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Subscribe to RSSIn light of House Republicans meeting Thursday afternoon to discuss a strategy to end U.S. involvement in Libya, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee said progress has been made, while also defending the United States' lack of action in response to the rise of violence in Syria.
"NATO is clearly in charge, as it should be, and the president adroitly allowed us to set the stage but then to give responsibility to NATO" Sen. Jack Reed (D-RI) said.
He added, "It looks as if Khaddafy's hold is weakening,"citing the recent defection of Shokri Ghanem, Libya's top official in the oil and gas sector.
When asked about the United States' lack of response to Syrian violence, Reed said it is important to remember that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton faces a much different situation when dealing with Syria because with Libya, the United States had the "political support of the United Nations and of the Arab League."
Since the U.N. Security Council and the Arab League have not provided their support for taking greater action in Syria, "it's a hard to pull the international forces together," said the senator.
Forcing out Syria's President Basher al-Assad is unlikely, according to Reed, because "we didn't force out the Tunisian leader. We didn't force out Mubarak." Rather, it was the conditions on the ground that forced Tunisian President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to step down.
Though the United States may not play a role in the ouster of President Assad, Reed is hopeful the Syrian president will step down.
The series of uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt was "a truly popular and unpredictable sequence of events. And those events seem to be moving against Assad at this point," the senator stated.
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Has Obama gotten approval for this illegal war yet?
So much for getting us OUT of wars, eh?
Douche.............name the alleged illegality, then make the case supporting it...........we'll wait..
Good one, Paul.
A liberal "truther" calling someone a douche?
No Congressional approval Paul. War powers expired after 60 days Paul.
So easy even a libbie can understand. Heck even Kucinich gets it Paul.
So why, if it is so clearly an illegality, hasn't Boehner begun impeachement proceedings? Because it is not that simple.....................except for simpletons like you.
Talk to Kucinich my man.
Illegal is illegal. But you already know that.
So you admit to being unable to answer my question.............you'll let Kucinich speak for you, because someone else always has to do the thinking for you.
paul - you practice conspiracy theory and are just as apt to argue one side of an argument as the other.
If you're not theorizing, you're not thinking, at all. american-sheeple.
Hey Paul,
The "Squeaker" is a lawyer not a douche, though he does clear the room sometimes. He likes to speak in interrogatory terms only, which is to say both commentary and rebuttal debates come in the form of questions.
He finds answers off-putting, especially when they reveal his questions to be fluff at best and insults at worst. He already knows the answer he seeks to any question. He just wants to force everyone else to support their answers while he offers no answers so no support is given.
See how neat that is. He is so good at what he does (blog-lawyering) that even he gets lost in his own verbal repartee at times.
Right, Slackey. Been reading yor jibs and jabs all day and just had to chime in.
I love that you chime in Missy. Unfortunately I'd respond to your posts more often, but frankly I often have no idea what you are trying to say. Take the sentence "He likes to....."
What the heck are you trying to articulate?
But I do like "blog-lawyering." What is it that you are doing then?
From what I've read about the Syrian uprising, Assad has ordered the military to shoot unarmed civilians with hundreds if not thousands killed, targeted children of protesters and has had children arrested and tortured. One child in particular was shown on a video and was beaten, tortured, killed and mutilated. Syria is a military dictatorship run by a ruthless leader. Syria was declared a terrorist state by Bush and was declared as part of the Axis of Evil.
Seems this situation is far worse than Libya as there are no armed rebels to fight back against the military attacks. Yet, no UN resolution. No go ahead from the Arab League. The difference here is that Syria produces 400,000 barrels of oil a day. It's all about oil.
I'm not saying we need to or should intervene in each humanitarian crisis. I am saying that the killing of unarmed civilians should at least be brought to the UN for a vote by member nations. It hasn't.
The US remains curiously silent and "is hopeful the Syrian president will step down".
A coherent foreign policy on the Middle East would be nice.
Groucho,
I am learning a great deal from your posts and have to say thanks. You are quite well versed and levelheaded. Your explanations are clear, balanced and plainspoken; and your opinions unspun. You add to the dialog and listen.
Thank you for sticking around here and sharing your enlightenment.
Your observation about mid-east policy is not without merit, especially since the 'Arab Spring', but no one in the middle east is coherent much of the time anyway when it comes to Human Rights. You're also right about it being about OIL. The Arab League should stand with the Arab people at this point in time and NOT with Arab Emirates and their OIL.
While on the topic Missy: "...but no one in the middle east is coherent much of the time anyway when it comes to Human Rights."
Misssy - is Englich you first language or do you suffer from Bev. disease.
Missy -been reading your jibberations all day and just had to chime in.
groucho are you implying that because syrian oil output is only about 25% of libyas output that the US or the UN don't see it as being worthy of intervention? Another option may be russia's recent weigh in against NATO involvement in syria.
I agree that the US has never developed a working foriegn policy in the middle east.
Another important factor in the mix would be population. roughly 22 million in syria vs 6 million in libya.
Regardless, it may be time to step back out of the way and let the pieces fall as they may. The US went thru a lot of heartache and tribulation in the 60's and 70's with many central and south american policies. Should we expect anything different in north africa or the rest of the middle east?
Douche? Very classy. The President has 60 days from the start of military action to get congressional approval. He hasn't.
Douche from idaho............nothing classy about you or this blog. Classless is a better standard anyway. I believe you are leaving certain conditions and parameters out of your assertion..........deliberately. Is lying through ommission a classy thing to do?
Gosh Paul doesn't it suck to get confronted with the truth when you are a silly monkey?
Paul it would appear that Kirby just brain porked you with a truth hog.
Hurts, don't it?
Half-truths are not the TRUTH.
Well Paul, since you don't know me or anything about me I would guess your 2nd grade education doesn't give you more than the limited abilty to name call.
Got anything? I doubt it. Your stuff is weak.
Still lying through omission, kirby..............that's really all I need to know about you and your obsession with "class". Guess all you want about my education. I see no need to provide bona fides on an anonymous blog to anonymous douchebags like you. Neither do you know me. You should be wishing that I never track your simple ass down. GFY & GOY. Nothing Classy about you.
And so now we can all simply ignore our friend Paul-977599.
Silly rabbit.
Haha, ooh be careful Kirby, he might track you down and wrap aluminum foil around you. Heck Paul you don't have to track me down, I'll just tell you were I'm at. If you have outlook I'll send you my calendar.
3PussiesandanAss: You could have come out of hiding without the quid pro quo of sending me your calendar. But apparently you were afraid to do so. Sheeple.
As the GOP and Tea Party scream that they want their freedom back (I haven't felt nor noticed any of my freedoms taken away, have you?), and they shout about higher taxes (all we've had are tax CUTS!), and demand a smaller government (until or unless they need help, that is), does anyone stop to appreciate all that the USA provides us? Take a news-reading tour around the world - millions of people are fighting for everything that WE have, and 1000s of people are literally dying with hope of getting what we have. Can this country and our people be grateful? For maybe just one day?
Our freedoms were removed from us by the Bush/Cheney administration. Obama has done little or nothing to restore them to us, but he needs the make-up of the SCOTUS to change before he can hope to achieve that for us.