09/12/2013 22:43Aviram Spies predicted After September, or no strike at all

more complicated than people think ...

   09/11/2013 13:28kruijs

US President Barack Obama has put military action against Syria on hold and vowed to pursue diplomacy to remove the regime's chemical weapons.

Damascus has admitted for the first time that it has chemical weapons, and has agreed to abide by a Russian plan to hand over its arsenal.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-24043751

   09/05/2013 11:59bgrigore

not sure why people still bet on option "below the end of August"

   08/31/2013 20:05kruijs

President Barack Obama said Saturday he will seek authorization from Congress before launching any military action against the Syrian regime for allegedly using chemical weapons in a mass killing that claimed the lives of 1,429 people.

The president came to the unexpected decision during a walk Friday evening with his chief of staff Denis McDonough, just hours after Secretary of State John Kerry made a forceful case for the U.S. to attack Syria, sources told NBC News. After Obama returned from the stroll around the South Lawn, he called senior aides, leading to meetings Friday night and Saturday morning, the sources said.

Congress is slated to return from its five-week recess on Sept. 9.

http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/08/31/20270696-obama-will-seek-congressional-approval-before-any-military-action-against-syria?lite

   08/29/2013 17:09kruijs

Preparations for a highly anticipated strike on Syria could lead to an awkward decision on timing.

Few doubt that President Barack Obama is preparing for a U.S.-led military action to retaliate for what the U.S. and its allies say was a deadly chemical weapons attack perpetrated by the Syrian government. But there are few good options for when to attack.

Compounding the pressure, some lawmakers and allies are urging Obama to proceed slowly and seek U.N. Security Council approval, while others are imploring the president to act quickly and decisively. After all, Obama's response earlier this year after the U.S. first concluded that Syrian President Bashar Assad had used chemical weapons was criticized as too little, too late.

A successful vote Thursday in Britain's Parliament would mark the start of short window that national security experts say could be a less awkward time for Obama to act. But a senior administration official said once Obama decides on what action to take, he won't delay the decision because of outside factors or competing events.

Obama, on Tuesday, will travel to Stockholm for his first visit as president to Sweden. The Northern European nation has claimed a position of neutrality in international conflicts for about 200 years.

Two days later, he heads to St. Petersburg, Russia, for the Group of 20 economic summit with leading foreign counterparts. A major conference intended to focus on wonky issues like tax evasion and monetary policy could easily be subsumed by a military incursion in a Mideast hot spot embroiling the U.S. and potentially other G-20 nations.

http://abclocal.go.com/kfsn/story?section=news/national_world&id=9222488

   08/28/2013 20:48kruijs

A divided U.N. Security Council huddled Wednesday over the crisis in Syria — but a senior American official told NBC News that “we’re past the point of no return” and that airstrikes are expected soon to punish the Syrian regime for using chemical weapons.

Russia and China, which have veto power, have warned the United States not to bypass the U.N. and strike Syria. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said U.N. inspectors need more time to assess whether the forces of Syrian leader Bashar Assad used poison gas in an attack last week that opposition groups say left hundreds of civilians dead.

The U.N. meeting was preliminary, ahead of a full meeting of the Security Council later Wednesday. But the American official who spoke to NBC News said that U.S. strikes against Syrian targets appear inevitable and are expected “within days.”

http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/08/28/20227083-us-official-says-syria-crisis-is-past-the-point-of-no-return-as-un-members-meet?lite

   08/27/2013 21:02kruijs

“I’m thinking a pretty significant initial wave” of several hundred Tomahawks “and an assessment period and maybe a second wave if we don’t think we accomplished the destruction we wanted to,” said Jeffrey White, a former Defense Intelligence Agency analyst who’s now a defense fellow with the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.

President Barack Obama’s administration is working with allies including the U.K. and France, which also have aircraft and ships armed with cruise missiles, on limited action against Syria after concluding that Assad’s regime used chemical weapons against civilians. The U.S. also could use remotely piloted aircraft, or drones, to collect intelligence, pinpoint convoys or other moving targets for cruise-missile attacks or conduct their own strikes.

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2013-08-27/tomahawk-cruise-missile-likely-weapon-in-a-u-dot-s-dot-attack-on-syria