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US prepares to bypass UN on Syria response Published August 28, 2013FoxNews.com Facebook527 Twitter184 LinkedIn0 The State Department made clear Wednesday that the Obama administration plans to bypass the United Nations Security Council as it prepares for a possible strike on Syria, after having failed to win support from Russia. In blunt terms, department spokeswoman Marie Harf said last-ditch efforts to win support for an anti-Assad resolution at the U.N. were unsuccessful, and the U.S. would proceed anyway. "We see no avenue forward given continued Russian opposition to any meaningful council action on Syria," she said. "Therefore, the United States will continue its consultations and will take appropriate actions to respond in the days ahead." Earlier in the day, the U.S. and its allies tried to advance a resolution from Great Britain condemning the alleged chemical attack last week in Syria, and authorizing "necessary measures to protect civilians." The Russian delegation, traditional supporters of the Assad government, immediately complained about the resolution during the discussions at U.N. headquarters in New York. Harf said the U.N. Security Council would not be proceeding with a vote. Launching a military strike without U.N. authorization would not be without precedent -- the U.S. acted unilaterally during the 1983 invasion of Grenada, the 1989 invasion of Panama, and missile strikes on Sudan and Afghanistan in 1998. But in this case, the U.N.'s special envoy to Syria, Lakhdar Brahimi, is urging the U.S. to seek and obtain Security Council approval. U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon also urged the U.S. and its allies to wait until U.N. inspectors currently in Syria finish their work investigating last week's attack. Harf and other U.S. officials have argued that the U.S. is obligated to respond, given the Assad regime's alleged breach of international standards on chemical weapons, in a grisly attack that reportedly killed hundreds. The images from that attack, coupled with other evidence, led Secretary of State John Kerry to declare earlier this week that the use of the weapons was "undeniable." "It's clear Syria violated international law here," Harf said. She rejected the suggestion that the U.S. was bypassing the international community, noting that top U.S. officials have been consulting all week with leaders of other nations about the situation in Syria. By the end of the week, the U.S. intelligence community is expected to release evidence making the case that the Assad regime used chemical weapons. British Prime Minister David Cameron is seeking a vote in Parliament on Thursday in support of responding in Syria. Some members of Congress are now demanding that Obama seek their approval as well -- or at least greater consultation -- before proceeding. Rep. Tom McClintock, R-Calif., issued a blistering statement about the possibility that Obama would proceed with a strike without congressional authorization. "The President's authority as Commander-in-Chief to order a military attack on a foreign government is implicitly limited by the Constitution to repelling an attack," he said. Further, he noted that the 1973 War Powers Resolution, which has been repeatedly ignored by U.S. presidents, dictates that the president cannot send forces into hostilities for a non-retaliatory strike without a declaration of war or approval from Congress. Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/08/28/state-department-prepares-to-bypass-un-on-syria-response/#ixzz2dIjgj9rA

Consider the SEER rating first. This will save you money in the long run. The higher the number, the better it saves. Then, consider the three main types of compressors. n layman's terms: Hermetical, piston and scroll. If I were in your shoes, for a home, I would go scroll. These are under rated and easily last over 10 years, regardless of the warranty. Other parts of the unit might fail but if it properly installed and the WHOLE unit is properly designed, with shutdown safety features, ect, your compressor will last for numerous years. You may look for more info here. GLTY. http://www.air-conditioner-selection.com/air-conditioner-compressors.html

By president I meant the Syrian President. Sorry for the confusion.

Syria Strike Plans Advance as Allies Seek Support to Act The U.S. and the U.K. today said they are prepared to take military action against Syria without authorization from the United Nations Security Council. After Russia objected to a UN resolution offered by the U.K. authorizing action to protect civilians, a State Department spokeswoman said the U.S. will take “appropriate” action without the international body’s approval. “We do not believe the Syrian regime should be able to hide behind the fact that the Russians continue to block action” at the UN, Marie Harf told reporters today. “By far the best thing would be if the United Nations could be united, unlikely as that seems in the face of the vetoes from Russia and China that we’ve had in the past,” U.K. Foreign Secretary William Hague told reporters in London. “But we have to try to do that. We’re clear that if there isn’t agreement at the United Nations, then we and other nations still have a responsibility on chemical weapons.” The U.S. and its NATO allies began presenting their justification for military action against Syria as they advanced plans for launching strikes and prepared evidence that the Syrian government used chemical weapons on its own people. Anders Fogh Rasmussen, secretary-general of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, said after a meeting of allies today in Brussels that evidence from a “wide variety of sources” implicates the Syrian government in the Aug. 21 chemical weapons attack that killed as many as 1,300 Syrians in eastern suburbs of Damascus, the capital. International ThreatUsing language that provides a basis for collective military action, he said, “We consider the use of chemical weapons as a threat to international peace and security.” President Barack Obama and allied leaders are working to define the objectives of a military strike on Syria, according to a U.S. official. Any use of force won’t be limited to a one-day operation, said the official, who asked not to be identified discussing war-planning efforts. The U.S. is concerned that letting the Syrian government go unpunished would send a signal to other countries, including North Korea, that have large inventories of chemical weapons, as well as making it likely that the Assad government will attack civilians with such weapons again, according to the U.S. official. While the U.S. has warships and submarines carrying Tomahawk cruise missiles ready for action in the eastern Mediterranean Sea, any military move may still be days away, in part because a team of UN weapons inspectors needs at least two more days to complete its report. Syrian RequestBritish Prime Minister David Cameron today acceded to Labour Party leader Ed Miliband’s demand that the inspectors be allowed to complete their report before Parliament begins a debate on whether to authorize military action against Syria. At the UN today, Syrian ambassador Bashar Jaafari asked Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon to extend the inspectors’ investigation to include government allegations that rebel groups have used chemical weapons against Syrian troops on three occasions this month. Amid the diplomatic dueling, the Obama administration is consulting with NATO allies including the U.K., France, Germany, and Turkey, as well as Arab nations such as Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, to determine which countries would participate in a military operation, the official said. The alleged chemical weapons attack has fed calls for deeper global involvement in the 2 1/2-year Syrian civil war, with Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal calling for a “decisive and serious international stance,” the state-run Saudi Press Agency reported today. Other OptionsAmong the options being explored are how to deter and degrade Syria’s chemical-weapons capability and defeat the Assad government’s defense capabilities, another U.S. official said, also speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal policy deliberations. Separate discussions are being held on whether, when and how to accelerate and expand military and intelligence assistance to mainstream Syrian rebels groups in an effort to prevent extremist groups affiliated with al-Qaeda from reaping the benefits of Western attacks on the Assad regime, said a third U.S. official who requested anonymity to discuss possible covert action programs. The prospect of a military confrontation in the Middle East, a region that produces 35 percent of the world’s oil, has rumbled through markets. Stock markets in the region slumped for a second day today as oil reached a two-year high. Oil RisingWest Texas Intermediate oil climbed 0.8 percent to $109.89 a barrel as of 2:50 p.m. in New York after rising as much as 3 percent to $112.24. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index added 0.5 percent after the gauge sank 1.6 percent yesterday. To bolster domestic and foreign support for military action, the Obama administration is working on declassifying intelligence to provide evidence that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s forces are responsible for the chemical attack. That information will be viewed skeptically after flawed intelligence about Saddam Hussein’s supposed stockpile of weapons of mass destruction was used to justify the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq, according to Anthony Cordesman, a military analyst at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. The“systematic misuse of intelligence by policy makers before and after” the invasion of Iraq “did much to discredit the U.S. and its allies, to destroy trust in intelligence reports that cannot reveal every source and method, and in the motives of U.S. officials,” Cordesman said in a report posted today on the CSIS website. Damaged CredibilityAny limits and flaws in the intelligence “will fuel every anti-American conspiracy theory in the region,” he said. The confrontation with Syria will be at the forefront when Obama, Cameron and French President Francois Hollande join other leaders of the Group of 20 nations next week, hosted by Russian President Vladimir Putin in St. Petersburg, Russia. Fyodor Lukyanov, the editor of Russia in Global Affairs, a Moscow-based foreign affairs magazine, said Putin’s government may boost aid to Assad’s regime in response to a strike against Syria. The differences with the West may freeze relations for some time. “The situation you have today will remain and will get worse,” Lukyanov said in a telephone interview. If the U.S., U.K. and France lead military action against Syria, for Putin “the long-term the desire not to deal with the West will be very strong.” Chinese OppositionChina signaled its opposition. The People’s Daily newspaper, published by the ruling Communist Party, carried an editorial today saying that some countries had passed a “verdict” on Syria before all facts were in and that action should only be taken in response to reliable investigations. Lakhdar Brahimi, the UN and Arab League special envoy to Syria, told a news conference in Geneva today that he’s waiting to see what evidence is produced that Assad’s regime used chemical arms and that any action must have UN sanction. “International law is clear,” Brahimi said. “It says military action must be taken after a decision by the Security Council.” UN chemical inspectors today visited the site of alleged attacks in the Ghouta area, UN Secretary-General Ban said at a news conference in The Hague. Members of the U.S. Congress, who don’t return from recess until Sept. 9, have been pressing Obama to seek their approval for any action by U.S. forces. Some, such as Representative Adam Smith of Washington, warned against getting dragged into the Syrian civil war. Congressional Doubts“Simply lashing out with military force under the banner of ‘doing something’ will not secure our interests in Syria,” Smith, the ranking Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, said in a statement. Cameron also is encountering resistance. Opposition leader Ed Miliband offered tentative support for possible attacks after meeting Cameron yesterday, while saying his Labour Party won’t vote for military action over Syria without UN involvement. If Labour opposes military action, Cameron may struggle to win approval from the House of Commons, as some of his own Conservative lawmakers have publicly expressed reluctance to back such a move. As in the U.S., polls in Britain show a majority of the public opposes further involvement in the Syrian conflict. Israel’s DefensesIsrael’s military bolstered defenses near the northern border, deploying a second Iron Dome missile defense system outside the city of Haifa and putting an Arrow missile defense battery on alert for medium-range weapons, the Ynet news site reported, without saying where it got the information. Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said a strike on Syria would be a “disaster for the region,” according to the state-run Iranian Students News Agency. “This kindling of fire is like a spark in a room stocked with explosives because the consequences of it are unknown,” he was quoted as saying today in a meeting with officials. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-08-28/syria-strike-plans-advance-as-allies-seek-support-to-act.html

This so called president is stirring the pot and does not care who gets hurt. Please read the below with an open mind and think of the posibilities of harm the below article can bring worldwide. IMMHO, he needs to go. He is the type that throws the rock and says "I did not do it" and blame it on the guy next to him. He is done. IMMHO. Syria says 'terrorists' will strike Europe with chemical weapons DAMASCUS (Reuters) - Syria's deputy foreign minister said on Wednesday that the United States, Britain and France helped "terrorists" use chemical weapons in Syria, and that the same groups would soon use them against Europe. Speaking to reporters outside the Four Seasons hotel in Damascus, Faisal Maqdad said he had presented U.N. chemical weapons inspectors with evidence that "armed terrorist groups" had used sarin gas in all the sites of alleged attacks. "We repeat that the terrorist groups are the ones that used (chemical weapons) with the help of the United States, the United Kingdom and France, and this has to stop," he said. "This means these chemical weapons will soon be used by the same groups against the people of Europe," he added. http://news.yahoo.com/syria-says-terrorists-strike-europe-chemical-weapons-125634470.html

When to strike: Syria timing is complex for Obama WASHINGTON (AP) — Preparations for a highly anticipated strike on Syria could lead to an awkward decision on timing. Few doubt that President Barack Obama is preparing for a U.S.-led military action to retaliate for what the U.S. and its allies say was a deadly chemical weapons attack perpetrated by the Syrian government. But there are few good options for when to attack. Wednesday, for example, would make for an uncomfortable juxtaposition of themes: On the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, Obama pays tribute to Martin Luther King Jr. on the 50th anniversary of the nonviolent leader's "I Have a Dream" speech. Thursday is also problematic. That's when British Prime Minister David Cameron is set to convene an emergency meeting of Parliament, where lawmakers are expected to vote on a motion clearing the way for Britain to respond to the alleged chemical weapons attack. Days later, on Tuesday, Obama embarks on an overseas trip that will take him away from the White House for most of the week. Would Obama really want to be running a military operation from Sweden? Or from Russia, which vigorously opposes action against Syria? Compounding the pressure, some lawmakers and allies are urging Obama to proceed slowly and seek U.N. Security Council approval, while others are imploring the president to act quickly and decisively. After all, Obama's response earlier this year after the U.S. first concluded that Syrian President Bashar Assad had used chemical weapons was criticized as too little, too late. "The longer you wait, the less meaningful it becomes," said Barry Pavel, a former top national security official in the George W. Bush and Obama administrations. Lawmakers from both political parties have called on Obama to consult Congress before taking action — a step the White House says is now underway. Obama also is seeking buy-in from Western allies such as Britain and France, and from regional organizations like the 22-member Arab League, which has signaled its interest in justice for victims of the alleged chemical weapons attacks and blamed the Syrian regime. But those consultations, too, limit the haste with which the U.S. can act without going it alone. Britain added another wrinkle to the deliberations Wednesday by saying it would seek a U.N. Security Council resolution authorizing steps to protect Syrian civilians, although Britain's foreign secretary said the world has a responsibility to act even if the resolution fails; Russia is all but certain to veto it. Meanwhile, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged against immediate military action, saying U.N. inspectors need four more days to complete their work before evidence can be analyzed and then presented to the Security Council. Although Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel says the U.S. military is in position to strike as soon as Obama gives the order, the administration has yet to release a promised intelligence report formally linking Assad to the attack. That report would provide a key rationale and underpinning for the administration's assertion that a game-changing response was warranted. The report could be released as early as Wednesday, the same day as Obama's speech marking the anniversary of the 1963 March on Washington. A successful vote Thursday in Britain's Parliament would mark the start of short window that national security experts say could be a less awkward time for Obama to act. But a senior administration official said once Obama decides on what action to take, he won't delay the decision because of outside factors or competing events. Obama, on Tuesday, will travel to Stockholm for his first visit as president to Sweden. The Northern European nation has claimed a position of neutrality in international conflicts for about 200 years. Two days later, he heads to St. Petersburg, Russia, for the Group of 20 economic summit with leading foreign counterparts. A major conference intended to focus on wonky issues like tax evasion and monetary policy could easily be subsumed by a military incursion in a Mideast hot spot embroiling the U.S. and potentially other G-20 nations. What's more, Russia, the host of the summit, is staunchly backing Assad and would be among the most vocal opponents of a military strike in Syria. An American-led attack on Assad's forces while world leaders meet in Russia would be a major embarrassment for the Kremlin, and would deliver yet another blow to shaky relations between Russia and the U.S., already at a low point since the recent U.S. decision to cancel a bilateral meeting between Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin. "The president has to be prepared for a lot of tension and a high degree of awkwardness," said Nikolas Gvosdev, a national security professor at the U.S. Naval War College. Despite the messy optics, Obama's foreign travel next week will not be a factor in his decision about when to act, said the administration official, who wasn't authorized to discuss internal deliberations publicly and requested anonymity. The main factor in when an action starts will be how long it takes to get it off the ground once Obama makes the call. An increase in foreign assistance, for example, would take a while to ramp up, while a military action could be ordered right away. There's precedent for Obama to take military action while outside the U.S. It was in Brazil in 2011 when Obama, on a five-day Latin America swing, authorized limited military action against Libya to counter Moammar Gadhafi's assault on his own people. U.S. officials say a response most likely would involve sea-launched cruise missile attacks on Syrian military targets. Logistical and military considerations could also play a role in determining when the U.S. and others take action. Military experts and U.S. officials said strikes probably would come during the night, a strategy that could help minimize civilian casualties. http://news.yahoo.com/strike-syria-timing-complex-obama-165456644.html

The head of State/Nation in Iraq will not do anything in this nature without consulting the US first! IMO, Iraq is throwing the towel to Assad to give him an out. He is done and he knows it. If Assad surrenders, he is done. If Assad leaves the country now, then the conflict could be avoided. Elections would be on the way and people would stop fighting, giving democracy a chance. JMMHO. Thanks for your post. GLTY and All.

Partial Israeli reserves call-up. US beefs up Qatar air base. Syria moves units into sheltered sites US B-1 strategic bombers Ahead of the US strike on Syria, the Israeli security cabinet in special session Wednesday, Aug. 28, ordered the partial mobilization of select, qualitative IDF reserve forces: Rocket, Air Force, missile interception, Home Defense command and intelligence units. Anti-missile Arrow, Patriot and Iron Dome systems were spread out more widely than ever before across the country. US and Syria wound up last military preparations for the US strike. Barring last-minute hold-ups, debkafile’s military sources report the American operation is scheduled to start Friday night, early Saturday Aug. 30-31. In the past 24 hours, the US Air Force finished a major buildup at the big US Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar. B-1B bombers and F-22 Raptor stealth fighter jets were brought over from other US Mid East air facilities on the Omani island of Masirah and Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean. These squadrons were not assigned to the US military strike against Syria, say our military sources, but will stand ready to move in should unforeseen complications in the course of the US missile assault on Syria call for the introduction of extra assets from outside. Israeli officials and spokesmen continued to insist Wednesday on low expectations of a Syrian counter-offensive against their country. Nevertheless, the new US air force reinforcements in Qatar will stand ready to rush to the aid of US allies - Israel, Jordan and Turkey - in the event of their coming under Syrian Scud attack. On the opposite side, the Syrian army Tuesday started scattering personnel, weapons and air assets to safe places to reduce their exposure to damage and losses from US assaults. Our military sources report that personnel, tanks and artillery of the Syrian Army’s 4th and Republican Guard Divisions, which are held responsible for the Aug. 21 chemical attack on civilians, were being moved into fortified shelters built last year against potential foreign military intervention. Syrian army command centers in Homs, Hama, Latakia and the Aleppo region were also being split up and dispersed, after a tip-off to Syrian and Russian intelligence that they would be targeted by the US strike. Syria has also transferred its Air Force fighter planes, bombers and attack helicopters to fortified shelters which are armored against missile and air attack. In Israel, the IDF Wednesday installed two Iron Dome missile interceptors in the northern “Valleys” region and Safed in addition to Haifa. Another Iron Dome battery was posted in the heavily populated central district. Arrow, Patriot anti-missile missiles, as well as Iron Domes, have been deployed more widely across Israel than ever before. debkafile’s military sources report that Israel’s Arrow and Patriot interceptors are linked to the US missile shield with which their operation is synchronized. Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said Tuesday that Israel was ready for any scenario. Although it takes no part in the Syrian civil war crisis, Israel would not hesitate to fight back for any attempted attacks – and would do so forcefully. Wednesday morning, the machinery for distributing gas masks to the population broke down under the pressure of demands to distribution centers across the country. The Homeland Ministry’s website crashed. Former Interior Minister Ellie Yishay complained of a shortage of protective masks due to budget cuts. He said there are only enough to supply 40 percent of the population. http://debka.com/article/23228/-Partial-Israeli-reserves-call-up-US-beefs-up-Qatar-air-base-Syria-moves-units-into-sheltered-sites I don't know why the article did not post. Here is is. Ahead of the US strike on Syria, the Israeli security cabinet in special session Wednesday, Aug. 28, ordered the partial mobilization of select, qualitative IDF reserve forces: Rocket, Air Force, missile interception, Home Defense command and intelligence units. Anti-missile Arrow, Patriot and Iron Dome systems were spread out more widely than ever before across the country. US and Syria wound up last military preparations for the US strike. Barring last-minute hold-ups, debkafile’s military sources report the American operation is scheduled to start Friday night, early Saturday Aug. 30-31. In the past 24 hours, the US Air Force finished a major buildup at the big US Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar. B-1B bombers and F-22 Raptor stealth fighter jets were brought over from other US Mid East air facilities on the Omani island of Masirah and Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean. These squadrons were not assigned to the US military strike against Syria, say our military sources, but will stand ready to move in should unforeseen complications in the course of the US missile assault on Syria call for the introduction of extra assets from outside. Israeli officials and spokesmen continued to insist Wednesday on low expectations of a Syrian counter-offensive against their country. Nevertheless, the new US air force reinforcements in Qatar will stand ready to rush to the aid of US allies - Israel, Jordan and Turkey - in the event of their coming under Syrian Scud attack. On the opposite side, the Syrian army Tuesday started scattering personnel, weapons and air assets to safe places to reduce their exposure to damage and losses from US assaults. Our military sources report that personnel, tanks and artillery of the Syrian Army’s 4th and Republican Guard Divisions, which are held responsible for the Aug. 21 chemical attack on civilians, were being moved into fortified shelters built last year against potential foreign military intervention. Syrian army command centers in Homs, Hama, Latakia and the Aleppo region were also being split up and dispersed, after a tip-off to Syrian and Russian intelligence that they would be targeted by the US strike. Syria has also transferred its Air Force fighter planes, bombers and attack helicopters to fortified shelters which are armored against missile and air attack. In Israel, the IDF Wednesday installed two Iron Dome missile interceptors in the northern “Valleys” region and Safed in addition to Haifa. Another Iron Dome battery was posted in the heavily populated central district. Arrow, Patriot anti-missile missiles, as well as Iron Domes, have been deployed more widely across Israel than ever before. debkafile’s military sources report that Israel’s Arrow and Patriot interceptors are linked to the US missile shield with which their operation is synchronized. Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said Tuesday that Israel was ready for any scenario. Although it takes no part in the Syrian civil war crisis, Israel would not hesitate to fight back for any attempted attacks – and would do so forcefully. Wednesday morning, the machinery for distributing gas masks to the population broke down under the pressure of demands to distribution centers across the country. The Homeland Ministry’s website crashed. Former Interior Minister Ellie Yishay complained of a shortage of protective masks due to budget cuts. He said there are only enough to supply 40 percent of the population. Turkish army on war alert DEBKAfile August 28, 2013, 7:17 PM (GMT+02:00) “We are now at a more alert position ... Turkey will take whatever measures necessary within the framework of its own strategic interests," Foreign Minister Davutoglu told reporters Wednesday. "The Turkish armed forces have the mandate to take every measure against any security threat from Syria or elsewhere ... and retaliate within the rules of engagement." Turkey has the longest border with Syria of any of the wartorn nation's neighbors. http://debka.com/newsupdatepopup/5506/ Australia backs action against Syria, with or without UN DEBKAfile August 28, 2013, 8:39 AM (GMT+02:00) Foreign Minister Bob Carr said if it was proven that the Syrian regime had used chemical weapons, the world had a mandate to respond, even if the UN failed to agree on such action. Austalia is due to take over the rotating Security Council chair next Sunday, http://debka.com/newsupdatepopup/5495/ Israel’s security cabinet in special session DEBKAfile August 28, 2013, 12:49 PM (GMT+02:00) The security cabinet was called into special session Wednesday to examine possible repercussions of US military intervention in Syria. Among those repercussions was a possible decision by President Bashar Assad to hit back at Israel for the US attack. Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said Tuesday that Israel was ready for any scenario. Although uninvolved in the Syrian civil war, Israel would not hesitate to fight back at any attempted attacks – and would do so forcefully. http://debka.com/newsupdatepopup/5501/ Russia says UK’s draft UN resolution on Syria is premature DEBKAfile August 28, 2013, 9:13 PM (GMT+02:00) A British draft UN resolution mandating military force against Syria failed to attain agreement Wednesday among the Security Council’s five permanent members. The Russian ambassador called it premature. If the measure were put to the vote at this time, it would almost certainly be blocked by the Russian and Chinese vetoes which are standard for any motions against Syria. The draft was tabled by the UK as momentum built up among Western allies for a military strike to punish Syria for using chemical weapons http://debka.com/newsupdatepopup/5508/

Easy my bar buddy and have another one. Here is a more complex explanation on decimal marks- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decimal_separator In Iraq, they use the comma like we use the dot on currency. Thanks for your post and GLTY and All. Go RV.

Translated with Google Translate from a German News Source. Giftgasmassaker in Syrien: Merkel fordert Zugang für UN-Inspekteure The use of poison gas in Syria with more than 1,300 deaths worldwide ensures horror - also because many children will be among the victims. Israeli intelligence makes responsible for the massacre President Assad. Chancellor Angela Merkel is pressing the FOCUS interview at a rapid reconnaissance. But nothing comes without Moscow and Beijing. German Chancellor Angela Merkel is pushing for a rapid reconnaissance of poison gas attacks against civilians in Syria. "Now we need the UN inspectors who are already in Syria as soon as possible to gain access to the scene," Merkel told FOCUS. She criticized in this context, the governments in Moscow and Beijing: "Unfortunately, the resistance of Russia and China has prevented a clear call of the UN Security Council on the Syrian regime to ensure freedom of access." Merkel said the reports and videos about the poison gas attack " shocking ". Mossad: "poison gas missile by Syrian government forces" According to the findings of Israeli intelligence community, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is responsible for the gas attack in Damascus. One unit of the Military Intelligence Service Amam, which specializes in wireless spy "Unit 8200", controlled at the time of the gas attack, the communication of the Syrian army. A former Mossad officer told FOCUS, the analysis has clearly shown that the bombardment with poison gas missiles was made by Syrian government forces. The West lies in the words of the former Inspector General of the Bundeswehr, Harald Kujat, in a dilemma. "Morally, he would have to act now, but if he is, he gets a result that he does not want." Because that means to further strengthen the radical Islamists. Fly zones and bombing of Syrian Air Force bases Kujat does not think much, "Without a political goal brings little." "Only solution with an ugly compromise" The head of the Munich Security Conference, Wolfgang Ischinger said that a solution does not work in Syria without Assad's ally Russia. But "That's not an ugly without compromise. The example could be that we accept the presence of Assad when it comes to an end the fight negotiations and an awareness of war crimes, the rebels are involved in the government and there are autonomous or liberated areas. " The German government announced aid for the victims of poison gas. In the coming days special equipment should be flown for the diagnosis and medicines worth 1.4 million euros to Syria and distributed to hospitals. UN calls on Syria for access poison gas inspectors https://www.focus.de/politik/ausland/krise-in-der-arabischen-welt/syrien/bundeskanzlerin-im-focus-interview-giftgasmassaker-in-syrien-merkel-fordert-zugang-fuer-un-inspekteure_aid_1080416.html

Mid-East including Israel on high alert after Obama’s failed last-ditch bid for Syria deal with Iran Monday night, Aug. 25, saw one Middle East country after another, including Israel, going on high military alert after they learned that US President Barack Obama had failed to come to an understanding with Tehran on Syria and so avert a US-led operation against Syria over its chemical attacks. Obama had hoped this understanding would also pave the way to direct dialogue on the nuclear issue with the new Iranian president Hasan Rouhani. debkafile’s intelligence sources report that the US president delegated two emissaries for two separate tracks. He found cause for optimism in Tehran’s consent to receive Jeffrey Feltman, UN Deputy Secretary, Monday, Aug. 25, although in his former capacity as US Undersecretary of State and US ambassador to Damascus, Feltman was viewed as an adversary of Iran, Syria and Hizballah. Feltman arrived suddenly in Tehran Monday and was received by Foreign Minister Javad Zarif without delay. The other intermediary was Sultan Qaboos of Oman, who arrived in Tehran Monday for a visit with Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. He too made no headway in his attempt to persuade his host that the US was amenable to a last-minute understanding on Syria for holding back an attack. Khamenei responded with a cold threat: If the Americans attack Syria, “the entire Middle East will suffer from burns,” he said. This response was the signal for orders to American military assets in the Mediterranean and Persian Gulf to go on a state of high preparedness Monday night, debkafile’s military sources report. Iran, Russia and Syria deployed their forces in readiness for a US-led attack on Syria. Syrian units were ordered to leave their bases and spread out across the country’s broad open areas. The ten military chiefs meeting in Amman focused on coordination of the joint operation against Syria which is expected to begin very shortly. Participating in the meeting chaired by US chief of staff Gen. Martin Dempsey were the top commanders of Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Turkey, Britain, France, Germany, Italy and Canada. The powerful message coming from US Secretary of State John Kerry and the White House spokesman Jay Carney Monday night indicated that the Obama administration was not about to back off its promise of consequences for those responsible for using chemical weapons against civilians and “shocking the world’s conscience.” Both bluntly accused the Assad regime of the heinous crime of chemical warfare on civilians. “Our understanding is grounded in facts and common sense,” Kerry said: This regime held custody of those weapon stockpiles, had the rockets to use them and was capable of doing so. “Basic humanity is offended by this crime and even more by the attempts to cover it up. Kerry added: “We have additional information about these attacks. It is being reviewed with our partners and will be released in the coming days.” http://www.debka.com/article/23224/Mid-East-including-Israel-on-high-alert-after-Obama%E2%80%99s-failed-last-ditch-bid-for-Syria-deal-with-Iran

The sarin shells fired on Damascus - by Syrian 4th Division’s 155th Brigade - were followed by rockets on Israel and car bombings in Lebanon Assad's chemical weapons arsenal In the space of 48 hours, the Assad regime, Iran and Hizballah launched a three-point offensive against foreign intervention, debkafile reports. Here are some facts: The sarin nerve gas atrocity of Wednesday, Aug. 21, alleged to have claimed more than 1,000 lives, was the work of the 155th Brigade of the Syrian army’s 4th Division, headed by President Bashar Asad’s younger brother Gen. Maher Assad. The poison gas shells were fired from the big Mount Kalmun army base south of Damascus, one of the three repositories of Syria’s chemical weapons. In response to a demand from Moscow last December, Assad collected his chemical assets in three depots. The other two are Dummar, a suburb 5 kilometers outside Damascus, and the Al-Safira air base, west of Aleppo. Not a single shell or gram of poison gas is loaded for use at any of the three sites without an explicit directive from the president or his brother. Therefore, the clamor raised by the US and French presidents, Western prime ministers and Russian leaders for an independent investigation to turn up evidence of the use of chemical weapons in Syria and identity of its perpetrator – the Assad regime, says the West, and a rebel provocation, according to Moscow – is nothing but playacting. The facts are known and the evidence is present. And the price for refusing to come down to earth and putting an immediate stop to this horrifying precedent may be unimaginably grim – not just for Israel and Jordan – but for the rest of the Middle East and beyond. Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu commented Thursday, Aug. 22 that Iran is using Syria as its testing ground while closely monitoring international responses to its actions. His remark followed the four Grad rockets fired on northern Israel the day after the chemical attack in East Damascus. His words were scarcely noticed, mainly because Israel’s own spokesmen were busy spreading a blanket of disinformation over the attack, attributing it vaguely to “Global Jihad” (whatever that is). debkafile’s military sources affirm that, just as the Assad brothers orchestrated the chemical shell attack on Syrian civilians, so too did Hizballah’s leader Hassan Nasrallah set in motion the rocket attack on Israel. By good fortune, the two which exploded in built-up areas caused damage but no casualties and a third was intercepted by Iron Dome. Nasrallah had his disposal two Palestinian terrorist groups functioning in Lebanon and Syria under direct Iranian command. They are the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestinian – General Command (PFLP-GC) and Jihad Islami – both of them eager to attack Israel. Then, on Friday night, two car bombs blew up outside Sunni mosques in the northern Lebanese town of Tripoli, killing 42 people and injuring 500. The triple coordinated outrages added up to a dire warning from Tehran and Damascus about what they have in store for the region, and especially Syria’s neighbors, as payback for foreign intervention in the Syrian civil war. On the subject of intervention, the French daily Le Figaro took the liberty last Thursday, Aug. 23, of lifting wholesale and publishing without credit the exclusive report carried Wednesday, Aug. 21, by debkafile. We were the first publication in the world to reveal on Saturday, Aug. 17 the entry from Jordan into southern Syria of a unit of US-trained Syrian rebel commandoes, under the caption: Reported Syrian gas attack after first US-trained rebel incursion from Jordan. In that report, debkafile was also the first to expose Assad’s poison gas attack as a warning of the heavy price he would exact for intervention in the Syrian war by foreign forces or by rebels trained by foreign forces – in this case US instructors and officers based in Jordan. CBS News reported Friday that US and Israel intelligence monitoring known chemical weapons sites detected activity there 20 minutes before the chemical shells were fired Wednesday. Those agencies were therefore on top of valuable advance information, but did nothing to stop - or even warn against – the coming poison gas attack. Washington and other Western capitals as well as Israel continued to circle around reality Friday and Saturday, when Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel let it be known that US warships had been sent to the region for possible cruise missile attacks, in case the president decided on action against Syria. The Secretary “forgot” to mention that, had the president really wanted to do something, all he had to do was keep the USS Truman aircraft carrier, which was present in the Mediterranean on Wednesday, the day of the chemical attack, from sailing out through the Suez Canal Thursday. Furthermore, America doesn’t need to send more warships to the region for possible attacks on Syria. It holds plenty of assets at US air and missile bases crisscrossing the Middle East, southern and central Europe and the Persian Gulf. All are fully capable of conducting a variety of operations against Syria without bringing in extra warships. Except that none of these assets has so far been ordered into action. What could the Obama administration do if it was so minded? debkafile’s exclusive military sources described three options available: One: Striking the Syrian unit which perpetrated the poison gas last Wednesday east of Damascus. Two: Destroying the Syrian army’s three chemical weapons depots. Or Three: Coordinated attacks on the first two targets. For Options Two and Three, the attack would have to destroy all the poison shells at once before they exploded and leaked contamination across wide regions of Syria and neighboring Turkey, Israel and Jordan. The Syrian ruler is capable of having the shells’ contents mixed and armed ready for use ahead of a US attack, thus maximizing the deadly impact of lethal gases across a broad Middle East region. Notwithstanding the grave risks of action, the consequences of inaction by the US and Israel would be worse: It would give Damascus and Tehran a green light for escalating their viciousness – and not just against the Syrian people. If the barbarity is not stopped, they will get away with making nerve gas and other poison substances acceptable weapons for fighting their foes. Lebanon and Israel are in extreme jeopardy. http://www.debka.com/article/23218/The-sarin-shells-fired-on-Damascus---by-Syrian-4th-Division%E2%80%99s-155th-Brigade---were-followed-by-rockets-on-Israel-and-car-bombings-in-Lebanon- Let me tell you something. The first casualty of any war is "The Truth" Most people are just blind and accept just one sided story. I tend to look at all sides before sharing my opinion. But of course, this is just MMHO. Thanks for your post. GLTY and All. UN experts to hunt for chemical shell shrapnel - as West poised to strike Syria this week Chemical shell shrapnel Five days after the event, a United Nations team of experts Monday, Aug. 26, start scouring a site in eastern Damascus for shrapnel left over from the poison gas shells or rockets fired by the Syrian army’s 155th Brigade last Wednesday. Given the low prospects of finding evidence at this late date, debkafile’s sources report that the UN Secretariat and the White House in Washington agreed Sunday night that the only chance of the chemical weapons experts finding evidence of their use was to examine one of the targeted sites or injured victims. The Assad regime has only offered to open one site to the UN team, not grant them access to the approximately 2,000 victims under treatment at the three hospitals. Therefore, the inspectors’ best bet was to go for shell shrapnel first. Even after the alleged Syrian army’s exhaustive cleanup operation after its poison chemical attack, the UN experts still hope to turn up overlooked fragments, however microscopic. The US and UN also agreed that the experts would submit their initial findings as soon as Tuesday or Wednesday morning, Aug. 28. The Obama administration made clear that it was not prepared to hang around and wait for the results of more extensive tests. The assumption in Washington is that the initial UN findings would suffice as the starting signal for the US and its allies, Britain, France, Canada, Turkey, and Germany, to go forward and launch planned targeted strikes on Syria. Notwithstanding the official statements coming out of Washington that President Barack Obama has still not decided on his military options against Syria’s chemical attack, debkafile’s sources confirm that limited, targeted Western military action is scheduled for the coming week. The position of the Gulf emirates and Saudi Arabia is less cut and dried. Riyadh doesn’t want a targeted strike but an early all-out offensive for overthrowing the Assad regime once and for all. This opens up the possibility of a separate Saudi-Qatari-UAE assault in Syria, coordinated with Washington, but conducted in different regions from those targeted by the US-led lineup. The result is potentially the pursuit of a broad-based pan-Arab offensive on the Syrian regime, alongside a surgical Western strike. As the moment of reckoning for his regime approaches, Bashar Assad said Monday, Aug. 26 in an interview with the Russian Izvestia that a US attack on his country would end in “failure.” Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said he was deeply concerned over possible US action in Syria. Sunday, Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu commented that what is happening in Syria simply demonstrates what will happen if Iran gets even deadlier weapons. He told the weekly cabinet meeting that Israel's "finger is on the pulse" of the situation in Syria and – if need be – its finger would move to the trigger. http://www.debka.com/article/23222/UN-experts-to-hunt-for-chemical-shell-shrapnel---as-West-poised-to-strike-Syria-this-week

Kerry: U.S. will respond to ‘moral obscenity’ of Syria massacre Secretary of State John Kerry left no doubt Monday that the United States believes Syria’s Bashar Assad used chemical weapons to slaughter civilians last week and vowed that the United States will respond to that “moral obscenity.” “Anyone who can claim that an attack of this staggering scale could be contrived or fabricated needs to check their conscience and their own moral compass,” he said, in a barb likely meant for Syria and its patron Russia. “What is before us today is real and it is compelling.” Kerry, speaking to reporters at the State Department, described the attack in very personal terms, describing how he had watched the “gut-wrenching” videos of the dead and dying via social media. But he gave no details about when a decision on whether to use force in response to last week’s massacre might come — or whether it would. The secretary of state said the United States government and its allies were reviewing non-public information about the alleged attack and promised “we will provide that information in the days ahead.” “Make no mistake, President (Barack) Obama believes there must be accountability for those who would use the world’s most heinous weapons against the world’s most vulnerable people,” Kerry warned. “Nothing today is more serious and nothing is receiving more serious scrutiny.” View gallery." U.N. chemical weapons experts visit people affected by an apparent gas attack, at a hospital in the … The top U.S. diplomat offered no new public evidence to back up U.S. charges that the Assad regime used chemical weapons in an attack just outside Damascus that anti-Assad fighters claim might have killed more than 1,300. Instead, he declared that shocking social media videos shared by the opposition had essentially made the world witness to the assault. After a round of telephone diplomacy on Sunday, Kerry said, “I went back and I watched videos — videos that anybody can watch on social media — I watched them one more gut-wrenching time.” “As a father, I can’t get the image out of my head, of a man who held up his dead child, wailing, while chaos swirled around,” he said. “The indiscriminate slaughter of civilians, the killing of women and children and innocent bystanders by chemical weapons is a moral obscenity,” he underlined.

Maggie. Russia? I don't believe that they would ever risk another Afghanistan! China would probably sell the same weapons that they would use on them. (Please see the Spralty Islands dispute and the CCCP Satellite Countries) The Goodall US of A, is the only country that has a strong hand and compassion to get the job done. The aforementioned two do not! We would liberate while the other two would conquer and exploit. I make my own analytical decisions and assumptions of the news that are delivered to us. Peaceful protesting never works. It is a fallacy. All it does is bring out awareness and that is it. A tough hand aimed at pockets always works and not necessarily at the bankers. An old college professor told me that the UN international courts are a joke. Oh boy, was he wrong, compared to today! A lot of power is available there so we will have to wait until more unfolds and develops. Thanks Maggie for your thoughts and posts. GLTY and All.

Maggie. So tell me who is ultimately responsible for over the 100k lives that have perished since it all started? I am not totally convinced that the people that were affected by the chemical attack were done by the rebels. Most rebel factions are inexperienced, no real communication equipment, no bases, no real weapons, just small arms and alot of courage. Armies, on the other hand, are trained, equipped and have most at their disposal. Like I said before, a total, unbiased investigation of this is mostly needed. Over 1000 reported dead and almost 4000 scared for life, all in ONE DAY. More news need to develop. I don't agree on the banksters issue, like you said. There is always conspiracy etiquette when the unknown is present. The whole middle east/west/southwest is not ready for advancement, complimentary change. Force is all that they have known/done for thousands of years. It is now, in the technological era that they are seeing the truth of the world, therefore, comparing themselves to the rest, people wise. The Syrian government saw this coming and did nothing concrete to fix it. Status quo was their stance and look at it today. It will only get worse unless intervention is allowed, either via a strong mouth or a heavy hand. I am not in favor of either but like any bacteria or virus, if it is not dealt with on the early stages, it spreads and very difficult to stabilize. Thanks for your post. GLTY and All.

Syria pushed for probe of chemical arms 'massacre' Like Dislike . View gallery . . 51 minutes ago PoliticsSyriaChemical warfareDamascusChemical weapon A top UN envoy was in Damascus on Saturday to press for an investigation into an alleged chemical attack, as Syrian hospitals were reported to have treated thousands of "neurotoxic" cases. US President Barack Obama, meanwhile, met his top national security advisers to weigh the response to the alleged massacre. He is under mounting pressure to act following Wednesday's reported chemical attack near Damascus that opposition groups say was carried out by President Bashar al-Assad's forces and had killed as many as 1,300 people. The Syrian government has strongly denied the allegations but has yet to accede to demands that UN inspectors already in the country be allowed to visit the sites of the alleged attacks. "The president has directed the intelligence community to gather facts and evidence so that we can determine what occurred in Syria. Once we ascertain the facts, the president will make an informed decision about how to respond," a White House official said. Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said that around 3,600 patients displaying "neurotoxic symptoms" had flooded into three Syrian hospitals on the day of the alleged attacks, and 355 of them died. The victims all arrived within less than three hours of each other, and MSF director of operations Bart Janssens said the pattern of events and the reported symptoms "strongly indicate mass exposure to a neurotoxic agent". "Medical staff working in these facilities provided detailed information to MSF doctors regarding large numbers of patients arriving with symptoms including convulsions, excess saliva, pinpoint pupils, blurred vision and respiratory distress," he said. View gallery." Protesters make the "Rabia sign" with their hands while taking part in a rally on August 24, 2013 in … His comments came as UN Under Secretary General Angela Kane was in Damascus, tasked by Secretary General Ban Ki-moon with establishing the terms of an inquiry. Ban is determined to "conduct a thorough, impartial and prompt investigation" into the chemical attack claims, his spokesman said. French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius, during a visit to the West Bank on Saturday, blamed Syria for a "chemical massacre" and said that "the Bashar regime is responsible." But Damascus ally Iran blamed the rebels and warned the West against any military intervention. "There is proof terrorist groups carried out this action," foreign ministry spokesman Abbas Araqchi said, without giving any details. Warning against any Western military intervention in the conflict, Araqchi said "there is no international authorisation for" such action. On Friday, Syria's main opposition National Coalition pledged to guarantee the safety of the inspectors but warned that the "clock is ticking" before alleged evidence vanishes. Coalition chief Ahmad al-Jarba was scheduled to hold a news conference on the issue in Istanbul later on Saturday. View gallery." French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius speaks during a press conference on August 24, 2013 in the We … Syria has yet to say if it will let the UN experts -- on the ground in Syria since August 18 to probe three other sites -- to inspect the latest allegations. Russia urged Damascus to cooperate with the UN but dismissed calls for use of force against its ally. In statements published on Saturday, German Chancellor Angela Merkel accused Russia and China of having blocked a UN text demanding the inspectors be given unfettered access. One year ago, Obama warned the use of chemical weapons in Syria would cross a "red line" and have "enormous consequences". The United Nations says more than 100,000 people have been killed in Syria since an uprising against Assad's rule flared in March 2011, while millions more have fled the country or been internally displaced. The violence continued Saturday, with a watchdog accusing the regime of striking by air several rebel positions, including in Jobar, and reporting that insurgents seized a strategic town in the northwest. State television said an army unit was surrounding a "sector of Jobar where terrorists used chemical weapons," adding that soldiers who tried to enter the neighbourhood had "suffocated." Rebels have "resorted to chemical weapons after the successes of the Syrian army in recent days," the television charged. The National Coalition denied that rebels had resorted to the use of chemical arms, saying the government was only trying to divert attention from its own use of them. The "international community knows full well that the Assad regime is the only party in Syria which possesses the means to produce, use and stock chemical weapons," it said. http://news.yahoo.com/msf-says-3-600-syrians-showed-neurotoxic-symptoms-153844283.html

(CBS News) WASHINGTON - CBS News has learned that the Pentagon is making the initial preparations for a cruise missile attack on Syrian government forces. We say "initial preparations" because such an attack won't happen until the president gives the green light. And it was clear during an interview on CNN Friday that he is not there yet. "If the U.S. goes in and attacks another country, without a U.N. mandate and without clear evidence that can be presented," the president told CNN, "then there are questions in terms of whether international law supports it -- 'do we have the coalition to make it work?' Those are considerations that we have to take into account." An attack on suburbs in Damascus suburbs has left hundreds dead. Poison gas used is suspected. / CBS News The attack on the Damascus suburbs, which left hundreds dead this week, is looking more and more like a poison gas was used. The United States warned Syria months ago that using chemical weapons could provoke a U.S. response. U.S. detected activity at Syria chemical weapons sites before attack Hundreds dead in Syria after alleged chemical weapons attack Syria opposition group claims 1,300 killed in chemical attack in Damascus suburbs President Obama's national security adviser, Susan Rice, sent out a Tweet on Friday, calling what happened "an apparent CW (chemical weapons) attack." And the commander of U.S. forces in the Mediterranean has ordered Navy warships to move closer to Syria to be ready for a possible cruise missile strike. U.S. warships are moving closer to Syria for a possible cruise missile attack; but such an action has yet to be approved by President Obama / CBS Launching cruise missiles from the sea would not risk any American lives. It would be a punitive strike designed not to topple Syrian dictator Bashir Assad but to convince him he cannot get away with using chemical weapons. Watch a report on Syrian activists gathering evidence to prove chemical attack: Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Martin Dempsey is expected to present options for a strike at a White House meeting on Saturday. Potential targets include command bunkers and launchers used to fire chemical weapons. However, officials stress President Obama, who until now has steadfastly resisted calls for military intervention, has not made a decision. U.S. intelligence detected activity at known Syrian chemical weapons sites in the days before the attack. At the time that did not appear out of the ordinary. But now it is part of the circumstantial evidence pointing toward an attack. The clearest evidence would come from a team of U.N. experts already in Damascus to investigate earlier, smaller scale incidents involving suspected chemical weapons. So far they have not been allowed into the field. But with pictures providing graphic evidence of mass casualties, even Russia -- long one of the Assad regime's staunchest backers -- is calling for a U.N. investigation. Whatever an investigation finds, the president will also have to consider what he would do next if he ordered a strike and Syria continued to use chemical weapons. Watch CBS News correspondent Holly Williams' report on the Syrian victims in the aftermath of the Damascus suburbs attack: Meanwhile in Syria, two days after the alleged poison gas attack, more disturbing video has emerged of the aftermath. From it comes horrific scenes that show the dead and the dying -- many of them children. One young boy described struggling to breathe and then losing consciousness. When he woke up in the hospital, he said, he could no longer see. It's impossible to verify how many people died. But in a crowded, makeshift morgue, so many of the bodies were unidentified -- they were numbered. Dr. Ghazwan Bwidany is caring for survivors of the attack at a clinic in Damascus. On Friday, CBS News spoke with him over the Internet. He said his mobile medical unit treated 900 people -- 70 of whom died. "When you see these children," said Bwidany, "dying in front of our eyes, this is a very terrible feeling. I can't describe it." Watch this video below of a Syrian mother saying goodbye to her children who were killed after reported gas attack: Dr. Bwidany said some of the survivors have neurological problems, such as memory loss and confusion, that he believes could only be caused by a nerve agent. So if this wasn't a chemical attack, what could it have been? "I don't know anything else that could make these symptoms, with this large number of injured," he said. CBS News talked with a spokesman for the Syrian opposition Friday, who said he was angry and frustrated with the international community. He believes that if U.S. had delivered the arms it promised the opposition two months ago, the deadly attack may not have happened. http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-18563_162-57599944/u.s-preps-for-possible-cruise-missile-attack-on-syrian-govt-forces/ IMO, this is all but a con. Look up the true believer syndrome. This is nothing but a nice chess game with the winning side having two moves as to one, every time. Like I said, only a true, unbiased investigation can prove the truth. At any rate, people are dead and no blood has been spilled!!! This is a serious issue for everyone. IMO, the forced intervention is eminent! 4 US allies surrounding Syria's border. Not to hammer on the issue but isn't congress on vacation? Let's see if they get called for an emergency meeting soon. Thanks for your post. GLTY and all.

U.S. preps for possible cruise missile attack on Syrian gov't forces comments 123 inShare33 More By David Martin, Holly Williams(CBS News) WASHINGTON - CBS News has learned that the Pentagon is making the initial preparations for a cruise missile attack on Syrian government forces. We say "initial preparations" because such an attack won't happen until the president gives the green light. And it was clear during an interview on CNN Friday that he is not there yet. "If the U.S. goes in and attacks another country, without a U.N. mandate and without clear evidence that can be presented," the president told CNN, "then there are questions in terms of whether international law supports it -- 'do we have the coalition to make it work?' Those are considerations that we have to take into account." An attack on suburbs in Damascus suburbs has left hundreds dead. Poison gas used is suspected. / CBS News The attack on the Damascus suburbs, which left hundreds dead this week, is looking more and more like a poison gas was used. The United States warned Syria months ago that using chemical weapons could provoke a U.S. response. U.S. detected activity at Syria chemical weapons sites before attack Hundreds dead in Syria after alleged chemical weapons attack Syria opposition group claims 1,300 killed in chemical attack in Damascus suburbs President Obama's national security adviser, Susan Rice, sent out a Tweet on Friday, calling what happened "an apparent CW (chemical weapons) attack." And the commander of U.S. forces in the Mediterranean has ordered Navy warships to move closer to Syria to be ready for a possible cruise missile strike. U.S. warships are moving closer to Syria for a possible cruise missile attack; but such an action has yet to be approved by President Obama / CBS Launching cruise missiles from the sea would not risk any American lives. It would be a punitive strike designed not to topple Syrian dictator Bashir Assad but to convince him he cannot get away with using chemical weapons. Watch a report on Syrian activists gathering evidence to prove chemical attack: Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Martin Dempsey is expected to present options for a strike at a White House meeting on Saturday. Potential targets include command bunkers and launchers used to fire chemical weapons. However, officials stress President Obama, who until now has steadfastly resisted calls for military intervention, has not made a decision. U.S. intelligence detected activity at known Syrian chemical weapons sites in the days before the attack. At the time that did not appear out of the ordinary. But now it is part of the circumstantial evidence pointing toward an attack. The clearest evidence would come from a team of U.N. experts already in Damascus to investigate earlier, smaller scale incidents involving suspected chemical weapons. So far they have not been allowed into the field. But with pictures providing graphic evidence of mass casualties, even Russia -- long one of the Assad regime's staunchest backers -- is calling for a U.N. investigation. Whatever an investigation finds, the president will also have to consider what he would do next if he ordered a strike and Syria continued to use chemical weapons. Watch CBS News correspondent Holly Williams' report on the Syrian victims in the aftermath of the Damascus suburbs attack: Meanwhile in Syria, two days after the alleged poison gas attack, more disturbing video has emerged of the aftermath. From it comes horrific scenes that show the dead and the dying -- many of them children. One young boy described struggling to breathe and then losing consciousness. When he woke up in the hospital, he said, he could no longer see. It's impossible to verify how many people died. But in a crowded, makeshift morgue, so many of the bodies were unidentified -- they were numbered. Dr. Ghazwan Bwidany is caring for survivors of the attack at a clinic in Damascus. On Friday, CBS News spoke with him over the Internet. He said his mobile medical unit treated 900 people -- 70 of whom died. "When you see these children," said Bwidany, "dying in front of our eyes, this is a very terrible feeling. I can't describe it." Watch this video below of a Syrian mother saying goodbye to her children who were killed after reported gas attack: Dr. Bwidany said some of the survivors have neurological problems, such as memory loss and confusion, that he believes could only be caused by a nerve agent. So if this wasn't a chemical attack, what could it have been? "I don't know anything else that could make these symptoms, with this large number of injured," he said. CBS News talked with a spokesman for the Syrian opposition Friday, who said he was angry and frustrated with the international community. He believes that if U.S. had delivered the arms it promised the opposition two months ago, the deadly attack may not have happened. http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-18563_162-57599944/u.s-preps-for-possible-cruise-missile-attack-on-syrian-govt-forces/

This is not about a conspiracy. This is real! People are dead and the world will be asking for answers very soon. By the way, I won't fall for this trap. I am too seasoned and well read. Thanks for your post and comments. Enjoy your day. U.N. presses Syria to allow gas attack inspection By Erika Solomon and John Irish BEIRUT/PARIS | Thu Aug 22, 2013 6:53pm EDT (Reuters) - The United Nations demanded Syria give its chemical weapons experts immediate access on Thursday to rebel-held Damascus suburbs where poison gas appears to have killed hundreds just a few miles from the U.N. team's hotel. There was no sign, however, that scientists would soon be taking samples at the scene of horrors that have drawn comparison with the gassing of thousands of Iraqi Kurds at Halabja in 1988. The administration of President Barack Obama said it was "appalled" by the death reports. A U.S. official familiar with initial intelligence assessments said the attack appeared to be the work of the Assad government. It was "the regime acting as a regime," the official said. But the Obama administration made clear that any response would await confirmation of a chemical attack and its origin. Assad's opponents gave death tolls from 500 to well over 1,000 and said more bodies were being found in the wake of Wednesday's mysterious pre-dawn killer fumes, which the Syrian government insists were not its doing. Images, including some by freelance photographers supplied to Reuters, showed scores of bodies laid out on floors with no visible signs of injury. Some had foam at the nose and mouth. Talk, notably from France and Britain, of a forceful foreign response remains unlikely to be translated into rapid, concerted action given division between the West and Russia at Wednesday's U.N. Security Council meeting, and caution from Washington on Thursday. Moscow has said rebels may have released gas to discredit Assad and urged him to agree to a U.N. inspection. On Wednesday, Russian objections to Western pressure on Syria saw the Security Council merely call in vague terms for "clarity" - a position increasingly frustrated Syrian rebels described as "shameful". On Thursday, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said Syria must let the U.N. team already in Damascus investigate "without delay". He said he would send a top U.N. disarmament official, Angela Kane, to lobby the Syrian government in person. Ban said he expected a swift, positive answer. Obama has directed U.S. intelligence agencies to urgently help establish what caused the deaths, a State Department spokeswoman said while acknowledging it may be difficult given the United States does not have diplomatic relations with Syria. "At this time, right now, we are unable to conclusively determine CW (chemical weapons) use," the State Department's Jen Psaki told reporters. "We are doing everything possible in our power to nail down the facts," she added. Another U.S. official said intelligence agencies were not given a deadline and would take the time needed to "reach a conclusion with confidence." Former weapons investigators say every hour matters. "The longer it takes, the easier it is for anybody who has used it to try to cover up," said Demetrius Perricos, who headed the U.N.'s team of weapons inspectors in Iraq in the 2000s. Syria is one of just a handful of countries that are not parties to the international treaty that bans chemical weapons, and Western nations believe it has caches of undeclared mustard gas, sarin and VX nerve agents. Syria's government, which has accused the rebels of using chemical weapons in the past, offered no public response to calls for wider U.N. access. French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said world powers must respond with force if allegations that Syria's government was responsible for the deadliest chemical attack on civilians in a quarter-century prove true. But even Fabius stressed there was no question of sending in troops on the ground. Britain, too, said no option should be ruled out "that might save innocent lives in Syria". But European forces can do little without U.S. help, and Washington shows little appetite for war. Syrian officials have called allegations against their forces "illogical and fabricated". They point to the timing of the attack, days after U.N. inspectors arrived after months of argument, and to previous assurances that, if they possessed chemical weapons, they would never use them against Syrians. After months of negotiating with Assad's government to let inspectors into Syria, a U.N. team arrived in Damascus four days ago. Their task is to check on the presence, but not the sources, of chemical weapons that are alleged to have been released in three specific, small incidents several months ago. 'WE'RE BEING EXTERMINATED' Many rebels and activists in the opposition area say they have lost interest in promises of U.N. investigations or in help from abroad: "We are 7 km away, just a 5-minute car ride from where they are staying," said activist Bara Abdelrahman. "We're being exterminated with poison gas while they drink their coffee and sit inside their hotels." Qassem Saadeddine, a commander and spokesman for the rebels' Supreme Military Council, said the group was still deliberating on how or if it should respond: "People are growing desperate as they watch another round of political statements and U.N. meetings without any hope of action," he told Reuters. Syria's revolt against four decades of Assad family rule has turned into a brutal civil war that has killed more than 100,000 people in two and half years and divided the Middle East along largely sectarian lines. Among world powers the conflict has revived Cold War-era East-West tensions and on the ground the struggle has limped to a poisonous stalemate. Assad's Alawite sect is an offshoot of Shi'ite Islam and has the backing of Iran and Lebanese militant group Hezbollah. Western powers back the opposition but have been reluctant to fully commit to an Arab Sunni-backed revolt increasingly overtaken by Islamists linked to al Qaeda. Yet they have said the large-scale use of widely banned chemical weapons would be a game changer. WORLD PAYING "LIP SERVICE" Syria's southern neighbor Israel, still technically at war with Damascus, said it believed Syrian forces had used chemical weapons and accused the world of turning a blind eye: "The world condemns, the world investigates, the world pays lip service," Strategic Affairs Minister Yuval Steinitz said. In Paris, Fabius said that if the Security Council could not make a decision, one would have to be taken "in other ways", but he did not elaborate. Immediate international action is likely to be limited. European officials speaking on condition of anonymity said that options ranging from air strikes, creating a no-fly zone, or providing heavy weapons to some rebels were all still on the table - but that there was little prospect of concrete measures without U.S. backing, which still seemed unlikely. "The American reaction following yesterday's attack was cautious," said one. "And without U.S. firepower there's little we can do." While France and Britain took a lead in attacking Muammar Gaddafi's forces to help Libya's revolt in 2011, the ultimately successful campaign against an enemy far weaker than Assad's military also relied heavily on U.S. firepower and logistics. Assad's forces continued a heavy bombardment of the Ghouta region for a third day on Thursday, which activists say will further hinder U.N. investigators from entering the area. A spokesman from the opposition's Syrian National Coalition said bodies were still being found on the outskirts of Damascus. "We expect the number to grow because we just discovered a neighborhood in Zamalka where there are houses full of dead people," said Khaled Saleh, speaking in Istanbul. Fahad Almasri, a spokesman for the Free Syrian Army in Paris, said local fighters had counted 29 separate projectiles fired from three military positions during Wednesday's pre-dawn attack, though not all appeared to have chemical warheads. The firing from Qasioun mountain, Almezzah air base and a military compound in the suburb of Damascus hit targets across a swathe of towns and neighborhoods northeast of the capital. (Additional reporting by Thomas Grove in Moscow, Domiic Evans in Beirut, Jeffrey Heller in Jerusalem, Anthony Deutsch in Amsterdam, Niklas Pollard in Stockholm, Louis Charbonneau and Michelle Nichols in New York, Matt Spetalnick and Lesley Wroughton in Washington; Editing by Alastair Macdonald and Tim Dobbyn) http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/08/22/us-syria-crisis-idUSBRE97K0EL20130822

Long-term nerve damage feared after Syria chemical attack inShare2 Share this Email Print Related News On Syria, Obama says no rush toward costly interventionsFri, Aug 23 2013 UPDATE 3-Rebels smuggling Syria chemical weapons strike evidence to U.N. expertsFri, Aug 23 2013 Obama faces growing calls to act over Syria gas attack allegationsThu, Aug 22 2013 U.N. presses Syria to allow gas attack inspectionThu, Aug 22 2013 U.S. says unable to conclusively determine chemical weapons used in SyriaThu, Aug 22 2013 Analysis & Opinion Leaders demand Syria allow U.N. to investigate into alleged chemical attack A moment of truth in Damascus and Washington Related Topics World » Health » By Kate Kelland, Health and Science Correspondent LONDON | Fri Aug 23, 2013 9:06am EDT (Reuters) - Even those who survived the suspected chemical weapons attack in Damascus - and many hundreds didn't - may have life-long disabilities and health problems for which there are few effective treatments. The death toll from the incident, the latest grisly episode in Syria's two-and-a-half-year civil war, could well rise in coming days as doctors and other health workers who suffered secondary exposure via the direct victims start to succumb to the agent's poison. Antidotes and emergency treatments do exist for patients suffering the immediate effects of poisoning by a nerve agent - something many experts fear happened to the thousands affected in rebel-held areas of the Syrian capital on Wednesday. But if no help comes within the first hour or so, the chances become slim that an antidote drug like atropine or oxime, or the sedative diazepam, will do much good. "(Treatment) needs to be immediate. The damage is done very quickly," said Ray Zilinskas, a chemical and biological weapons expert at the Monterey Institute of International Studies in the United States. "Longer term, the major risk is the result of significant restricted breathing," which could also lead to brain damage, said Alastair Hay, a professor of environmental toxicology and chemical weapons expert at Britain's Leeds University. ONE BREATH COULD BE DEADLY Nerve gases are the most potent and deadly of the known chemical agents. "They are rapidly lethal and are hazardous by any route of exposure," says Sharon Ruetter of the U.S. Army Edgewood Chemical Biological Center in Maryland. In a review of chemical weapons hazards in the Environmental Health Perspectives journal, Ruetter said it was theoretically possible to release nerve gases in high enough concentrations that "one breath would be incapacitating or deadly". Nerve gases include tabun, soman and sarin - the agent experts think is most likely to have been used in Syria. They interfere with transmissions between nerves, or between nerves and muscle cells, causing muscle weakness or paralysis, including paralysis of the diaphragm and heart. They also cause seizures, loss of body control, restricted breathing, sweating, profuse nasal and lung secretions and constricted pupils. "With the number of casualties we've seen - the figures I'm seeing at the moment are up to 2,000 dead - and the sorts of symptoms, the rapidity of death ... the only plausible explanation is a chemical weapon," said Hamish de Bretton-Gordon, the former commander of the chemical, biological and nuclear counter-terrorism unit at Britain's defense ministry. "If it is a chemical weapon, it's most likely to be a nerve agent - and we know that sarin has been used in the past in Syria. We know that Assad has very large stockpiles of sarin, and a delivery of sarin would create these kinds of casualties." Hay said that from pictures and videos he'd seen, nasal and lung secretions - signs consistent with nerve gas poisoning - were "very evident in many of the victims". ANTIDOTE STOCKPILES? Then there's the question of whether the antidote is available - and if so, in what quantities. If the victims - whose writhing bodies and agonized faces shocked the world when Syrian activists published pictures and videos - did suffer a nerve agent attack, then atropine would be the treatment of choice. A generic medicine, it is used in anesthesia as a premedication, in emergency situations or during surgery to make the heart beat faster, and to reverse the effects of poisons that make people hyper-salivate, or foam at the mouth. Troops at risk of chemical weapons attacks often carry atropine auto-injectors to administer into thigh muscles. Since it is a core medicine on the World Health Organization's "Essential Drugs List" - a list of minimum medical needs for any basic healthcare system - hospitals in Syria should have it, but may not have enough to treat a large number of people quickly. "We have emergency (atropine) stockpiles here in the United States that could be accessed in a short time - and most industrialized countries would be the same," said Zilinskas. In Syria, while most hospitals should have small amounts when they are functioning properly, the fear now is that supplies will be severely limited, and that any stockpiles are most likely to be held by the military. "The question is how quickly would the military share? How quickly would they get it to victims?" said Zilinskas. "It doesn't do much good if it arrives two or three hours later." (This story is corrected in third paragraph to read "thousands affected", not "thousands killed") (Reporting by Kate Kelland; Editing by Will Waterman) http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/08/23/us-syria-attack-health-idUSBRE97M0HP20130823

Syrian forces bomb area of alleged chemical attack BEIRUT (AP) — Syrian government forces pressed their offensive in eastern Damascus on Thursday, bombing rebel-held suburbs where the opposition said the regime had killed more than 100 people the day before in a chemical weapons attack. The government has denied allegations it used chemical weapons in artillery barrages on the area known as eastern Ghouta on Wednesday as "absolutely baseless." The U.S., Britain and France have demanded that a team of U.N. experts already in Syria be granted immediate access to the site. Syrian opposition figures and activists have reported death tolls from Wednesday's attack ranging from 136 to 1,300. But even the most conservative tally would make it the deadliest alleged chemical attack in Syria's civil war. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said it had no word on casualties in the Thursday morning bombing. It said warplanes conducted several air raids on eastern and western suburbs of Damascus, including three that took place within five minutes. The Local Coordination Committees, another activist group, also reported several air raids on the suburbs, and added that President Bashar Assad's forces were shelling eastern Ghouta from the Qasioun mountain overlooking Damascus. Wednesday's alleged chemical attack was said to have killed scores of children, seen in amateur videos as small, lifeless bodies, wrapped in white cloths, their pale skin unmarked by any wounds. Images of dead children lying shoulder to shoulder in rooms and of others being treated for breathing problems brought worldwide condemnation and shock. Terrifying Images of Women and Children in SyriaPlay video." Mohammed Abdullah, an activist in the suburb of Saqba, told The Associated Press via Skype on Thursday that most of the dead were buried hours after the attack in collective graves in different areas in eastern Ghouta. The burials took place quickly for fear the bodies might decompose in the heat, he said. Relatives identified some of the dead before burial. Unidentified victims were photographed and their graves tagged with a number in case their loved ones come to collect their bodies in the future, Abdullah said. "Most of the dead were buried in mass graves," he said. In a statement calling the reports "deeply disturbing," UNICEF said: "This terrible conflict has gone on far too long and children have suffered more than enough. "Children must be protected, and those who fail to protect them will be held accountable," it said. From New York, the U.N. Security Council called for "a thorough, impartial and prompt investigation." Syria's state media quoted a Foreign Ministry official, anonymously according to standard practice, as saying Thursday that allowing the U.N. team to go to Ghouta would require an agreement between the Syrian government and the U.N. A 20-member U.N. team led by Swedish chemical weapons expert Ake Sellstrom has been in Damascus since Sunday to investigate three sites where chemical weapons attacks allegedly occurred in the past: the village of Khan al-Assal just west of the embattled northern city of Aleppo and two other locations being kept secret for security reasons. France, meanwhile, raised the possibility of using force in Syria if it is proven that Assad's regime used chemical weapons. "We need a reaction by the international community, ... a reaction of force," French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said. He excluded deploying soldiers on the ground as an option, though, and declined to specify the type of force that could be used. Yuval Steinitz, Israel's minister for intelligence and strategic affairs, said Israeli "intelligence estimates" concluded that chemical weapons indeed were used. He didn't point fingers directly at Assad but called his regime "exceptionally cruel." In Germany, Turkish and German foreign ministers underlined demands to let U.N. inspectors investigate. Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu called for new sanctions. "Several red lines have been crossed — if sanctions are not imposed immediately, then we will lose our power to deter," he said. He added that he had spoken to U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon and told him that "the U.N. must not behave hesitantly anymore, sanctions must now be imposed." German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said the Syrian opposition's allegations were "so serious, so monstrous that it is necessary to enable a real examination before talking or speculating about consequences." Russia, Assad's main backer, is balking at tougher action. On Wednesday, Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich said the accusations appear to be an effort to "create a pretext at any cost" to stop the U.N. Security Council from supporting Assad's foes. France says force needed if Syrian chemical attack …Play video." He said Russia's gathered intelligence indicated that the rocket had been launched from positions in a Damascus suburb occupied by opposition forces. On Thursday, Assad issued a decree introducing a cabinet reshuffle that affected several minor portfolios. According to the reshuffle, Samir Ezzat Amin was named as minister of domestic trade and consumer protection, replacing Qadri Jamil, who retained his post of deputy premier for economic affairs. The reshuffle also affected the ministry of education, economy, industry and tourism. The last cabinet reshuffle was carried out in February. Thursday's reshuffle likely won't affect any major change in the stance of Assad's government. In the capital, rebels attacked several army checkpoints Thursday in the neighborhood of Jobar, killing nine soldiers and wounding 10, the Observatory said. Jobar, on the northern edge of Damascus, has endured clashes between troops and rebels for weeks. The Observatory also reported heavy clashes between al-Qaida-linked groups and Kurdish gunmen in the predominantly Kurdish northeastern province of Hassakeh. The group said the fighting concentrated near a border crossing point with Turkey in the city of Ras al-Ayan that is controlled by Kurdish gunmen. It said both sides suffered casualties. The fighting in northeastern Syria has killed hundreds of people in the past months. Earlier this week, the fighting drove a mass exodus of civilians out of the region into neighboring Iraq. The unrest in Syria began in March 2011 and later exploded into a civil war. More than 100,000 people have been killed, according to U.N. figures. ____ Associated Press writer Geir Moulson in Berlin contributed to this report. See Bottom Link for Pics. http://news.yahoo.com/syrian-forces-bomb-area-alleged-chemical-attack-072545055.html

Syria chemical attack evidence mounting, John Baird says 'The only end of the suffering of the Syrian people will be a political solution,' foreign affairs minister says The Associated Press Posted: Aug 23, 2013 5:39 AM ET Last Updated: Aug 23, 2013 10:50 PM ET Related Stories Syria: 7 diplomatic statements on alleged gas attack 1st 'urgent' Syrian refugees to arrive in 'coming months' Syria’s civil war: key facts, important players Syrian child refugees top 1 million Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird said evidence of a possible chemical weapons attack in Syria this week is mounting, but he stopped short of confirming a chemical attack actually took place. "The fact that Syria continues to bombard this specific geographic area ... is telling," Baird said at a press conference Friday afternoon. “The fact that Syria will not let the UN inspectors who are on the ground in the country today visit this area is a very telling action.” Baird said he has met with his British counterpart, William Hague, and both of them are “troubled” by the United Nations Security Council’s inability to take decisive action. When asked if Canada will take any military action, Baird said Canada and its allies need more information before coming to a conclusion. “The only end of the suffering of the Syrian people will be a political solution,” he said. 1st 'urgent' Syrian refugees to arrive in 'coming months' Read about the health problems faced by survivors of chemical weapons attacks Wednesday's attack came as a UN team was on the ground in Syria investigating earlier claims of chemical weapons attacks. More than 100,000 people have been killed in Syria during more than two years of clashes between forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and opposition fighters seeking to overthrow his regime. U.S. President Barack Obama says the alleged possible chemical weapons attack is a "big event of grave concern" that has hastened the timeframe for determining a U.S. response. However, Obama said the notion that the U.S. alone can end Syria's bloody civil war is "overstated" and made clear he would seek international support before taking large-scale action. Syria: 7 diplomatic statements on alleged gas attack Syria's increasing crisis has many asking, 'What should we do?' "If the U.S. goes in and attacks another country without a UN mandate and without clear evidence that can be presented, then there are questions in terms of whether international law supports it, do we have the coalition to make it work," Obama said during an interview with CNN. "Those are considerations that we have to take into account." SYRIA CIVIL WAR Key facts, important players in Syria's bloody conflict Obama's comments on Syria were his first since Wednesday's alleged chemical weapons attack on the eastern suburbs of Damascus that killed at least 100 people. While he appeared to signal some greater urgency in responding, his comments were largely in line with his previous statements throughout the two-year conflict. The president said the U.S. is still seeking conclusive evidence that chemical weapons were used this week. Such actions, he said, would be troubling and would be detrimental to "some core national interests that the United States has, both in terms of us making sure that weapons of mass destruction are not proliferating, as well as needing to protect our allies, our bases in the region." Russia calls for Syria's co-operationThe Russian Foreign Ministry, meanwhile, is calling for an independent probe by UN experts into the incident. The statement released on Friday said that Minister Sergey Lavrov and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry had discussed the situation by telephone on Thursday, and concluded that they had a "mutual interest" in calling for the UN investigation. The statement said Russia had called for Assad's embattled government to co-operate with an investigation, but questions remained about the willingness of the opposition, "which must secure safe access of the mission to the location of the incident." Russia has been one of Assad's key allies in the international arena. U.S. shouldn't be 'jumping' into immediate actionObama has warned that the use of the deadly gases would cross a "red line," but the U.S. response to the confirmed attacks earlier this year has been minimal. That's opened Obama up to fierce criticism, both in the U.S. and abroad. Among those leading the criticism is Arizona's Republican Senator John McCain, who says America's credibility has been damaged because Obama has not taken more forceful action to stop the violence. The president pushed back at those assertions in the interview aired Friday, saying that while the U.S. remains "the one indispensable nation," that does not mean the country should get involved everywhere immediately. "Sometimes what we've seen is that folks will call for immediate action, jumping into stuff, that does not turn out well," he said. "We have to think through strategically what's going to be in our long-term national interests, even as we work co-operatively internationally to do everything we can to put pressure on those who would kill innocent civilians." After the earlier chemical weapons attacks, Obama did approve the shipments of small weapons and ammunition to the Syrian rebels, but there is little sign that the equipment has arrived. http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/story/2013/08/23/syria-alleged-chemical-weapons-un-inspectors.html Psychological manipulation.

This is the same mentality as to when Saddam Hussein gassed the Kurds (5000+) in Iraq. Nothing happens in any country that the head of State/Nation is not aware of something of this magnitude, either before or just minutes after and not act towards using the swift sword. No mobilization of his troops. No border closing. No Martial Law implemented. No complaint to the UN Security Council from Syria. No "Help me, throw me a rope" from the official Syrian channels to the world. Nothing! Just debating whether to let the UN investigators in so they can investigate. This is a corrupt/genocidal government that is just like the one Iraq used to be. JMMHO. Only a true unbiased investigation will reveal what really happened. Thanks for your input and post.

Syria 'chemical' attack: France says force may be needed A child describes his mother "falling to the floor", as James Robbins reports Continue reading the main story Syria conflictTent city Chemical claims assessed In pictures Chemical arsenal France's foreign minister has said a "reaction with force" could be needed if Syria is proved to have used chemical weapons against civilians. Laurent Fabius's comments come a day after Syrian activists said hundreds of people died in such attacks in the Ghouta area of the capital, Damascus. The UN has asked Syria to allow UN weapons inspectors already in the country to be allowed to investigate. But there is no sign as yet that Damascus will allow this. The UN team arrived in the city on Sunday and are staying about 15km (10 miles) from the site of the recent attacks. Continue reading the main story Analysis Frank Gardner BBC security correspondent The chances of the UN chemical weapons inspectors in Syria accessing the true site of Wednesday's alleged chemical attack in time to make a clear judgement on responsibility are slim. It took months to negotiate permission for them to visit other sites around the country. The Syrian government, backed by Russia, is resisting calls to give them access to the eastern Damascus suburb of Ghouta where this apparent atrocity took place. Part of the reason is the area is contested between government forces and rebels and is therefore unsafe. If an agent such as sarin has been used, the UN team would need to get to the site within days before traces become so faint as to be inconclusive. And if, as the opposition claims, it was a government attack, then a delay of days or weeks would give it enough time for forensic evidence to become controversial and for evidence of munitions used to be removed. The Syrian government insists it was the rebels who carried out the attack. But they only have a mandate to visit three sites previously agreed between the UN and the Syrian government, including the northern town of Khan al-Assal, where some 26 people were killed in an alleged chemical attack in March. The Syrian government has described the latest allegations as "illogical and fabricated". The Syrian army said opposition forces had made up the claims to divert attention from their recent huge losses. Heavy shelling continued around Ghouta on Thursday, reports say. 'Red lines crossed' A spokesman for Ban Ki-moon, Eduardo del Buey, said on Thursday that the secretary general Ban Ki-moon believed the attacks "need to be investigated without delay". Mr Ban was sending his disarmament chief Angela Kane to Damascus to press for an investigation, he said. Earlier, Mr Fabius told the French BFM TV channel that if the use of chemical weapons was confirmed, "France's position is that there must be a reaction, a reaction that could take the form of a reaction with force". He did not elaborate on whether that meant backing military action, but did rule out the idea of deploying troops inside Syria. The US state department said it had yet to "conclusively determine" what had taken place in Damascus, but that it was urgently gathering information. US state department spokeswoman Jen Psaki: ''The president, of course, has a range of options'' If President Bashar al-Assad's government was found to be behind a chemical weapons attack it would be "an outrageous and flagrant escalation", spokeswoman Jen Psaki said. President Barack Obama warned last year that the use of such weapons would cross a "red line". The British Foreign Office said earlier in a statement that the UK and 36 other countries had formally referred the latest allegations to Mr Ban, and called for inspectors "to be granted the necessary access to enable their investigation into these latest allegations as a matter of urgency". "We believe a political solution is the best way to end the bloodshed," said the statement, but added that the UK has "said many times we cannot rule out any option... that might save innocent lives in Syria". Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu also stressed the need for an urgent response, and criticised the lack of UN action. Continue reading the main story In pictures: Damascus attacks How should the world respond? On Wednesday, the UN Security Council failed to agree on a statement condemning the attack at an emergency meeting. It was blocked by China and Russia, which have repeatedly backed the Syrian government since the crisis began. Russia is supporting calls for an investigation, however, because it believes the opposition might have carried out the attack itself, as "premeditated provocation" in an attempt to win the backing of the UN. Disturbing footage Opposition activists said that more than 1,000 people were killed after government forces launched rockets with toxic agents into the Damascus suburbs in the Ghouta region early on Wednesday. Continue reading the main story Chemical weapons claims Khan al-Assal, 19 March 2013 - Syrian state media accuse rebels of killing 31 people with rockets containing "chemical materials". Rebels blame the army for the attack. Al-Otaybeh, 19 March 2013 - Opposition activists allege an attack in which six people are reported dead, apparently in reprisal for gains made by rebel forces. Adra, 24 March 2013 - The LCC activist network say two people are killed in an attack. Sheikh Maqsoud, Aleppo, 13 April 2013 - At least three people are killed in an attack; internet footage of the victims shows symptoms consistent with exposure to nerve gas. Saraqeb, 29 April 2013 - Eyewitnesses say canisters containing a poisonous gas are dropped from a helicopter above the town. Eight people are injured, one of whom later dies. Ghouta, 21 August 2013 - By far the most serious alleged incident, with hundreds reported dead in attacks on the outskirts of Damascus Q&A: Damascus 'toxic attacks' Syria chemical weapons allegations Syria's chemical weapons stockpile How to investigate chemical arms allegations The BBC has been unable to independently confirm the death toll. Activists said Wednesday's attack took place as part of heavy government bombardment in the region surrounding Damascus, with government forces trying to drive out rebel forces. The areas affected included Irbin, Duma and Muadhamiya. Video footage shows dozens of bodies with no visible signs of injuries, including small children, and survivors being treated in makeshift hospitals, with victims, including many children, having convulsions. Chemical weapons experts have told the BBC that footage appears genuine and that the injuries shown are consistent with nerve agents. While it is not clear how many died in the bombardment of the sites and how many deaths were due to any exposure to toxic substances, experts say it would be almost impossible to fake so many dead and injured including children and babies. Both the rebels and government forces have accused each other of using chemical weapons throughout the 28-month conflict. Syria is believed to have large undeclared stockpiles of mustard gas and sarin nerve agent. The government has implied it has chemical weapons, but said they would not be used against civilians. More than 100,000 people are believed to have been killed during the 28-months of conflict Syria. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-23795088 Syrian victims of alleged gas attack smuggled to Jordan for blood testsSamples could help inform international response to incident, as UN inspectors denied access to affected areas of Damascus Share 368 inShare2 Email Martin Chulov and Mona Mahmood theguardian.com, Friday 23 August 2013 19.29 BST The scene of the alleged chemical weapons attack in the Ghouta region on the outskirts of Damascus. Photograph: Erbin News/Demotix/Corbis At least three victims of the alleged chemical weapons attack in east Damascus on Thursday have been smuggled to Jordan where samples of their blood and urine will help determine which agent was used to gas hundreds of people. The samples could help inform an international response to the attack, which has sharply upped the stakes in Syria's civil war, drawing demands for recrimination and edging a much-feared regional spillover closer to reality. Two mosques in Lebanon's second city, whose sheikhs have been persistently critical of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad's regime, were severely damaged by car bombs on Friday . At least 42 worshippers were killed and up to 500 were wounded in the deadliest act of terror to hit the volatile country since the war started across its border two and a half years ago. The bombs exploded as midday prayers were concluding on the first day of the Islamic weekend. Both mosques were filled with people who, minutes later, would have spilled out into car parks where the explosives-filled vehicles were parked. "It is already hell on earth here," said Mohammed Dahbi, a mechanic from Tripoli, a Sunni Muslim-dominated city in north Lebanon. "But it could have been worse. So much worse." A similar attack in Dahiyeh, in the Shia heartland of south Beirut, on 15 August killed 27 people. Dahiyeh is a hub of operations for the Hezbollah militia. The Syrian war has deepened divisions between the two Islamic sects, which line up on different sides; the Sunnis largely support the opposition in Syria but Hezbollah is resolutely backing the Assad regime. Hezbollah condemned the Tripoli attack, which it said was aimed at causing "civil strife". However, the condemnation fell on deaf ears near the scene of the blasts, with bystanders angrily blaming the group for the destruction. "When there's a bomb in their area, they blame 'Takfiris', by whom they mean us," said Ahmed Otthman, referring to a term used to describe radical Islamists. "And when things like this happen to us, they blame Israel." Tripoli has been the scene of repeated clashes over the past two years between its majority Sunnis and a minority community of Alawites who have remained barricaded on a hilltop suburb near the centre of the city. The two ruling Syrian families, the Assads and the Makhloufs, are Alawites, and much of the Damascus establishment hails from the sect, which is loosely aligned to Shia Islam and comprises 12% of Syria's population. Speakers at Friday prayers at each of the mosques had been denouncing the poison gas attack in Syria's Ghouta region, which came as the Syrian military launched a major advance into eastern areas of the capital that it continued to shell on Friday. United Nations inspectors in Damascus were denied access for a second day to the affected areas of the capital – only seven-10 miles from their hotel. Sources inside rebel-held districts said an active network of defectors, some of whom had fled the Syrian military's chemical warfare division, were helping to smuggle biological samples from the scenes of the attack to Jordan. At least three more victims suffering mild effects of gassing will be transferred to Jordan in the next few days. The samples being sourced are biopsies of livers and spleens from fatalities, as well as blood and urine from survivors. Rebel groups have received contact from investigators identifying themselves as UN team members asking for co-operation in providing samples. The investigators have apparently asked for biological samples to be taken from animals, too. The Guardian has been unable to verify if the contact was from the UN. A questionnaire distributed to some rebel commanders asks for GPS co-ordinates of the attacks and launch sites as well as all medical records of victims, laboratory results and environmental samples. Chemical weapons experts interviewed by the Guardian said that symptoms of the dead and dying depicted on videos posted online support a growing view that sarin was the nerve agent used in the attack, which killed up to 1,400 people. Britain has blamed the Assad regime for the attack, the worst of its kind anywhere since Saddam Hussein's army gassed Kurds in the northern Iraqi town of Halabja in 1988, killing between 3,000-5,000 people. However, the US continued to toe a cautious line, asking its intelligence community to gather more information before deciding what to do about it. Eastern Ghouta has been a stronghold of rebel groups for much of the past year. Persistent bombing by Syrian military jets and artillery has been unable to dislodge armed opposition groups who have been poised on the edge of the capital's inner sanctum, but unable to advance. The Syrian news agency, Sana, said the operation carried out in the early hours of Thursday was the largest launched since the civil war began. It said it aimed to clear the east of the capital and then pave the way for a push towards the Jordanian border, which remains bitterly contested by both sides. The Syrian regime has been advancing in parts of the country, with the help of forces from Hezbollah, particularly in Homs and the west. However, it has been unable to clear the capital of rebel groups, which continue to pose a potent threat to its institutions. http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/aug/23/syria-gas-attack-blood-tests Syrian Rebels: '1,300 Killed In Gas Attack' The UN Security Council holds an emergency meeting over the alleged attack, while weapons inspectors talk to the Assad regime. 10:47pm UK, Wednesday 21 August 2013 Video: 'Chemical Weapons Attack' In Syria Enlarge Professor Fawaz Gerges, from the London School of Economics, says if evidence of chemical warfare was found in the Syrian conflict, it would attract western intervention. Video: 'Gas Use' A Crossing Of US Red Line Enlarge Email More than 1,300 people have been killed in a chemical weapons attack near Damascus, according to Syria's main opposition group. The National Coalition claims toxic gas was used by President Bashar al Assad's forces during a bombardment of rebel-held areas outside the Syrian capital. It described the attack as a "coup de grace that kills all hopes for a political solution in Syria". The government said the claims were "totally false" and the international news organisations reporting them were "implicated in the shedding of Syrian blood and support terrorism". Attacks are alleged to have occured in the towns of Zamalka aand Ein TarmaIt comes three days after a 20-strong team of UN weapons inspectors arrived in Damascus to investigate whether chemical weapons have been used in the conflict. The European Union has demanded an independent investigation into the alleged poison attack - which if confirmed would be the worst attack of its kind since Saddam Hussein killed an estimated 5,000 people in the Kurdish town of Halabja in 1988. Russia, a longstanding ally of the Assad regime, echoed the call for a probe. The US said it was "deeply concerned" by the reports and also called for an "urgent" investigation, demanding the Syrian government grant "immediate access" to the UN weapons inspectors. "If the Syrian government has nothing to hide and is truly committed to an impartial and credible investigation of chemical weapons use in Syria, it will facilitate the UN team's immediate and unfettered access to this site," said White House spokesman Josh Earnest. Activists posted videos showing children apparently hurt in the attackThe United Nations said its chief weapons inspector was in talks with the Syrian government over the alleged attack, as the UN Security Council went into an emergency meeting behind closed doors to discuss the situation. Earlier, Sky sources said at least 200 people were killed in the shelling in Zamalka and Ein Tarma, but could not verify whether chemical weapons were used. Mohammed Saeed, an activist in the area, said hundreds of dead and injured have been taken to six make-shift hospitals in the eastern suburbs of Damascus. "This is a massacre by chemical weapons," he said via Skype. "The visit by the UN team is a joke ... Bashar is using the weapons and telling the world that he does not care." Opposition groups said government forces had fired "rockets with poisonous gas heads" in the attack. Videos posted on YouTube by activists show children being treated in make-shift hospitals. Some are having convulsions and difficulty breathing. Others are not moving. Sky News cannot authenticate the footage. The YouTube images cannot be authenticated by Sky News"Regime forces after midnight stepped up military operations in the East Ghouta and West Ghouta zones of the Damascus region with aircraft and rocket launchers, causing several dozen dead and wounded," the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. The Local Co-ordination Committees, another Syrian pro-opposition group, said hundreds of people were killed or injured in the "brutal use of toxic gas by the criminal regime in parts of Western Ghouta". Videos claiming to show the shelling were posted on YouTube by the Syrian Revolution General Commission, another activist group. They showed what it called "a terrible massacre committed by regime forces with toxic gas, leaving dozens of martyrs and wounded". Professor Fawaz Gerges, director of the Middle East Centre at the London School of Economics, examined the motive behind a chemical weapons attack. He told Sky News: "Why would the Assad government use poison while you have a very strong UN team in Damascus?... and his army has the upper hand in the Ghouta area? He has done everything in his power to prevent western intervention." Prof Gerges said the pressure would be "overwhelming", not just on the US but on Britain and France too, "to retaliate militarily" if a UN probe found evidence of a chemical weapons attack in the region east of the Syrian capital. Casualties are much higher than in previous allegations of chemical attacks"So it in this particular sense, it is very strange, it doesn't make sense, it's illogical, though we have learned in the last two-and-a- half years that irrationality is as important as rationality when it comes to the Assad regime," he added. Both the rebels and government forces have accused each other of using chemical weapons in the conflict, which began in March 2011 and has killed more than 100,000 people. The UN team is investigating three sites where chemical weapons have allegedly been used: the village of Khan al Assal, just west of the northern city of Aleppo, and two other locations, which are being kept secret for security reasons. If confirmed, this alleged chemical attack would be the most serious in the conflict since the incident in Khan al Assal on March 19, when at least 30 people were killed. British Foreign Secretary William Hague said he hoped the alleged attack would "wake up" those who have supported the Assad regime to "its murderous and barbaric nature." He said he was "deeply concerned" by the "uncorroborated" reports which if verified "would mark a shocking escalation in the use of chemical weapons in Syria". "Those who order the use of chemical weapons, and those who use them, should be in no doubt that we will work in every way we can to hold them to account," he said. Mr Hague said he hoped the team of UN weapons inspectors were granted "immediate and unrestricted access" to the area of the alleged chemical attack "to try to establish the truth". "There is no reason for them not to be given access to an area not many miles from where they are doing their work now," he added. http://news.sky.com/story/1131320/syrian-rebels-1300-killed-in-gas-attack

Mods. I am requesting a new Syria Board/Topic. IMO, involvement is inevitable now. Images of Death in Syria, but No Proof of Chemical Attack Play video Bassam Khabieh/Reuters Aftermath of Attack in Syria: Hundreds of Syrians were killed by what rebels call a chemical weapons attack carried out by the government. By BEN HUBBARD and HWAIDA SAAD Published: August 21, 2013 535 Comments BEIRUT, Lebanon — Scores of men, women and children were killed outside Damascus on Wednesday in an attack marked by the telltale signs of chemical weapons: row after row of corpses without visible injury; hospitals flooded with victims, gasping for breath, trembling and staring ahead languidly; images of a over a neighborhood. But even with videos, witness accounts and testimonies by emergency medics, it was impossible to say for certain how many people had been killed and what exactly had killed them. The rebels blamed the government, the government denied involvement and Russia accused the rebels of staging the attack to implicate President Bashar al-Assad’s government. Images of death and chaos poured out of Syria after what may be the single deadliest attack in more than two years of civil war. Videos posted online showed dozens of lifeless bodies, men wrapped in burial shrouds and children, some still in diapers. There were hospital scenes of corpses and the stricken sprawled on gurneys and tile floors as medics struggled to resuscitate them. Getting to the bottom of the assault could well alter the course of the conflict and affect the level of the West’s involvement. President Obama said almost exactly a year ago that the use of chemical weapons was a red line. But the subsequent conclusion by the White House that the Syrian Army had used chemical weapons did not bring about a marked shift in American engagement. This latest attack, by far the largest chemical strike yet alleged, could tip that balance — as many foes of Mr. Assad hope it will. But like so much in Syria, where the government bars most reporters from working and the opposition heavily filters the information it lets out, the truth remains elusive. The attack was especially conspicuous given the presence in Damascus of a team sent by the United Nations to investigate chemical strikes reportedly waged earlier in the war. The United States, the European Union and other world powers called for the investigators to visit the site of Wednesday’s attack. The Security Council, meeting in emergency session, issued a statement calling for a prompt investigation of the allegations and a cease-fire in the conflict, but took no further action. “I can say that there is a strong concern among Council members about the allegations and a general sense that there must be clarity on what happened, and that the situation has to be followed carefully,” said María Cristina Perceval of Argentina, the president of the Council, after the meeting. “All Council members agreed that any use of chemical weapons, by any side under any circumstances, is a violation of international law.” The ranking diplomat from Britain, Philip Parham, told reporters later outside the Security Council chambers that representatives of at least 35 countries had signed a letter to Secretary General Ban Ki-moon requesting that Syrian authorities grant the United Nations investigative panel in Syria “urgent access” to the attack site. But Mr. Parham declined to specify the signatories or to divulge whether any of the 15 Security Council members had proposed any stronger measures during their closed-door consultations. In the opposition’s account of the deadly events, Mr. Assad’s forces deployed poison gas on a number of rebel-held suburbs east of Damascus, the capital. They described medics finding people dead in their homes. Videos posted online showed mostly men and children, but the opposition activists said that many women were killed too, but that out of respect they were not photographed. The actual death toll remained unclear. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said late Wednesday that more than 130 people had been confirmed dead in attacks around Damascus, though it could not confirm the use of gas. Other opposition estimates put the death toll at more than 1,000. “I saw many children lying on beds as if they were sleeping, but unfortunately they were dead,” said an activist reached via Skype in the suburb of Erbin, who gave his name as Abu Yassin. “We thought this regime would not use chemical weapons, at least these days with the presence of the U.N. inspectors,” he said. “It is reckless. The regime is saying, ‘I don’t care.’ ” Others said that field hospitals were overwhelmed with the number of patients and that many ran out of medication. An activist who gave only his first name, Mohammed, said the dead in one suburb, Zamalka, were laid out in front of a mosque, where a voice over loudspeakers called on residents to identify their relatives. The video record posted online did not provide enough detail to draw a complete picture of what happened. Unlike the videos often uploaded by the opposition, the images on Wednesday did not show the immediate aftermath of the attacks in the communities. The videos, experts said, also did not prove the use of chemical weapons, which interfere with the nervous system and can cause defecation, vomiting, intense salivation and tremors. Only some of those symptoms were visible in some patients. Gwyn Winfield, editor of CBRNe World, a journal that covers unconventional weapons, said that the medics would most likely have been sickened by exposure to so many people dosed with chemical weapons — a phenomenon not seen in the videos. He said that the victims could have been killed by tear gas used in a confined space, or by a diluted form of a more powerful chemical agent. Others suggested that toxic industrial chemicals might have been used. Some witness testimony suggested that residents, used to seeking cover from government shelling and airstrikes by running into underground shelters, had made the situation worse. In one video, a young medic said that residents had hidden in their basements, where the gas collected and suffocated them. “The descent of the citizens into the basements increased the number of wounded and the number of martyrs,” the medic said, before breaking into tears and adding that many from the medical corps also succumbed to the gases. It was not clear whether the team sent to Syria by the United Nations would be able to investigate the new reported attacks. The team arrived Sunday after months of negotiations with the Syrian government and is authorized to visit only three predetermined sites. The White House said that Syria should provide access to the United Nations, and that those found to have used chemical weapons should be held accountable. Other countries, including Britain and France, offered similar expressions of concern. Russia wrote off the attack as a “preplanned provocation” orchestrated by the rebels and said they had launched the gas with a homemade rocket from an area they controlled. “All of this looks like an attempt at all costs to create a pretext for demanding that the U.N. Security Council side with opponents of the regime and undermine the chances of convening the Geneva conference,” said the statement, issued by Aleksandr Lukashevich, a spokesman for the Foreign Ministry. He also called for a “professional and fair investigation.” At least one photograph posted on Facebook by an activist showed what looked like a makeshift rocket. But loyalist militias and Hezbollah have both fired makeshift rockets at rebel positions in this war, and could presumably be suspects for any attacks with improvised rockets on rebel-controlled neighborhoods. The Syrian Army, in a statement read on state television, denied having used chemical weapons, calling the accusations part of a “filthy media war” in favor of the rebels. The claims “are nothing but a desperate effort to cover their defeat on the ground, and reflect the state of hysteria, confusion and collapse of these gangs and those who support them,” the statement said. Louay Mekdad, a media coordinator for the military wing of the opposition Syrian National Council, said the attack showed that Mr. Assad “doesn’t care any longer about red lines since he has already exceeded too many of them while the world has showed no reaction.” Mr. Mekdad called on the Security Council and international powers to “live up to their moral and historic responsibility” to protect civilians in Syria. “If the international community doesn’t move now, when is it going to move?” he asked. Reporting was contributed by David M. Herszenhorn from Moscow; C.J. Chivers from the United States; Peter Baker and Thom Shanker from Washington; Alan Cowell from London; Alissa J. Rubin from Paris; Mac Bishop from New York; and Karam Shoumali from Antakya, Turkey. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/22/world/middleeast/syria.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0