House Votes to Authorize Aid to Syrian Rebels in ISIS Fight

[Texashiker]

I just dont know about arming rebels in Syria. What is Putin going to think about this? I am concerned Putin may see this as an attempt to destabilize the area even more.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/18/us/politics/house-vote-isis.html?_r=0

WASHINGTON — An unusual but overwhelming coalition in the House voted Wednesday to authorize the training and arming of Syrian rebels to confront the militant Islamic State, backing President Obama after he personally pleaded for support.

The 273-to-156 vote was over a narrow military measure with no money attached, but it took on outsize importance and was infused with drama, reflecting the tension and ambiguity of members wary of the ultimate path to which any war vote could lead.

Who are these rebels? What is going to happen to the arms after the conflict is over?

What good is arming rebels in the fight against isis?

 

[Genx87]

What could go wrong?

 

[Ronstang]

What could go wrong?

Hmmm...Nothing? I mean we have done this countless times and the results are always the same, right??

 

[Slew Foot]

Cant wait until the Syrian rebels take over and them become tyrants themselves.

 

[ivwshane]

Brilliant! What that region needs more of is weapons!


/s

 

[TreVader]

The question is, who do we train to kill the rebels we are training to kill ISIS? And who will kill them, when they invariably turn on us a year after we leave?

 

[Texashiker]

And who will kill them, when they invariably turn on us a year after we leave?

That is what I keep asking myself.

ISIS is driving around in hummers and toyota trucks carrying M16s. Do we "really" need to dump more military tech into the area?

 

[Jaskalas]

Directly aiding "rebel" groups working to overthrow the Syrian government.
By these actions we are openly committing acts of war against Syria.

Are we doing the right thing?

 

[gevorg]

Mujahideen => Al Qaeda 2.0

 

[Strk]

Directly aiding "rebel" groups working to overthrow the Syrian government.
By these actions we are openly committing acts of war against Syria.

Are we doing the right thing?

And let's not forget the Syrian government is fighting ISIS.

 

[Texashiker]

Directly aiding "rebel" groups working to overthrow the Syrian government.
By these actions we are openly committing acts of war against Syria.

Are we doing the right thing?

By our governments own definition, aiding rebels attempting to overthrow a government, doesn't that make our government a terrorist organization?

That is a serious question.

If someone was aiding rebels who were attempting to overthrow our government, that group providing aid would be labeled a terrorist supporter.

What I think is happening, all that "aid" is going to come back and bite us in the ass.

 

[iGas]

Hmmm...Nothing? I mean we have done this countless times and the results are always the same, right??

Perhaps this group of rebels promised the oligarchs a better deal than the last group when they are in power.

 

[iGas]

By our governments own definition, aiding rebels attempting to overthrow a government, doesn't that make our government a terrorist organization?

That is a serious question.

If someone was aiding rebels who were attempting to overthrow our government, that group providing aid would be labeled a terrorist supporter.

What I think is happening, all that "aid" is going to come back and bite us in the ass.

You are terrorists if you are on the losing side that fight for a cause. You are a hero if you claim to bring democracy the unwashed for profit.

 

[Fern]

I've never been a supporter of providing weapons to Syrian rebels, that hasn't changed.

I'm not sure why they're voting on this. My understanding is that we've been arming them for over a year.

Has anybody made a persuasive case that the rebels aren't winning because because they lack sufficient weapons? I thought Saudi Arabia had been arming them for sometime too. More weapons may be unnecessary. As Gerald Nadler (D_NY) said (and I'm paraphrasing) Are we doing this for the sake of doing something, even if it's not intelligent?

Fern

 

[zinfamous]

lol. whatheverlovingfuck does Putin have to do with this?

 

[Texashiker]

lol. whatheverlovingfuck does Putin have to do with this?

I thought Bashar al-Assad and Putin were buddies?


http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...tants-shuns-support-mission-destroy-ISIS.html

Russia became the third nation to criticize the Obama administration on Thursday, following President Barack Obama's announcement that he plans to expand a campaign of bombing against the self-proclaimed Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) to include targets inside Syria.

Iranian and Syrian officials slammed the White House for excluding them from an international coalition formed to destroy the terror group.

Later in the day, the government of Russian President Vladimir Putin – a key ally of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad – warned the U.S.that it would be an 'act of aggression' and 'a gross violation of international law.'

Striking isis targets inside Syria without permission is a violation of Syrian sovereignty.

Syria has every right to attack US planes in Syrian airspace.

 

[brandonb]

This is the problem I have with Aid:

These are quotes from:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syrian_Civil_War

As of August 2014, according to the high-level commander of the Islamic State (IS), "In the East of Syria, there is no Free Syrian Army any longer. All Free Syrian Army people [there] have joined the Islamic State."[543]

Our aid will end up with ISIS in places.

The Islamic State has recruited more than 6,300 fighters in July 2014 alone.[565] In September 2014, some Syrian rebels and the Islamic State signed a "non-aggression" agreement in a suburb of Damascus, citing inability to deal with both ISIS and the Syrian army's attacks at once.[566]

Great non aggression. Maybe sometime in the future an alliance.

Rebel forces sometimes relied on criminal networks to obtain weapons and supplies. Black market weapon prices in Syria's neighboring countries have significantly increased since the start of the conflict. To generate funds to purchase arms, some rebel groups have turned towards extortion, stealing, and kidnapping.[505]

Ok. Great, we are supporting a bunch of bandits.

Saudi Arabia has emerged as the main group to finance and arm the rebels.[589] According to confessions of a captured FSA commander, the opposition also received minor military support from Israel.[590]

This has the potential to spiral into a proxy regional war as all the players are supported by different factions/countries. Not to mention the Rebels aren't really any better than Assad or ISIS... Honestly, I believe the best course of action is to support Assad. Negotiate with him to support amnesty towards FSA and his former military commanders who went rebel, and then have them crush ISIS together.

 

[bshole]

I predict that they welcome us with open arms, that a peaceful secular pro-American government will be installed and every jihadi will be killed. The only caveat is that we MUST drop the correct amount of ordinance. I am thinking perhaps 20 or so megatons (+/1 100 kilotons) worth of exposive power should be what it takes to bring peace and prosperity.

 

[Fern]

lol. whatheverlovingfuck does Putin have to do with this?

As noted on the official website of the University of Washington's Jackson School of International Studies, the Russian Federation maintains mutual defense treaties with both Syria and Iran.

http://www.examiner.com/article/the...ual-defense-treaties-the-western-media-missed

Fern

 

[Texashiker]

http://www.examiner.com/article/the...ual-defense-treaties-the-western-media-missed

As noted on the official website of the University of Washington's Jackson School of International Studies, the Russian Federation maintains mutual defense treaties with both Syria and Iran.

Fern

Holy crap.

Flying unauthorized missions into Syria would be a violation of their sovereign airspace. Which means Russia would be justified in striking US military jets.

 

[chucky2]

Russia will do no such thing, because Russia will be more than happy to sell whoever is in power in that region more weapons. They'll cheer every time an expensive US airframe accumulates flight hours, burning expensive AV gas, dropping expensive weapons (that miraculously will kill no innocents the whiners in the US and TRoTW were so up in arms about when Bush was POTUS and we were 10k's boots on ground in Iraq), that hopefully will blow the sh1t out of whatever we think we're aiming at.

 

[Fern]

Holy crap.

Flying unauthorized missions into Syria would be a violation of their sovereign airspace. Which means Russia would be justified in striking US military jets.

I'm not suggesting WWIII or anything of the like. But there are some unaddressed complications in Obama's current plan.

Fern

 

[Texashiker]

I'm not suggesting WWIII or anything of the like. But there are some unaddressed complications in Obama's current plan.

Fern

I am not suggesting it either, but this is serious stuff.

We do not go around invading other nations air space.

 

[zinfamous]

I thought Bashar al-Assad and Putin were buddies?


http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...tants-shuns-support-mission-destroy-ISIS.html


Striking isis targets inside Syria without permission is a violation of Syrian sovereignty.

Syria has every right to attack US planes in Syrian airspace.

OK, fair enough. You get this one, TH.

 

[Hayabusa Rider]

OK, fair enough. You get this one, TH.

Of course they do have a legitimate right to defend themselves. The Russians won't enter into a direct conflict but I have no doubt that they can make considerable mischief.