Is everything we are being told about the Syria strikes total bullsh*t?

Submitted by gjohnsit on Fri, 04/13/2018 - 10:41pm

Let's forget for a moment the question of was there a chemical attack? And if so, by whom?
Instead I want to focus on the official story about the air/missile strikes themselves.

The US has hit three targets in Syria in what President Donald Trump called “precision strikes” in coordination with the UK and France.

The three targets hit included a scientific research centre in the greater Damascus area used for research, development, production and testing of chemical weapons; a facility just west of Homs which is thought to be centre for sarin gas production and “precursor production equipment;” and a command post located near the first facility, said Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Joseph Dunford.

So to sum this up: three Syrian military targets, two allies.
Simple.

Then riddle me this, Batman.

It's possible that all of these tweets are wrong. But are they?

Meanwhile, Russia's response deserves more attention.

“A pre-designed scenario is being implemented,” Russian Ambassador Anatoly Antonov said on Twitter. “Again, we are being threatened. We warned that such actions will not be left without consequences.”

That sounds ominous.
What sort of "pre-designed scenario"?
Maybe he means this.

A Syrian militia led by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) declared jihad on April 6 against US and allied forces in Syria. Since 2017, the US has twice come into direct contact with the group. The IRGC is likely to boost its military support to the group as it explores avenues to drive the US out of Syria.
...It declared “the onset of the military and jihadist activists against the American occupation and its allies in Syria” and vowed to “liberate every single inch of the precious homeland” from American and Turkish troops, urging Syrians to stay away from the sites and bases of “the coward American occupier.” The militia pledged to continue the path of resistance in line with the allegiance they gave to Syrian President Bashar al Assad, saying that they would “defend the unity of the Syrian Arab Republic and the Islamic nation.”

The militia’s suggestion of operating in Hasakah in al Jazira, deep into Syrian Kurdish territory in Deir Ezzor province in the northeast, is intended to indicate its reach as well as potential targets.

Or does the Russian Ambassador mean this?

A large number of reinforcements from the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) have reportedly arrived in east Deir Ezzor, today, following the mass build-up of pro-government troops along the Euphrates River.
...Syrian military sources in the provincial capital of Deir Ezzor reported that the build-up of SDF troops near Khasham comes just 48 hours after the Russian military constructed a bridge near the Konoko Gas Field and Al-‘Umar Oil Field.

It appears that both sides are preparing for an attack, with the US-backed forces facing the most to lose if they fail to hold onto the gas and oil fields along the eastern bank of the Euphrates River.

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Syria
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Submitted by gjohnsit on Fri, 04/13/2018 - 10:58pm

failing empire

The US military is using more than 5,500 contractors in the campaign to defeat the Islamic State (IS) in Syria and Iraq, the Pentagon revealed in a quarterly report this week that acknowledges the use of contractors in the Syrian war zone for the first time.

The latest figures from US Central Command indicate that 5,508 US and foreign contractors are working alongside US troops in the two combat zones. That’s an increase of 581, or 12%, over January’s numbers, which did not include Syria. About half of the contractors are US citizens, while the rest are local or third-country hires.

...More than 400 “security” contractors are also involved in the fight in both countries, but “you’re not seeing the 163rd private US military group invading a city in Syria,” Singer said.

Though previous Defense Department personnel reports in the region hadn’t mentioned a Pentagon contractor presence in Syria, the US Department of Labor acknowledged in a report last year that two contractors were killed and six injured in fiscal year 2017.

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Submitted by Azazello on Fri, 04/13/2018 - 11:02pm
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We may never know.
This just came up, Lee Camp and Max Blumenthal.
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=reuQAoXM8bE width:500 height:300]

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The Democrats gave us Biden and war instead.

Submitted by mimi on Sat, 04/14/2018 - 12:20am
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@Azazello
How the Syrian American Medical Society Is Selling Regime Change and Driving the U.S. to War
talks about the same.

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Submitted by snoopydawg on Fri, 04/13/2018 - 11:07pm
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I hope that those other tweets are not true, but if they are then I suspect we will see a response from Russia for our actions. If Hezbollah was attacked, then Israel was involved in it which another tweet I saw said that they were helping with this.

ISIS used this event to attack the Syrian army. This is not going to sit well with Assad and Putin. They had almost been defeated and they were moving out of Ghouta. They went to Idleb (?) to live with the other terrorists that we used to overthrow Assad.

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Submitted by Ellen North on Fri, 04/13/2018 - 11:55pm

@snoopydawg

because they are civilized and also prefer to avoid Armageddon, like the rest of us other sane people.

But because Putin didn't strike back at them, the silly buggers will now think they can do as they please to anybody.

https://sputniknews.com/middleeast/201804141063542249-syrian-ambassador-...

Syrian Ambassador Says Will Call on UNSC Against 'Naked Aggression' of the West
© AP Photo / Kevin Wolf
Middle East
06:52 14.04.2018(updated 07:05 14.04.2018

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - The airstrikes launched by the United States, the United Kingdom and France on Syria came as terrorists in the war-torn country “badly” needed moral boost, but this “aggression” will only strengthen and deepen the partnership between Moscow and Damascus, Syria's Ambassador told Sputnik.

“This aggression comes at a time when the terrorist groups in Syria badly needed a morale boost. It will only serve to embolden them for a while. But it will not make a real difference. The armed terrorist groups are doomed, rejected by the local people in the areas they control, and will continue to face one major defeat after another. Syria will not be unnerved by this new aggression,” Syria's Ambassador to China and former ambassador to the United States, Imad Moustapha, told Sputnik.

The diplomat added that the strikes would only contribute to the further strengthening of the ties with Russia.

“This attack will only serve to strengthen and deepen Syria’s alliance and partnership with Russia. Russia took a vigorous position in exposing the mendacity of the staged chemical attack in Douma. Russia was firm in opposing any Western attack on Syria, and arguably it has succeeded in thwarting a large scale attack on Syria that could have caused unexpected consequences. We thank Russia for standing by us in this difficult time,” Moustapha said.

Damascus will call on the UN Security Council (UNSC) to take action against the “naked aggression” of the United States, the United Kingdom and France which carried out strikes against the country on Saturday, he added.

“Naturally, Syria will not allow these attacks to divert it from its purposeful determination to wipe out all terrorist pockets and groups regardless of the wrath and hysterics of their Western protectors. As for the Security Council, while Syria will urge the council to take action against this naked aggression, it has no delusions whatsoever about its role, capability and integrity. The UN Security Council has been hijacked by the Western powers and, unfortunately, will continue to be so for a very long time,” Moustapha said.

The diplomat stressed that the strikes were “merely a continuation in various forms of the same ongoing war against Syria.”

“The US, France and Britain come in the first tier of responsibility for the war of destruction aimed at Syria. Whether directly or by proxy, whether using vehicles loaded with explosives and put off in the streets of Syrian cities, bombarding Damascus and Aleppo with mortar shells, or attacking Syrian military positions with jet bombers and Tomahawk missiles – the motives are the same and the driving force is always the United States,” Moustapha said, noting that the Western coalition was “doing a dirty job on behalf of Israel.”

But the world is watching this, and I hope will see past the propaganda and realize that what the US PTB are doing is, incrementally, exactly what the US Industrialist-supported Hitler did in attempting World Domination.

Only with better PR, an insanely bloated and ever-growing military for the War On The World, a global network of spies and funded terrorists to 'destabilize' and globally terrorize populations, electoral meddling/underhanded overthrow of governments to install corporate puppets, setting up globe-spanning military bases everywhere for attacks, etc., surveilling everyone in the world, invading everywhere they could get away with, now moving on to larger prey. They think.

And domestically using police guns along with the ghettos, rather than the more efficient gas ovens, on identifiable segments of their population who they felt to be expendable.

All of this needs to be stopped and democracy brought to America.

Trials for the war criminals, please!

Replace them with Progs only!

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Psychopathy is not a political position, whether labeled 'conservatism', 'centrism' or 'left'.

A tin labeled 'coffee' may be a can of worms or pathology identified by a lack of empathy/willingness to harm others to achieve personal desires.

Submitted by snoopydawg on Sat, 04/14/2018 - 12:37am
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Because Israel wanted him back. Just more of Israel's interference with our government who does its bidding. But let's waste two years focusing on Russia's interference.

Remember When Chuck Hagel Voted for AIPAC-Supported John Bolton?

The Bolton nomination was important because it was a high priority "get" by the hawkish wing of the hug-Israel-tightly lobby.

Those who see being pro-Israel as giving in to an emotionalism that draws no lines at disruptive and reckless Israeli behavior wanted John Bolton badly, and I did my best to sway Chuck Hagel on his vote. I failed. Hagel voted in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in favor of Bolton -- while Ohio Republican George Voinovich refused to endorse.

In later stages of the John Bolton battle, Senator Chuck Schumer made the statement in a Senate Democratic Caucus meeting that "a vote against Bolton was a vote against Israel." Schumer, who strongly supported Bolton, was wrong on that front. Every U.S. ambassador to the UN has been a friend to Israel and has been supportive of Israel's security interests. Every U.S. president has been supportive of Israel's core security interests -- but there are legitimate differences on what pro-Israel means.

But Chuck Hagel voted for John Bolton, who just before his appearance before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee said that there is no moral equivalence between innocents killed in Lebanon during Israel's strike there and those Israelis who may have been killed by Hezbollah incursions into Israel.

This is a pretty disgusting thing to say, isn't it? Lieberman said that the Israeli soldiers who killed unarmed Palestinians were doing "God's Work.

Now we can see why the Butcher Bolton is baacckk. USA, USA .....

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Submitted by snoopydawg on Sat, 04/14/2018 - 1:56am
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People are saying that Trump is only doing this to distract the media from talking about Comey's book, Libby's pardon and the raid on Trump's lawyer's office. This means that both France and the U.K. are in on this Wag the Dawg attack on Syria. Of course this means that Assad and Vlad are in on this too and Trump waited to do this until they had enough time to move their military equipment and troops from harm's way too.

I’ll go you one better. Why did Assad’s forces commit this war crime — the biggest attack of its kind in many months — at this time? Why did they launch this chemical attack, when they had to know it would be inviting a strike by Trump?
Maybe that was the point all along?

A chemical strike that was not necessary given the way that rebels have been in retreat for years now and are down to a few strongholds? Followed by a symbolic strike by the US that won’t do anything to alter the outcome of the civil war?
Kabuki.
Timed to put Trump in a strong position when he acts to shut down the investigation.

Seriously, I've seen commen after comment saying shit like this. The only person who was saying that this action is wrong was someone from this site and he got flagged for saying it.

Help

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Submitted by CB on Sat, 04/14/2018 - 9:46am
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@snoopydawg
portion of his base that voted for him due to his "anti-war, stop wasting tax-payers money on senseless foreign conflicts" rhetoric which was a large part of his campaign.

I'll bet his next poll numbers will see a decrease on the right with a corresponding increase on the left.

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Submitted by TheOtherMaven on Sat, 04/14/2018 - 10:01am
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@snoopydawg

We don't do flagging. Yelling yes, flagging no.

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Submitted by GusBecause on Sat, 04/14/2018 - 6:05am

He has been covering Syria for years. Says total kabuki, no one died, and thousands of Syrians "dancing in the streets of Damascus" and supporting their president. I'm still furious, nastygrams sent to everyone I could think of.

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Submitted by CB on Sat, 04/14/2018 - 10:35am
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@GusBecause @GusBecause

Lots of new information.

Syria - Manipulated Videos Fail To Launch World War III - Updated

[Update April 14, 5:00 UCT]

Last night the U.S., UK and France launched a symbolic attack on Syria. It was not intended to hurt the Syrian government, its people or its allies. It did not hit any of Syria's allies. So far there is no report of anyone being killed or wounded.
...
To limit the attack to the absolute minimum was a wise decision by U.S. President Donald Trump. The people who had faked the 'chemical attack' in Douma on April 7 wanted to pull the U.S. into a wider war with Syria and Russia. They failed. Russia's threat of retaliation for any attack was strong enough to deter the U.S. military. Secretary of Defense Mattis saved the situation when he publicly doubted the evidence and held Trump back from a spontaneous 'revenge' response. Netanyahoo will be furious and the neocons will now try to kick Mattis out.
...
An OPCW technical team has arrived in Damascus. It will investigate the scene and talk to the witnesses.

Cause of the recent panic were a few videos by several propaganda outlets associated with Takfiri 'rebels' in Ghouta. These videos immediately looked staged to me. Yes, they showed dead people - mainly children - in a basement or apartment. But the bodies were not in the place where they had died and were probably not, as was claimed, killed by chemical weapons.
...

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Submitted by Pricknick on Sat, 04/14/2018 - 10:42am
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can easily explain that it is impossible for 100+ cruise missiles to be 100% successful.
Even our dumb bombs don't have that probability.
The only thing that's 100% possible is that our military leaders lie.

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Submitted by GreatLakeSailor on Sat, 04/14/2018 - 11:19am
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@Pricknick
The Syrian Air Defense intercepted 71 out of the 103 cruise missiles fired by the U.S., France, and the U.K. Russian Military briefing.
https://www.liveleak.com/view?t=uokvE_1523708867

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Compensated Spokes Model for Big Poor.

Submitted by doh1304 on Sat, 04/14/2018 - 11:30am

@Pricknick the "official" story out of WW2 was that 1 out of about 2000 bombs actually hit their desired target. The unofficial record from Desert Storn=m was 1 out of 200.

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On to Biden since 1973

Submitted by doh1304 on Sat, 04/14/2018 - 11:30am

There is a very early report that about a half dozen missiles were shot down. How many did the Russians try to shoot down? So now we know how effective the missile defence system is. (it better be good or Moscow's next, and we all better look up recipes for roast cockroach)

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On to Biden since 1973

Submitted by Linda Wood on Sat, 04/14/2018 - 12:17pm

this Reuters report has been quoted in other accounts I've seen this morning. Do you know more about this?

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-mideast-crisis-syria-observatory/syri...

Syrian Observatory says Damascus research center, army bases struck in attack

BEIRUT (Reuters) - The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said a scientific research center and military bases in Damascus were struck in an attack by the United States, France and Britain on Saturday.

The Syrian army’s Republican Guard and 4th Division, elite units of the Syrian military, were struck in the attack.

Writing by Tom Perry; Editing by Sandra Maler

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