Obama speeds up limited air strike, no-fly zones preparations for Syria

[Christians4LessGvt]

Obama speeds up limited air strike, no-fly zones preparations for Syria

DEBKAfile Exclusive Report

June 11, 2012

US President Barack Obama has ordered the US Navy and Air Force to accelerate preparations for a limited air offensive against the Assad regime and the imposition of no-fly zones over Syria, debkafile reports. Their mission will be to knock out Assad's central regime and military command centers so as to shake regime stability and restrict Syrian army and air force activity for subduing rebel action and wreaking violence on civilian populations.

debkafile's sources disclose that the US President decided on this step after hearing Russian officials stating repeatedly that "Moscow would support the departure of President Bashar al-Assad if Syrians agreed to it."  This position was interpreted as opening up two paths of action:

1.  To go for Assad's removal by stepping up arms supplies to the rebels and organizing their forces as a professional force able to take on the military units loyal to Assad. This process was already in evidence Friday, June 8, when for the first time a Syrian Free Army (which numbers some 600 men under arms) attacked a Syrian army battalion in Damascus. One of its targets was a bus carrying Russian specialists.

2.   To select a group of high army officers who, under the pressure of the limited air offensive, would be ready to ease Assad out of power or stage a military coup to force him and his family to accept exile.

The US operation would be modulated according to the way political and military events unfolded.
Washington is not sure how Moscow would react aside from sharp condemnations or whether Russia would accept a process of regime change in Damascus and its replacement by military rule.

Obama accelerates preparations for limited air strike, no-fly zones in Syria

http://www.debka.com/article/22073/Obama-speeds-up-limited-air-strike-no-fly-zones-preparations-for-Syria

[Plane]

  Hey why not a joint operation with NATO and Russian forces?


   A lot of the Russians in power were leaders in the Soviet era, opposition to the US is reflex.

[Xavier_Onassis]

The Russians would probably prefer a different type of government in Syria than the Americans would.

The Americans are more concerned with Israel that the Russians are, The Russians want a friend in the Arab world, and donlt really have one.

The biggest problem is that there is no unified opposition. All they agree on is that Assad should step down.

[Plane]

  The Russians have wanted an Arab buddy since Peter the Great, do they wonder why they don't have one?

[Xavier_Onassis]

The Russians had a good ally in  Nasser. The Aswan High Dam was built with Russian help. Of course, that makes Egypt one of few countries that could be done in with one bomb. Russia doesn't need oil, and the Arab countries don't really have a need for anything the Russians produce except weapons.

In any event, they do not want a fundamentalist Syria.

[Christians4LessGvt]

In any event, they do not want a fundamentalist Syria.

Then why the hell is our Preident at odds with the Russians over Syria?
Is it because our President "does want a fundamentalist Syria"?
Obama has already basically ushered in Islamist to power in Libya & Egypt.
What a dumbass he is!

[Xavier_Onassis]

The Egyptian elections were unpredictable. The sectarians divided themselves into several factions, and none came out in the two top positions. Mubarak was clearly going down, there was nothing that President Obama could have done that would have kept the nasty old geezer in power.

Who is in charge in Libya is still unclear. Libyans have greater freedoms in both Libya and Egypt than they did under Mubarak and Qadaffy. The same is true in Tunisia.

The US is much more concerned with Syria than Russia is, because Syria shares one border with Iraq, where we have invested a huge amount of effort, lives and money, and Israel, which has very powerful lobbyists in both parties.

Russia wants to avoid a regime in Syria that will ally itself with Muslims in places within the Russian Federation, like Chechnya and South Ossetia.

I don't think the US should get involved in shooting anyone in Syria.