on waging war against Assad in that policy paper:

The second step is to develop international support for a coalition air operation. Russia will
never support such a mission, so there is no point operating through the UN Security Council.
Some argue that U.S. involvement risks a wider war with Russia. But the Kosovo example
shows otherwise. In that case, Russia had genuine ethnic and political ties to the Serbs, which
don't exist between Russia and Syria, and even then Russia did little more than complain.
Russian officials have already acknowledged they won't stand in the way if intervention comes.

These neocon desk warriors think that Russia will back down. That they are a paper tiger. Look at Hillary's rhetoric about Putin--it is all about how she made him back down. And until the Ukrainian nazi-lead coupe, Putin has not interfered with Western military adventurism and even helped with the case of the Iranian nuclear agreement (and right after 9-11 with Afghanistan). Putin will not back down on Syria and all types of hell will break out.

Hillary is going to play a very dangerous game of chicken with Putin with the outcome being war. And you know, this war will not protect the security of Israel. In fact it will make it worse.

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SnappleBC's picture

In a memo, 51 State Department diplomats indicated their dissatisfaction with the status quo, saying they back stepped-up military engagement that includes targeted airstrikes against the Syrian regime.

The very moment that these 51 individuals (no matter their age or gender) and their children between the ages of 18 and 30 strap on a gun and some fatigues and sign up for front-line combat duty. I wonder if the idea will seem so glorious then.

Kidding of course. I don't support the killing of innocents under any circumstances.

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A lot of wanderers in the U.S. political desert recognize that all the duopoly has to offer is a choice of mirages. Come, let us trudge towards empty expanse of sand #1, littered with the bleached bones of Deaniacs and Hope and Changers.
-- lotlizard

Yah, we will get "liberal" Democrats who support Clinton's wars, and yes the question, you ready to send your kids and kin folk to fight and die in Syria/Iraq to remove Assad, and in all likelihood give Syria to Al Queda/ISIS control?

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Not Henry Kissinger's picture

Kerry and Putin are right now in active negotiations to wrap up the Syrian war, and with it the whole neocon project in the Middle East.

In the north, the strategic city of Aleppo is about to be retaken by Assad et al., and the Turks are closing the border to more jihadist infiltration. In the south, a fort near the Jordanian border was demolished by Russian air strikes hours after the coordinated evacuation of British Special forces stationed there. Clearly deals have been made.

Hillary wants a 'review' as a first step to renewing the chaos in Syria, a promise that helps her with both AIPAC donors and imperialist Republican types. Meanwhile Putin and Kerry are hustling to get as much done as possible before whatever January brings.

Keeping the neocons out of power, perhaps the biggest reason of all why Hillary needs to lose.

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The current working assumption appears to be that our Shroedinger's Cat system is still alive. But what if we all suspect it's not, and the real problem is we just can't bring ourselves to open the box?

dervish's picture

to find out how strenuously ISIS and other militias are resisting, specifically to get a handle on how well equipped they are. It's not clear how well or effectively they are being supplied. If the rat-lines are shut down, it might be possible to wrap this up before January.

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"Obama promised transparency, but Assange is the one who brought it."

dervish's picture

and Jamie Rubin is Christiane Amanpour's husband. I guess CNN will be pitching this war hard.

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"Obama promised transparency, but Assange is the one who brought it."

lunachickie's picture

Ever since CNN discovered they could make money off War!!!, they became insufferable.

Whatever happened to the Scud Stud, anyway?

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dervish's picture

He sues people for a living (no, not a lawyer, that would be fine). He's a professional plaintiff. His most recent case is here.

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"Obama promised transparency, but Assange is the one who brought it."

lotlizard's picture

All that matters to Clinton and the neocons is that Israel and Saudi Arabia have no rivals in the region. Libya and Syria were secular regimes making progress, so the West used sectarian fighters to wreck them. Any supposed humanitarian motives were never more than a smokescreen.

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dervish's picture

and probably several more. All for the children of course.

That's what happens when you get your policy cues from Bibi and friends.

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"Obama promised transparency, but Assange is the one who brought it."

blazinAZ's picture

"Since the days of Ronald Reagan, every president has felt it necessary to prove how tough they are by bombing brown-skinned people. It doesn’t matter which party."

This country was founded on white supremacy. Maybe not literally "bombing" brown-skinned people, but the genocide and attempted enslavement of the Native population and the taking of their land was the beginning, then the enslavement of African people continued it, and the US has continued these policies ever since, on every continent on the planet.

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There is no justice in America, but it is the fight for justice that sustains you.
--Amiri Baraka