Obama Administration waives ban on arming Syrian terrorist groups

[regexcellent]

Classy to mock over 100,000 civilian deaths.

And you wonder why people compare you to Stalin?

I'm not mocking their deaths and Stalin actually killed people; he wasn't just indifferent to suffering. It's not like anything we can reasonably do will do much good anyway.

I think he's mocking the notion that we have to do something when there's nothing we can do to make it better, only make it worse.

More or less.

[The Mad Monk]

We've got the biggest hammer ever seen in human history; why just leave all these nails lying around?

Because we keep hitting our thumb instead?

[Dinner]

Arming the moderate groups makes sense. The only reason the 1-2 Islamic groups have gained traction is because the moderates couldn't get guns or ammo while the Islamists did. Building up the moderate majority is a great way to counter act that problem, under cut the influence of Islamic groups, and still bring down the war criminal in Damascus. Plus it is both cheaper and more effective than lobbying a few cruise missiles and going home.

[Dinner]

BTW linking to "The Washington Examiner" is no better than linking to Glenn Beck or Alex Jones's websites.

[Sava]

Oh god. I bet those Alex Jones people are having all sorts of conspiracy fun with the Navy Yard shooter.

[Hauldren Collider]

The Washington Examiner is perfectly fine, Oerdin.

[DinoDoc]

Maybe I do.

I totally believe you.

I'm pro-"I hope the country falls into the Mediterranean"

[Guynemer]

Because we keep hitting our thumb instead?

[Sava]

I totally believe you.

Obviously, there is an asterisk denoting I'm only referring to bad people. Obviously.

[Asher]

I'm pro-Assad, in the sense that I think he's less problematic as a leader of Syria than any of his alternatives.

Sarin gas.

Sarin gas.

Sarin gas.

On his own people.

You're a right ******* to be pro-Assad.

[Hauldren Collider]

You're an idiot. You realize this isn't a choice between liberal democracy and sarin gas right? The only question right now is who gets the Sarin gas, and I'd rather Assad have it than Al Qaeda. At least he's only using it on his OWN people and not anyone else's, whereas his opponents would be happy to do both.

[kentonio]

You're an idiot. You realize this isn't a choice between liberal democracy and sarin gas right? The only question right now is who gets the Sarin gas, and I'd rather Assad have it than Al Qaeda. At least he's only using it on his OWN people and not anyone else's, whereas his opponents would be happy to do both.

It's pretty retarded to buy into the right wing conspiracy theory that this is a fight between Al Qaeda and Assad. The majority of rebels are just Syrians who got tired of being oppressed and have risen up against the regime. Saying the equivalent of '**** them' because some Islamic groups have joined the rebellion is pretty callous.

If I was fighting against a regime that had oppressed me and my people for decades, and another well armed group joined in on my side (while the international community chiefly sat on their hands and did nothing) I imagine I'd also welcome any help I could get. Bearing in mind that by that point tens of thousands of Syrians had died in the conflict.

[regexcellent]

We have no reason whatsoever to believe the rebels wouldn't use sarin gas too if they had access to it and delivery mechanisms in quantity.

[Ogie Oglethorpe]

Given the barbarous acts perpetrated by both rebels and Assad forces seems a reasonable conclusion.

[Sava]

We have no reason whatsoever to believe the rebels wouldn't use sarin gas too if they had access to it and delivery mechanisms in quantity.

All the more reason to reduce the country's capability altogether.