Sen. McCain Slams Obama for Delaying Syria Intervention


Despite the fact that the Obama administration will now be sending arms to rebels in Syria Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), one of the most ardent supporters of intervention in Syria, branded Obama's delay in intervening as "disgraceful."
From Politico:
The Arizona Republican said on Fox News that while Obama put down a "red line" regarding the Syrian use of chemical weapons on civilians, he "gave them a green light to do everything else."
"For us to sit by, and watch these people being massacred, raped, tortured in the most terrible fashion, meanwhile, the Russians are all in, Hezbollah is all in, and we're talking about giving them more light weapons? It's insane," he said.
McCain is right that the Assad regime is responsible for horrific atrocities but conveniently ignores the fact that some of Assad's opposition include jihadist fighters that have also been responsible for atrocities, including the execution of Assad supporters shown below.
WARNING: Graphic content:
Some might say that American officials will be able to adequately vet rebels in Syria and make sure that whatever support they receive will not aid jihadists. However, as Matt Welch pointed out earlier, when John McCain visited Syria even he rubbed shoulders with suspected kidnappers fighting among Assad's opposition.
It is impossible to guarantee that some of the arms the U.S. sends to Syria will not end up in the hands of jihadists who will use the weapons supplied by the U.S. on our dime to continue carrying out their own atrocities.
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Don't worry, Lyle has got this covered. He is headed over there right now to force some liberty on these bitches.
No, I'm not headed over there.
If I want to though I can encourage my government to provide help. I'm a citizen of the United States after all.
Know hope is Reason's foreign policy position.
Know?
You can "provide hope".
I am offering you assistance in doing so! Yet my experience, materiel aid and time are spurned.
Doing nothing and hoping things just get better is a "Know hope!" foreign policy position.
Know hope! It's Reason's new foreign policy rallying cry.
This whole series of threads is absolutely hilarious.
Bravo, Colonel.
And as such, you can enlist in her Armed Forces.
Take your pick:
Army
Navy
And don't forget the Air Force and the Marines. I don't think the Coast Guard will be involved in any Syrian intervention, but you never know.
And I don't have to volunteer. You're not saying President Obama can't order our military to do this and that because he didn't volunteer are you?
If only it were a requirement that those who send our nation to war serve first. Hell, I'd love it if all war votes were reserved to holders of the Purple Heart.
Yeah, that ain't what the Constitution requires.
No shit chickenhawk. I'm well aware that damn few of the cocksuckers voting for war have ever held a buddy as he died, or laid on the ground with their own blood pouring out of them.
I respectfully disagree with McCain on this. But Lindsey Graham can carry his soft manicured hands to the goddamn sandbox if he wants to play.
Maybe this is all part of a secret McCain plot to ensure everyone on the planet has a gun.
Please President Obomba, by all means send John McCain to the front lines.
"As a former POW, I know what atrocities people can be capable of doing to helpless victims, which is why the United States needs to give military aid to the Syrian rebels so they can get to atrocitizing some helpless victims of their own!"
/McMoron
I bet that crusty old fuck hasn't forgotten how to dance. Get him a Skyhawk and a truckload of JP and let him go out in a blaze of glory.
I like it! And who cares if he misses or bombs the wrong side? Just rearm and refuel it until he doesn't come back.
Just tell him you rearmed it and refueled it so he doesn't come back.
FTFY
Wasn't it tarran who pointed out that McCain's core competency was getting his ass shot down behind enemy lines? Well, when he wasn't crashing planes just for the hell of it, anyway. What did he go through, 3 different airplanes before the NVA got him?
It's good to be the admiral's kid.
Feeney! Your career as a lexicographer is stuck in the shitter!
The senator's surname is spelled "Strangelove."
I said the same thing about Libya - it's likely in the best interests of US policymakers to delay intervention as long as possible while two sides we abhor go about killing each other. Realpolitik in action.
See Obama, you appease the crazies and they will still attack you.
As disturbing as the video is, WTF are revolutionaries supposed to do with enemy prisoners?
This isn't the 18th Century where you can deal with a prisoner problem through paroles and exchanges.
And yeah, we shouldn't be anywhere near that shitfest.
Why not? The Israelis and Palestinians do it all the time.
The Palestinians don't deal with dozens/hundreds of prisoners at a time.
Based on some of the "18+" videos I'm seeing on YT, the FSA is capturing a lot of people. Whether they are actually executing all of them isn't really indicated, but wouldn't really surprise me.
Besides, Gaza isn't a total warzone with little in outside supply (in terms of food) coming in. Israeli military incursions into Palestinian territory are also far less frequent. The FSA doesn't hold any ground uncontested, and holding multitudes of prisoners under such conditions is nearly impossible and a massive drain on resources that could otherwise be spent on killing the other side. Syria at this point is nearly a basketcase and the only things coming in are more Russians weapons for the Assad regime.
Also, the Palestinians would have a serious image problem if they did shit like that, especially since they run around with their Pallywood baloney trying to pin atrocities on the Israelis.
I'm not sure if McCain would be General Jack D. Ripper or General Buck Turgidson in a modern update of Dr. Strangelove.
WARNING: Graphic content:
A trigger warning, perhaps?
Please warn us the next time you plan to invoke retarded internet memes.
It's retards all the way down.
What does he mean, The Russians are "all in?"
I voted against both McCain and Romney particularly because they were dead wrong about Russia's place in the grand scheme of things, and because it's a more inclusive and democratic country than Afghanistan ever will be. The concerns they share with the Chinese, about who the rebels really are, have been perfectly valid, as we're now seeing for ourselves.
I'm also certain that a post-Assad regime will find it economical to continue buying Russian-made arms, and will probably need the rent from those naval bases, too. We, as American taxpayers, really don't have money to spare to make up that difference with direct aid.
Let's replace that vicious Russian puppet with a mad dog Islamist nightmare accountable to nobody. I like it.
McCain is just having Republican war boner blue balls.
Fortunately, O! is their to help relieve the pressure, yes?
*there*
The senator has a war boner, and Obama is up to the task of stroking it.
Gah, too slow!
Seriously? You say this like Obama isn't just itching to dump a load all over Syria's face. You're too ridiculous to even be considered a troll right now.
Mr. McCain - Neither I or president Obama give a shit what you think.
McCain seems to want to teach everyone the lessons he learned in Vietnam by getting the US involved in as many similar wars as possible around the globe.
I am trying to understand the reasoning behind the potential decision to provide weapons to Al Qaeda in the war against the Syrian President Assad. If there is one conflict in which the United States has no interest, it's this one. The war began with sectarian elements opposing Assad two years ago, but has progressed to a religious war between Al Qaeda (Sunni) and the Muslim Brotherhood(Sunni), who believe to be Muhammad's successor in the Caliphate Vs Assad (Shi'a), Iran(Shi'a) and Hezbollah ( Shi'a ). Both opposing groups have vowed to fight to the death against the United States and anyone who opposes Islam. So, why after two years of war, with over 90,000 Syrians killed, we are now considering injecting ourselves in this conflict? Not only is this insane, I think it may be illegal. Consider the following:
18 USCS ? 2339B Providing material support or resources to designated foreign organizations
(a) Prohibited activities.
(1) Unlawful conduct. Whoever knowingly provides material support or resources to a foreign terrorist organization, or attempts or conspires to do so, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than 15 years, or both, and, if the death of any person results, shall be imprisoned for any term of years or for life...
(Thanks to Joel Pollack at "The Conversation" and "breitbart.com
Couldn't the US supply both sides with chemical weapons? Preferably unstable use-it-or-lose-it ones.
Amen Brother
Since Russia and Hezbollah are all in, lets go ahead and stay here, maybe catch a ball game, have a catch, drink some lemonade, and enjoy the fact that we don't feel compelled to fight over a run-down piece of shit stretch of desert. Let Russia and Hezbollah fight it out.
In his ardor to involve us in another conflict, Mr. McCain lays out no end-state that we are striving for. The Syrians in the past have had nothing for us other than the spittle on our dead marines in Beriut.
Enabling Jihadists on the face of it is a bad idea, but on deeper reflection....is a horrible idea.
Senator McCain like to bloviate on National Security without laying out how this relates to national security, and how an empowered Muslim Brotherhood (that uses the President like a grifter uses any rube that comes along) is in our national interests. They are by no means moderate or sympathetic to anything western.
God save us from the arrogance of these men.