President Barack Obama meets with his national security staff to discuss the situation in Syria, in the Situation Room of the White House, Friday, Aug. 30, 2013 (photo credit: AP/Pete Souza)
Obama Was Warned Of Earlier Chemical Attacks In Syria, Stayed Mum Until Deaths Hit Masses -- Washington Times
Well before last month’s sarin nerve gas attack in a Damascus suburb, the Obama administration had gathered intelligence that chemical weapons had been used in Syria on multiple occasions but did not take action because there were debates about who was responsible and there was little public outcry, according to officials familiar with the intelligence.
A congressional official familiar with U.S. intelligence assessments told The Washington Times on Monday that evidence of the earlier attacks was what prompted senior administration officials to agree in June to a covert plan by the CIA to deliver small American arms to rebels in their fight against Syrian President Bashar Assad.
The official, who spoke only on the condition of anonymity because he was discussing sensitive assessments, added that there were two theories circulating in the intelligence community about why the August attack was much larger than the early deployments of chemical weapons.
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My Comment: If this report is true .... staying mum on war crimes until a critical point is reached on the number of fatalities is not how a great nation like the U.S. should lead .... but alas .... it appears that this is how it is now being led.
Update: U.N. Implicates Syria in Using Chemical Arms -- New York Times
5 comments:
How can you criticize Obama if you are against any form of intervention in Syria even when its clear as water who is using WMD ?! No morale
There are numerous precedents for how the U.S. should respond to revolts, uprisings, and turmoil in countries. President Reagan's approach to the dissident movement in the former Soviet Union and my former country is a case in point. Stand on principles .... be vocal in your support .... marshal international allies .... and do not waver and calculate what the political cost may be. You do it because it is the right thing to do and you do it right away. President Obama should have done same thing when the Arab Spring started in Syria. But no .... other calculations were involved that as a result we have the catastrophe that is occurring right now.
Syrians that are fighting their regime are getting vocal support for years but still today N childrens and their mothers are being killed.
It is true that Syrians have been killing Syrians for years .... I got to know some of the survivors over the years in Montreal where I now live. But I will always wonder if there was a window of opportunity in Syria two and a half years ago for change .... before the real killing and slaughter started. Unfortunately .... we will now never know the answer to that question.
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