MOSCOW — If Russia once maintained at least a semblance of distance from President Bashar al-Assad of Syria, it rushed to his defense after the American missile strike ordered by President Trump on Thursday. The attack cemented Moscow more closely than ever to the notorious Syrian autocrat.
Even as the United States condemned Mr. Assad for gassing his own citizens and held Russia partly responsible, given its 2013 promise to rid Syria of chemical weapons, the Kremlin kept denying that Syria had any such capability.
By championing Mr. Assad and condemning American "aggression," President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia seemed to be burying the idea that he could somehow cooperate with the Trump administration to end the conflict on his terms.
"I suppose it is tempting, if the only tool you have is a hammer, to treat everything as if it were a nail." Attributed to Abraham Maslow.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Monday April 10 2017, @05:02PM (3 children)
And, you have hit on one of the reasons why we should have known that Saddam Hussein didn't have a lot of leftover stocks of NBC agents. Hussein never had high quality dehydration facilities. We knew that, because we sold him most of his stuff. Hussein couldn't get two years shelf life out of his chem and bio agents. And, we found the proof of that when we went into Iraq - all that was left were a few unreliable containers, mostly in landfills, that posed more threat to anyone handling them than to any "victims".
I wonder - how many people wish that Hussein were still around to keep the lid on his simmering kettle? Sure, he was an evil sumbitch, but he was better than what we have now . . .
(Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Monday April 10 2017, @05:13PM (2 children)
"America must not ignore the threat gathering against us. Facing clear evidence of peril, we cannot wait for the final proof, the smoking gun that could come in the form of a mushroom cloud." - GW Bush
Pretending he was talking about chemical weapons in the first place is a bit revisionist.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Monday April 10 2017, @05:21PM (1 child)
At various times, he used everything. He referred to the mustard gas used against the Kurds, as well as the Iranians. Lots of vague references to nuclear arms, along with that forged yellow cake document. Bush made multiple speeches to stir public opinion, and his various talking heads made more speeches. Every possible boogeyman was trotted out in the runup to the invasion. Bush was dead set on invading, and he ignored any intelligence that may have dissuaded him, and blew every scrap of scary intelligence all out of proportion. If not Bush personally, then one talking head or another did it for him.
Then, there was the anthrax scare. And, the beltway sniper. So much crazy shit came together in a short period of time - but of course, there is no common thread between them . . .
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 10 2017, @05:33PM
Let's just use the simple truth please:
Another war crime in a long history of war crimes.