syria

[brinstar]

ugh

[Jay]

What's so important about Syria?! Did Miley Cyrus go there or something?

[Spazz]

Yea not feelin it but pretty sure its going to happen anyway.

[brinstar]

all bombs are chemical weapons. why are we so comfortable placing "being blown apart by a drone missile" and "being asphyxiated due to nerve gas" so far apart on the scale of human atrocity? how much of a difference does it make to the dead? to their families? and why are we perfectly content ignoring 100,000 killed in a two-year civil war, but yet so suddenly buttfrustrated about 1400 people gassed? we are such hypocrites

EDIT: and yes i am aware of the dangers inherent in isolationism but if we can't even fix detroit how the fuck we gonna fix damascus? spoiler alert the answer is not with bombs! we are so strapped for cash the govt would rather cannibalize the social safety net protecting the most vulnerable than raise one cent in taxes on the rich, yet suddenly we have billions to throw around sticking our star-spangled dick in some other continent's beehive? fuck that, fuck obama, fuck kerry, fuck boehner, fuck pelosi. fuck war. and fuck anyone who disagrees.

[Drem]

yay

http://tribune.com.pk/story/599235/sweden-grants-blanket-asylum-to-syrian-refugees/

[Harrison]

On the other hand, it's amusing watching Stewart and Colbert utterly tear into these retards daily now.

I'm actually sad for my country that there's people out there supporting Obama still.

[Gaazy]

fuck obama

[Zanchief]

Obama had no choice after he made his silly comments about the red line. You can't threaten someone and then do nothing when they test you.

Curious Harri. You supported Bush with your dying breath when he was making much more catastrophic blunders in the same region. Now you see why we're so sad that you can be so stupid.

[Menelvir]

I understand that repercussions in the form of firing some missiles is good for business.

Aeronautical engineers and missile manufacturers probably see benefits from such actions (even if those benefits aren't felt immediately). This and all of the support logistics necessary to support the action (fuel, food, etc.).

Then of course, post regime change and lots of damage to the infrastructure, you send in your civil engineers and a whole host of other contractors to do the reconstruction.

Jobs, jobs, jobs

I'm trying to see the angle here, and Obama wanting to "save face" doesn't seem to me to be sufficient reason for weapon strikes.

[Zanchief]

I'm not defending him. He was a bonehead when he drew the line in the sand. He can't exactly tell them not to cross and do nothing once they do. Judging by the polls though, he'll need to backaway in order to really "save face".

Hey, if you spend over 600 billion dollars on defense, you might as well play with those toys from time to time.

[Menelvir]

I really do think that it is terrible when a country uses toxic gas on its citizenry. I would have hoped that the international outcry and desire to respond harshly to such action was greater.

[leah]

ugh this is such a mistake. i agree that what's happening in syria is atrocious, but can't we just let someone else play world police for a while?? god.

i am still an obama supporter, but this disappoints me greatly.

[brinstar]

Then of course, post regime change and lots of damage to the infrastructure, you send in your civil engineers and a whole host of other contractors to do the reconstruction.

Jobs, jobs, jobs

fuck all of that noise, we need reconstruction HERE

torks me off that the wisdom of spending tax dollars rebuilding damage we just spent tax dollars to cause is never even seriously questioned, yet as soon as someone suggests spending tax dollars to put people to work building and improving domestic infrastructure here it's ZOMG SOCIALISM NANNY STATE

[Kaemon]

The President does not have power under the Constitution to unilaterally authorize a military attack in a situation that does not involve stopping an actual or imminent threat to the nation

- Barack Obama 2007

Flip to the Flop
Hypocrite.

[Spazz]

i am still an obama supporter, but this disappoints me greatly.

What does he gotta do for you not to be a supporter?

[Drem]

I dont follow politics at all. My life really hasn't changed in one way or another aside from what people are crying about on facebook or threads like this. Considering that obama has done some nifty things (like removing $20 bank fees from account overdraws), why exactly do people hate him now? I'm actually honestly curious

I read all of the shit in this thread and, when i look into it, nothing has actually happened. Obama made a proposal to Congress and the Senate has approved it, so far. So why is he a flip flopper? How do you guys not care that a government bombed its own people with gas weapons? Why is there virtually no international outcry? Why is what Obama doing considered wrong? I see a lot of articles saying Obama should ignore the polls and actually be the Commander in Chief of the armed forces and take care of these despicable fuckers. And why is this being related to Detroit at all? What about Stockton?

This seems like an important issue. The Middle East obviously can't sort itself out. This, to me, is a much more credible reason to respond than, say, what happened in Iraq

Can someone ELI5 this to me? I don't understand the uproar, but i do care

[brinstar]

The President does not have power under the Constitution to unilaterally authorize a military attack in a situation that does not involve stopping an actual or imminent threat to the nation

- Barack Obama 2007

Flip to the Flop
Hypocrite.

uhh except he didn't unilaterally authorize a military attack in a situation that does not involve stopping an actual or imminent threat to the nation

did he

DID HE

[brinstar]

I dont follow politics at all. My life really hasn't changed in one way or another aside from what people are crying about on facebook or threads like this. Considering that obama has done some nifty things (like removing $20 bank fees from account overdraws), why exactly do people hate him now? I'm actually honestly curious

for me, it's: erosion of protections for (and intensified prosecution of) whistleblowers of all stripes, extrajudicial drone strikes in general, using drone strikes to assassinate US citizens without trial, failure to close gitmo, continued militarization of police, vast internal surveillance (NSA etc), zealous crackdowns on state-legal medical 420 dispensaries (despite campaign promises to the contrary (there's your flipflop kaemon)), refusal to possess anything remotely resembling testicles when it comes to investigating the massive securities and mortgage fraud that led to the 2007 financial crash and ensuing recession, continued capitulation to those terrorist GOP cunts in the house over budget nonsense, being generally indifferent to unions, and passing national romneycare instead of true universal coverage

How do you guys not care that a government bombed its own people with gas weapons? Why is there virtually no international outcry?

the fuck you talking about? first off, where did i say i don't care? second, there IS international outcry, and third, i want to know why there was virtually no international outcry over the previous 100,000 killed in syria's civil war - why do we ignore them and then suddenly care about 1400 sarin victims?

Why is what Obama doing considered wrong? I see a lot of articles saying Obama should ignore the polls and actually be the Commander in Chief of the armed forces and take care of these despicable fuckers.

because nobody appointed us world police, that's what the UN is for

And why is this being related to Detroit at all? What about Stockton?

Detroit was an example used to illustrate how it's so easy to reap billions of dollars to go play world cop on the other side of the planet, yet it's impossible to scrape together any money to help rebuild decrepit infrastructure and create actual jobs here in america

This seems like an important issue. The Middle East obviously can't sort itself out. This, to me, is a much more credible reason to respond than, say, what happened in Iraq

do you know what happened in iraq in the 80s? saddam was our buddy because he was a secular ruler in a very religious region, so during the iraq-iran war we gave him satellite intel with full knowledge that he would use it to plan and execute a sarin gas attack on iran. it worked, iraq won the war

[Menelvir]

I don't love or hate Obama, much as I didn't love or hate Bush, or any other president, for that matter.

They're all politicians, just like every president before them, and countless others.

They all bring to their office their own personal, internal moral code, which, coupled with their view of what is best (for America, then the world, usually in that order), informs their actions while in office.

I think Obama's reasons for wanting to strike Syria are manifold -- that Assad used poison gas is just one component, and likely a convenient one that serves as a lynchpin for justifiable action.

Also, the Middle East not being able to sort itself out isn't new to this century, the one before it, or the dozen or so before that.

I don't know how many centuries it takes for attitudes to change -- maybe in this case they never will.

If you think about this stuff too much, one or both of two things happens: 1) it makes your head hurt, 2) you get a glimpse of how the the gears inside the mechanism work, and it fundamentally depresses and saddens you.

[Drem]

Your last paragraph is basically where i'm at. Head hurts, don't care

[Reynaldo]

because nobody appointed us world police, that's what the UN is for

This is where I'm at.

For 9/11, they brought the fight to us, hell yes we go mess them up.

The ghetto thing here is that yes, there is world outcry but that's all they do then look to America to actually DO something about it instead of just whine. This is the UN's responsibility. I personally don't think we should do anything besides send in our share of support as long as ALL other UN entities are doing the same thing. If they aren't....screw it.

[brinstar]

I don't understand the uproar, but i do care

Head hurts, don't care

[Drem]

hahahahahahah. guess i really dont give a shit

[Harrison]

"doesn't follow politics at all"

Starts "discussing" Syria in a thread that he just admitted he knows nothing about.

[Drem]

cool, you can quote and comprehend what i said. so, what's your point? people can't ask questions anymore?