Massive use of chemical weapons in Syria, 1,429 killed including 426 children

[Sheilbh]

I seems a bit odd to be apparently telegraphing so clearly the scope and nature of the attack beforehand to the Syrian government.

Obama never, ever, ever does anything without first running the it up the flag pole.

In this case I think Cameron and Miliband have made it all far more public

[Ed Anger]

I seems a bit odd to be apparently telegraphing so clearly the scope and nature of the attack beforehand to the Syrian government.

On the other hand, it would be beneficial to know exactly what the Syrians are doing tactically in the face of a possible attack, if only to know what their contingencies are in the event that future attacks are required on particular assets; not to mention the longer they're on alert, the more fried they'll be.  But that all depends on precisely how well things are being monitored on the ground, and we just don't know.

I personally don't like the advanced you-know-we're-gonna-do-it stuff either, but that's sorta like Ohio State telling Baldwin Wallace U that they plan on running the ball.  Now they know, but there's not like there's a whole hell of a lot they can do about it.

Ohio State analogies.... 

[Ed Anger]

Also, I fainted from all my blood going to my crotch.

[CountDeMoney]

Ohio State analogies.... 

I always preferred to use FSU analogies, because Bobby Bowden actually would say he was gonna to do, and dang nabbit, we're gonna do it.  But he's retired.   

Like when they pasted Maryland on a Thursday night broadcast once, and the Terps bitched about FSU running up the score.  "It's not my boys' fault your first team can't stop my third team."  So true, Bobby.  So true.

[Ed Anger]

So I'm checking the news sites, and one has an ad to send a poor Jewish kid to camp. First thing that popped into my mind:

[Malthus]

So I'm checking the news sites, and one has an ad to send a poor Jewish kid to camp. First thing that popped into my mind:

[derspiess]

He's at least a little less deliberate about it than Clinton was.  He wouldn't take a dump without holding a couple focus groups and doing some opinion polls.

I don't recall any opinion polls on Bosnia, Kosovo, Afghanistan, Sudan or Iraq'93, '96, or '98.  Silly derhyperbole.

  You think they didn't run polls?  His team ran polls on everything. 

[derspiess]

Anyway, http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_UNITED_STATES_SYRIA_INTELLIGENCE_DOUBTS?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2013-08-29-03-11-56

[crazy canuck]

By the sounds of it the rhetoric of attack is cooling significantly.   Cameron is having a tough ride in the British Parliament debate as the oppostion wants to give the UN inspectors time to provide their report.  Seems being burned once before about US intelligence assurances that they had it right makes people a bit reluctant this time around.

Sorry Ed.  No war porn for you it seems.

[Ed Anger]

GODDAMN FUCKING PUSSY EUROPEANS.

[Valmy]

GODDAMN FUCKING PUSSY EUROPEANS.

Eh Obama is facing a Congressional revolt against it.  NO WAR FOR...erm....whatever they have in Syria.

[derspiess]

"Syria Conflict Intensifies As Bears Enter War"

[Kleves]

Other than perhaps salvaging Obama's credibility (which is a not unimportant goal, but a situation which was largely self-inflicted), is there realistically any good that could come from intervening in Syria (especially in a limited way, as has been proposed)?

[Zanza]

Honest question: is it a good idea to bomb a big stockpile of poisonous gas ammo? What happens with the poisonous gas, does it somehow burn in a harmless way?

[CountDeMoney]

Who says we're hitting CW stockpiles?

Punitive strikes for using them is not the same as destroying them.  That is a totally different policy aim, with an entirely different angle.