• This is a political forum that is non-biased/non-partisan and treats every person's position on topics equally. This debate forum is not aligned to any political party. In today's politics, many ideas are split between and even within all the political parties. Often we find ourselves agreeing on one platform but some topics break our mold. We are here to discuss them in a civil political debate. If this is your first visit to our political forums, be sure to check out the RULES. Registering for debate politics is necessary before posting. Register today to participate - it's free!

Syria: nearly half rebel fighters are jihadists or hardline Islamists

Mr. Invisible said:
Wanna find a quote where I said they were lying?
Click to expand...

You claim that the UN did not give specifics about the rocket type. CNN and the NYT claim otherwise. Thus, you claim they are lying.

And you do this based on a partial reading of the report. That's pathetic.
 
Montecresto said:
Not really. Now your saying that chemical weapons were fired at Assad's forces! Russia is the deciding factor behind president Assad turning over chemical weapons. He doesn't need them anyway and can't maintain Chinese and Russian support if he used them.
Click to expand...

But why would he give his stockpile up so easily if the enemy he is struggling to control are firing chemcial weapons at his own people? Makes no sense.

Fact is he jumped all over Russias offer because the game was nearly up and it was his last hand to play.
 
ecofarm said:
You claim that the UN did not give specifics about the rocket type. CNN and the NYT claim otherwise. Thus, you claim they are lying.

And you do this based on a partial reading of the report. That's pathetic.
Click to expand...

No, I stated the following:

Mr. Invisible said:
The information about that specific type of rocket has not been released. All we know is about SSMs generally.
Click to expand...

When I said "information about the specific type of rocket," I meant in terms of like was it an RPG or what.

EDIT: I also said

Mr. Invisible said:
All I am saying is that there is evidence that both sides have SSMs. In regards to types of SSMs, they have not been specified.
Click to expand...

The type of SSM means what kind it is.

SURFACE TO SURFACE MISSILE DEFINITION AND TYPES | newspaceandaircraft.com FEEL AVIATION
 
Mr. Invisible said:
When I said "information about the specific type of rocket," I meant in terms of like was it an RPG or what.
Click to expand...

Ok, then you have no idea what you're talking about.

The UN report specified the type of surface-to-surface rocket used. Specifically, through the size and shape of the munition. The rebels are not known to have those rockets nor the training or ability to use them.
 
Higgins86 said:
But why would he give his stockpile up so easily if the enemy he is struggling to control are firing chemcial weapons at his own people? Makes no sense.

Fact is he jumped all over Russias offer because the game was nearly up and it was his last hand to play.
Click to expand...

It seems to me to make sense that the chemical weapons are useless to president Assad. He needs Chinese and Russian support and can't hold it if he's going to be launching chemical weapons on his own people. He also enjoys, and needs to maintain the support of his own people which it would be counterproductive to attack.
 
Montecresto said:
It seems to me to make sense that the chemical weapons are useless to president Assad. He needs Chinese and Russian support and can't hold it if he's going to be launching chemical weapons on his own people. He also enjoys, and needs to maintain the support of his own people which it would be counterproductive to attack.
Click to expand...

They are useless to him now I agree but only because the spotlight is on him and evidence is mounting up. Its a smart move by Russia and a lucky esacpe fro Assad.
 
Higgins86 said:
They are useless to him now I agree but only because the spotlight is on him and evidence is mounting up. Its a smart move by Russia and a lucky esacpe fro Assad.
Click to expand...

That I agree with. And John Kerry made the offer while in London and it was probably unscripted, I'm sure Putin knew that and he seized the moment. But such indiscriminate weapons need to be cached and destroyed anyway, and if it avoids a US attack on Syria, what can be the downside.
 
For those who are interested, the UN report reveals that "surface to surface rockets" were utilized in the attack (pp.4-5 of the report/pp.7-8 of the .pdf). Greater detail is provided in Appendix 5 (pp.18-23 report/pp.20-26 .pdf).

https://s3.amazonaws.com/unoda-web/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/SG_Report_of_CW_Investigation.pdf

It should also be noted that the report holds some hints as to whom was responsible (photos of rocket pieces). It also notes, with respect to the Ein Tarma site in the eastern suburbs of Damascus that the rocket had a trajectory of 105 degrees (east-southeast trajectory). News accounts had reported that Syrian armed forces were in the mountains shelling that suburb. It would be plausible that a rocket with the estimated trajectory would have originated from that area.

My view remains that it is very likely that a unit of the Syrian army was responsible. That does not mean that President Assad ordered it. A commander with tactical authority could well have ordered the attack independent of President Assad. There is insufficient public evidence to pin down whether the Syrian President had ordered the attack. Doing so when UN inspectors were on the ground investigating some earlier attacks would have been irrational. Even U.S. authorities noted that there was some degree of uncertainty.
 
ecofarm said:
Doing a little editing for Assad?



:D

Just joking!
Click to expand...

Yes, you are very funny.

There are too many threads about this. This Syria stuff needs to have it's own forum. I got confused and posted you a link to this thread in another thread because I had forgotten we were also discussing it in this thread. :roll:
 
Montecresto said:
That I agree with. And John Kerry made the offer while in London and it was probably unscripted, I'm sure Putin knew that and he seized the moment. But such indiscriminate weapons need to be cached and destroyed anyway, and if it avoids a US attack on Syria, what can be the downside.
Click to expand...

I guess the downside would be if a couple of WMD's slipped through the net and remained in Assads hands.
 
Higgins86 said:
I guess the downside would be if a couple of WMD's slipped through the net and remained in Assads hands.
Click to expand...

Well then the international community better mend their damn nets.
 
ecofarm said:
As Secretary of State.
Click to expand...

Wouldn't matter if was the President..... or any other that worked for the government. He said.....just don't carry any weight whatsoever.
 
Mr. Invisible said:
No, I stated the following:



When I said "information about the specific type of rocket," I meant in terms of like was it an RPG or what.

EDIT: I also said



The type of SSM means what kind it is.

SURFACE TO SURFACE MISSILE DEFINITION AND TYPES | newspaceandaircraft.com FEEL AVIATION
Click to expand...

Yeah, one can't be held responsible for what the UN doesn't know.

Kinda like how the UN doesn't distinguish civilians that make up the Rebels families and supports them with civilians that are non combatants, who are Actively involved in the conflict. Yet the UN will still classify the death as a civilian and not a participant.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom