Merkel and Hollande voice support for US strike against Assad - Polidicks

[QUOTE]Syrian President Bashar al-Assad bears "sole responsibility" for the US strike on a regime airbase, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande said in a joint statement on Friday. "After the chemical weapons massacre of April 4 on Khan Sheikhun in northwestern Syria, a military installation of the Syrian regime was destroyed by a US air strike last night," the statement, issued after a morning phone call, said. "President Assad bears sole responsibility for this development." "His repeated use of chemical weapons and his crimes against his own people call for sanctions, which France and Germany already demanded in the summer of 2013 after the massacre of Ghuta," the site of another chemical weapons attack. They added that "France and Germany, together with their partners and within the framework of the United Nations, will continue their efforts to hold President Assad responsible for his criminal deeds".[/QUOTE] Source: [url]https://www.thelocal.de/20170408/merkel-hollande-voice-support-for-us-strike-against-assad[/url]

Im glad the whole western world can unite behind bombing a country in the middle east

Have they released evidence that it was definitely the Assad regime that released the chemicals and/or that it came from that specific air base?

I know Assad is a colossal fuckbag of dicks, but bombing a foreign country out of fucking nowhere is going to increase tensions between America and Russia near-exponentially.

[QUOTE=Judas;52078294]Im glad the whole western world can unite behind bombing a country in the middle east[/QUOTE] I am very conflicted about the whole situation. On one hand, I don't want things to escalate further and everything we've done in the middle east has just made the world a worse place but on the other hand, this is a guy who immediately responded to peaceful protests by massacring everyone there. Saddam was also a murdering sack of shit who needed to be stopped but doing that just made things worse and now the bloodshed is greater than it was before Both options are incredibly bad. Doing the right thing makes things worse and doing the wrong thing (doing nothing) still ends up with a shitty situation.

[QUOTE=Dr.C;52078395]I am very conflicted about the whole situation. On one hand, I don't want things to escalate further and everything we've done in the middle east has just made the world a worse place but on the other hand, this is a guy who immediately responded to peaceful protests by massacring everyone there. Saddam was also a murdering sack of shit who needed to be stopped but doing that just made things worse and now the bloodshed is greater than it was before Both options are incredibly bad. Doing the right thing makes things worse and doing the wrong thing (doing nothing) still ends up with a shitty situation.[/QUOTE] Well in Saddam's case we really fucked up with Iraq and left when we shouldn't, but people always want immediate results and benefits with none of the effort that is required. Honestly I'm surprised by Merkel and Hollande supporting the airstrikes despite the lack of hard evidence is was Assad.

[QUOTE=LtKyle2;52078423]Well in Saddam's case we really fucked up with Iraq and left when we shouldn't, but people always want immediate results and benefits with none of the effort that is required. [/QUOTE] I wouldn't call waiting nearly 10 years for it to start functioning as a country as "wanting immediate results". I do agree that completely dismantling Iraq's government and military to start from scratch was a wrong move, though.

[QUOTE=Emperor Scorpious II;52078430]I wouldn't call waiting nearly 10 years for it to start functioning as a country as "wanting immediate results". I do agree that completely dismantling Iraq's government and military to start from scratch was a wrong move, though.[/QUOTE] 10 years is an awfully short time to build up a nation, especially one in a region where a democratic government is foreign to the local culture.

[QUOTE=LtKyle2;52078452]10 years is an awfully short time to build up a nation, especially one in a region where a democratic government is foreign to the local culture.[/QUOTE] It's not worth American lives to keep being taken.

They're right. You can't let people get away with using chemical weapons. Someone had to enforce the Geneva convention and we were the most capable.

[QUOTE=Zombinie;52078467]They're right. You can't let people get away with using chemical weapons. Someone had to enforce the Geneva convention and we were the most capable.[/QUOTE] I don't think bombing an airfield that the Syrian military was sending planes out of not 24 hours later is really an "enforcing the Geneva convention".

[QUOTE=Judas;52078294]Im glad the whole western world can unite behind bombing a country in the middle east[/QUOTE] Pretty much anyone with experience in politics from all different ideologies agrees with the attack. The only people disagree with it are, well, I don't think I need to spell it out for anyone.

[QUOTE=Emperor Scorpious II;52078924]I don't think bombing an airfield that the Syrian military was sending planes out of not 24 hours later is really an "enforcing the Geneva convention".[/QUOTE] What do you mean by this exactly? I think the Syrian government understands now that chemical weapon attacks lead to their airfields getting hit by missiles. I doubt they would want to try it again.

[QUOTE=Ghost656;52079340]What do you mean by this exactly? I think the Syrian government understands now that chemical weapon attacks lead to their airfields getting hit by missiles. I doubt they would want to try it again.[/QUOTE] They Syrian government has done it before already. They also deny on all accounts of ever using chemical weapons. By their word, they are totally not guilty and will claim so for the next chemical attack. Meanwhile, Russia is super pissed at the US for doing the strike so if Trump wants to keep sucking Putin's dick, he won't do it again. Tack on the fact that there's a lot of Trump supporters who hate the strike happening, you'll see Syria drop chemicals again with no regret. [editline]9th April 2017[/editline] Also if losing an airfield for, what, a few hours? is all the punishment they get for using chemical agents on their people, then they're getting less than a slap on a wrist. Planes were flying off that airfield not 24 hours after the strike, what a worthless punishment.

[QUOTE=Emperor Scorpious II;52079862]They Syrian government has done it before already. They also deny on all accounts of ever using chemical weapons. By their word, they are totally not guilty and will claim so for the next chemical attack. Meanwhile, Russia is super pissed at the US for doing the strike so if Trump wants to keep sucking Putin's dick, he won't do it again. Tack on the fact that there's a lot of Trump supporters who hate the strike happening, you'll see Syria drop chemicals again with no regret. [editline]9th April 2017[/editline] Also if losing an airfield for, what, a few hours? is all the punishment they get for using chemical agents on their people, then they're getting less than a slap on a wrist. Planes were flying off that airfield not 24 hours after the strike, what a worthless punishment.[/QUOTE] It sets a precedent. If they continue with chemical attacks they risk the possibility of more widespread and frequent attacks. The consequences of these attacks are not worth it. [editline]9th April 2017[/editline] The attack it self was meant to be limited.

I think the chances of another strike is low with such lack of support for the first one in the US. Not impossible, but improbable.

[QUOTE=Emperor Scorpious II;52078313]Have they released evidence that it was definitely the Assad regime that released the chemicals and/or that it came from that specific air base?[/QUOTE] yeah I'm curious about this