A New York Times story is challenging the image advanced by the White House that the rebels forces are largely moderates who are worthy of yet another military intervention by the United States. The story recounts the latest massacre of captured Syrian soldiers as a commander reads a menacing prayer over their clearly beaten bodies before executing them in violation of international law.
The commander, known as “the Uncle,” reads the prayer that “We swear to the Lord of the Throne, that this is our oath: We will take revenge.” The soldiers are then executed. Previous news accounts have shown a heavy influence of Al Qaeda in the rebel forces and savage acts of abuse by rebels leaders, including one who cut out and ate the heart of a prisoner. There appears no “red line” on human rights abuses by rebels for President Obama.
When not promising a free war to members, John Kerry has been assuring them that no more than 20 percent are murderous extremists — just one in five. However, the article details how rebel forces are increasingly populated by gangs of highwaymen, kidnappers and killers. For his part, Representative Michael McCaul (R., TX) virtually called Kerry a liar and said that in non-public briefings he was told that half of the opposition fighters were extremists.
With disputes like this, it is no wonder that Nancy Pelosi has adopted a bedtime story approach for selling the war, using language for a population of five-year-olds.
It was not an issue that was well examined at the time, but the majority of articles I’ve read over the past 20 years indicate that Kuwait was slant drilling across their boarder with Iraq. It’s not even disputed, but a fact of record, that Saddam Hussein sought advice and gave our state department a heads up before invading and was told that the US considered it a regional matter and would not get involved. You know the rest. The man our CIA supplied and trained to use chemical weapons against Iran becomes the last great boogey-man of the 20th century. We didn’t attack him until Saudi Arabia basically told us we had to (they along with China basically pay all of our bills after all). Saddam was our boy…until he wasn’t.
Didn’t we supply and train the Mujahedeen before they came to hate us?
Now we’re going after a sadistic Syrian regime? Really? These guys helped us with our torture program under the last administration.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/09/03/1235968/-US-sent-Extraordinary-Rendition-Victims-to-Syria-and-other-Inconvenient-Truths#
Who’s going to replace the regime in Syria? We can only hope they will be as enlightened and pro-American as those currently in place in Iraq and Afghanistan. Huh? Let’s face it. We’re not very good at this. I’m still trying to figure out the Saudi’s role as US and Russian navies begin to stare at each other in the Mediterranean.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/energy/oilandgas/10266957/Saudis-offer-Russia-secret-oil-deal-if-it-drops-Syria.html
Maybe Obama just wants his own war before he gets out of office. He’s been stuck playing janitor with the mess his predecessor created. The week he was elected The Onion had the headline “Black Man Given Worst Job In The World”. We used to say that trying cases others had lost after they returned on appeal was like putting on a wet bathing suit. Maybe the president wants to feel what it’s like to start his own war from scratch.
RWL
Matt 24:
36 But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only.
Another perspective of our war with Syria (a brief excerpt from the article, is attached belwo, for more click on the link):
http://www.askelm.com/temple/t991101.htm
THE DAMASCUS PHASE OF END-TIME PROPHECY
by Ernest L. Martin, Ph.D.(edited by David Sielaff)
The western world (and particularly the United States) has been experiencing a period of unprecedented prosperity along with relative peace for the past 15 years. All of you who have been reading my writings over that span (and even before) are aware that I have been stating that this time of prosperity and relative peace was prophesied to occur before the Second Advent of Christ. While that is true, and we still have a few years left of that phase of prophetic teaching, there is coming (and it is just on the horizon) a time of devastating natural disasters that will be a prelude to the major political upheavals predicted in the Book of Revelation.
In my view, these prophesied occurrences are as certain of happening as the rising of tomorrow’s sun. This is because God is the One who has put His stamp of approval on the authority and validity of the writings of the Holy Scriptures. It is in that divine literature where you can find these prophetic events described. When our present phase of prosperity and relative tranquility terminates, another period will occur.
It will start abruptly with a great tsunami (sometimes wrongly referred to as a “tidal wave”) that will destroy the entire coastal areas of the eastern Mediterranean Sea from just south of Turkey all the way to and including Gaza. This will be the single event that will begin a countdown of prophetic teachings leading to the Second Advent. This new era can be called “The Damascus Phase of End-Time Prophecy” and it is described in Zechariah 9 to 14.
Past Recognition of the “Damascus Phase”
Jewish theologians have known of this “countdown” prophecy for years, and they applied it directly to historical events that started in 1034 A.D. and ended in 1071 A.D. (when they thought the Messiah was then to emerge). Because of the teaching in this “Damascus Phase” prophecy, the headquarters of the Jewish Academy in Jerusalem (the central governing body of the Jewish people) left the Holy City and moved to Tyre, then soon they finally moved to Damascus. They went to Damascus because of this “countdown” prophecy.
Damascus and its environment plays an important part in commencing the End-Time events of the Bible. The Jewish authorities in the 11th century C.E. moved to Damascus to await the beginning of this “Damascus Phase” which they could easily read in the Scriptures. They did this because that period of time was precisely 1000 years away from the generation that saw the destruction of the City of Jerusalem and the Temple of Herod in 70 C.E. Though the Jewish authorities at the time believed that they could then begin the countdown to the arrival of the Messiah (whom they then expected), they were much too early in their prophetic calculations. This is because they failed to take into account the chronology that God the Father has centered around His Son, Jesus Christ.
Since there were 4000 years that could be counted quite precisely within the Old Testament period up to an event in the life of Christ Jesus, 1 Christians became aware that it was to be 2000 years (NOT 1000 years) from the period of Christ for the countdown prediction of God called the “Damascus Phase” of prophecy in Zechariah chapters 9 to 14. This prophecy gives specific events in the Middle East that lead directly to the Second Advent of Christ and the setting up of the Kingdom of God on earth with Christ’s headquarters finally being at Jerusalem.
We are now in that generation that is the prelude to the fulfillment of these “countdown events” that will progress steadily to the Second Advent. We should soon begin to witness in history the start of what is called the initial “Damascus Phase.” This will culminate in the final “Jerusalem Phase” of prophetic events. So, what do I mean by the “Damascus Phase of End-Time Prophecy”? Let us look at the Holy Scriptures.
The “Damascus Phase” Described
What is called the “Damascus Phase Prophecy” is found in six chapters of the Bible. It was written by the prophet Jeremiah. 2 This single prophecy given in six consecutive chapters begins with a remarkable statement that seems almost unbelievable at first. Part of the problem in understanding this statement (for us modern interpreters in our western societies) is because the King James Version gives an awkward rendition of the Hebrew in the first verse of the prophecy. Let me translate directly from the Hebrew what it actually states:
“An Oracle. A word of Yahweh against the Land of Hadrach. And Damascus [shall be] a resting place for Him [a place of repose or domicile for Yahweh], for on Yahweh [shall be] the eye of humanity [that is, all humans will turn their eyes toward Yahweh in Damascus] and all of the Tribes of Israel [shall also turn their eyes toward Yahweh in Damascus].”
• Zecharaiah 9:1
Most people who love the Scriptures and its teachings are amazed (even shocked) to learn that God would ever take up a domicile in Damascus. Why would He do so? It is easy to read in the Bible how Jerusalem was selected by God to contain His “House” (or “Home,” called the “Temple”), but why would God want to live in the same fashion in Damascus? To discover the reason for this, look closely at the prophecy that Jeremiah wrote.
These six chapters (Zechariah 9 to 14) can be called the “Damascus Prophecy,” but the divine oracle itself was directed to what is called “The Land of Hadrach.” As I explained in the October 1999 Newsletter, 3 the “Land of Hadrach” answers to the land in the Middle East that was promised to Abraham and his progeny. In a word, it means the “Area of the Fertile Crescent” (from Egypt in the southwest to the head of the Persian Gulf in the southeast, and also including all the Arabian Peninsula).
This land is described in the prophecy in Zechariah 9:10 as “from sea even to sea [that is, from west to east which means from the Mediterranean to the Indian Ocean], and from the River even unto the ends of the earth [that is, from north to south which means from the Euphrates River to the end of the Arabian Peninsula].” That was the exact land mass that Solomon understood to mean the “Land of Promise” for Abraham and his children (Psalm 72:8).
The reason the City of Damascus is selected to head the prophecy is because Abraham stated in Genesis 15:2 that if Isaac had not been born to be his heir, a righteous Gentile named “Eliezer of Damascus” would have become the one to inherit all his property and the lands promised to Abraham. In Greek, “Eliezer” means “Lazarus,” the same “Lazarus” who was mentioned in Christ’s parable of “Lazarus and the Rich Man.” 4 Had Isaac not been born and lived to manhood, it would have been Eliezer (Lazarus) who would have inherited this vast territory known as the “Land of Promise.”
The “Land of Promise” is the area of the earth that God desires to live in (symbolically) more than in any other. That is the Land in which God chooses to reside when He is on earth (symbolically or otherwise). If God would have allowed it to happen in history (that is, if Isaac had not been born), God’s capital on earth could just as well have been Damascus, not Jerusalem. One thing for certain. We will see in this Prophetic Report that ALL of God’s residences on earth (and there are several) are located in this “Land of Promise.” I will show where later on in this Prophetic Report.
The Beginning
Let us now look at the prophecy at hand. We are told at the beginning of the prophecy that God’s residence is in Damascus at the time the prophecy is to be unfolded and made known to the world. The prophecy simply means that Damascus and its vicinity will become (or has become) “a resting place for Him” (a place where God will reside). Now let us understand this in a common sense way that many people have failed to realize. Though God’s favorite place of residence on earth is at the Temple in Jerusalem (and this is the only place He will allow Israelites to consider as His official residence and throne), God actually has other places within the “Promised Land” at which He prefers to live from time to time.
Randyjet,
As a former Democrat, yes former because neither Party has an interest in representing law and rights and the People but instead corporate interests, ie Obama’s 2008 vote to immunize telecoms that VIOLATED THE CONSTITUTION IN COORDINATION OF THE CURRENT ADMIN, I’m now independent. As time has gone on I have to laugh at the TP because of their racist approach to everything politics.
In truth, there is ample evidence of criminal activity from the Oval Office on several occasions. Spying, torture cover up, bail outs, and now, material support for a declared enemy of the State.
All we need are Congress persons who aren’t bound by secret oaths of loyalty and instead, feel compelled to act to impeachment due to obligation by Oath. I still haven’t seen one, yet. Even Grayson is a loyalist in the weakest sense. He’ll rail about the crime but NOT seek a Constitutional solution.
EMPERICAL PRESIDENT REIGNS SUPREME!
The crucial problem is endemic cultural delusion … not civics, politics, or economics.
There has to be an ulterior motive for the Obama administration to want to support a group with links to Al-Qaeda; the rebels are supported by Saudi Arabia because the rebels want an Islamic State under sharia law. Not forgetting that Osama Bin Laden was from a rich Saudi Arabian family. That and the main rebel force is supported by Al-Qaeda, no surprise since it largely holds to the same ideals.
Besides the whole Al-Qaeda thing I believe we should stay out of Middle Eastern politics because it’s not the same as Western politics. For a start practically each country has 3 distinct power groups: the Administrative Government, the Military and the Mullahs.
Even Saddam Hussain had to play politics with the other two groups; it helped that family members ran the military but he “converted” to Islam for the Mullahs even though he ran the country more like a secular nation; the 3 main religious groups (Sunni and Shia Muslims and Christians) generally played nice with each other under Saddam (common enemy perhaps?) and women received education and could dress as women do in the west (no burqas). After the Hussain regime fell there was a lot of “ethnic cleansing” and Mullahs vying for power and implementing Sharia law (including no education for women and women to cover up).
Not saying Saddam wasn’t a nasty piece of work but when you compared to the pre-war conditions in Iraq versus Zimbabwe you wonder why we didn’t do regime change in Zimbabwe.
Jill:
Drudge has a story about Benghazi saying that the reason all those CIA agents were there was to ship arms to Syrian rebels.
Telegraph has story as well.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/libya/10218288/CIA-running-arms-smuggling-team-in-Benghazi-when-consulate-was-attacked.html
I think left and right can agree its time for the pres to go. he is over his head and his wife said it best “president, Barrack? ha ha, he hasnt done enough yet.”
I think we all agree that the right especially the Tea party has been for the impeachment of Obama ever since he was elected. Now I am on the far left and I refuse to join with the Tea party nuts who want to get rid of Obama. It reminds me of the KPD when they supported the Nazis against the SPD in Germany. Their slogan was Nach Hitler UNS. After Hitler US. We can all remember how that turned out.
Reblogged this on Reality Check and commented:
Well… when you lose the NYT…… what can you do?
“There appears no ‘red line’ on human rights abuses by rebels for President Obama.”
And why would there be?
He clearly has no red line for domestic war criminals or traitors either.
In fact, he merrily joined their ranks.
This is a serious question. It was posed by a fellow poster Michael Murry. The US has admitted to arming and financing Al Qaeda. Doesn’t that mean those responsible for this have committed treason?
My ironic question is this: When will Obama be giving the drone kill order on himself, members of Congress and anyone else who crossed the red line in supporting Al Qaeda. Should he really wait for next Tuesday to decide? The evidence is in and no one even had to manufacture it!
Reblogged this on Brittius.com.
correction: an errant “there” appears in the above posting.
Sorry, but using chemical warfare is illegal, and needs to be punished severely to discourage Assad and others from continuing or using them. Just because the Nazis were bad would not excuse the UN if they used them in WWII.
“There appears no “red line” on human rights abuses by rebels for President Obama.”
***
With all due respect Professor there “red lines” are few, far between and vagrant to the point of whimsy. They always have been.
Reblogged this on The International Blogspaper.
The most powerful rebel force is Al Qaeda backed. As Malcolm would say, “You’re being sold a bill of goods. You’re being hoodwinked, bamboozled.”
Who’s on first again…