Secretary of State John Kerry made it clear that American action in Syria is now a matter of when and not if. Thanks to NBC News, we now have an idea of when that when might be:Rico says the 'moral obscenity' will be to bomb the shit out of the poor Syrian military on those command and control bunkers, airfields, and artillery units, rather than sending in a lone cruise missile to whack al-Assad, as he so richly deserves...Missile strikes against Syria could be launched "as early as Thursday", senior US officials said Tuesday, as the White House intensified its push toward an international response to the suspected use of chemical weapons. The "three days" of strikes would be limited in scope, and aimed at sending a message to the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, US officials told NBC.Complicating an already complicated situation, however, is the fact that the UN team of inspectors investigating the alleged (and almost certain) chemical-weapon attacks is still on the ground in Syria, and isn't scheduled to leave until Sunday. The unnamed US officials, somewhat confusingly, told NBC that an attack is unlikely while the inspectors remains in Syria— comments that left it unclear whether that means the plan would be to pull them out early or to simply wait.
The officials reiterated that any military action would not aim to kill Assad, and would be limited because the goal would be to respond to the use of chemical weapons. Command and control bunkers, airfields, and artillery would be targeted.
The report comes one day after Kerry declared that it was "undeniable" that the Assad regime had used chemical weapons in Syria, and promised that the Obama administration will hold the government there accountable for what he called a "moral obscenity".
27 August 2013
Syria for the day
Josh Voorhees has a Slate article about prospects for war with Syria:
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