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Subscribe to RSSCAIRO -- The Arab League called Sunday for the U.N. Security Council to create a joint peacekeeping force for Syria, the latest effort by the regional group to end the 11-month old crisis that has killed more than 5,000 people.
The new effort was spelled out in a resolution adopted by League foreign ministers meeting in Cairo. However, Syria immediately rejected the idea.
Saudi Arabian Foreign Minister Saud Al-Faisal conveyed the League's deep frustration with Syria by telling delegates at the start of the meeting that it was no longer appropriate for the 22-member League to stand by and watch the bloodshed in Syria.
"Until when will we remain spectators?" he said. "It is a disgrace for us as Muslims and Arabs to accept" the bloodshed in Syria, he said.
Syria's state news agency said the regime rejected the Arab League decisions, which were taken without a Syrian representative present. Syrian Ambassador to the Arab League and to Egypt, Ahmed Youssef, was quoted as saying that Qatar and Saudi Arabia were "living in a state of hysteria after their last failure at the U.N. Security Council to call for outside interference in Syria's affairs and to impose sanctions on the Syrian people."
The Arab League has been at the forefront of regional efforts to end 11 months of bloodshed in Syria. The group put forward a plan that President Bashar Assad agreed to in December, then sent in monitors to check whether the Syrian regime was complying. But when it became clear that Assad's regime was flouting the terms of the agreement and killings went on, the League pulled the observers out last month.
"The time has come for a decisive action to stop the bloodshed suffered by the Syrian people since the start of last year," Arab League chief Nabil Elaraby told the Arab foreign ministers. "We must move quickly in all directions ... to end or break the ongoing cycle of violence in Syria."
The League called for the U.N. Security Council to adopt its own resolution that provides for an immediate cease-fire in Syria, the protection of civilians and overseeing a humanitarian effort for victims of the violence. It demanded that regime forces lift the siege on neighborhoods and villages and pull troops and their heavy weapons back to their barracks.
It urged Syrian opposition groups to unite ahead of a Feb. 24 meeting in Tunisia of the "Friends of Syria" group," which includes the United States, its European allies and Arab nations working to end the uprising against Assad's authoritarian rule.
The creation of the group came after last weekend's veto at the U.N. by Russia and China of a Western and Arab draft resolution that would have pressured Assad to step down. That resolution also would have demanded that Assad halt the crackdown on dissent and implement the Arab League peace plan that calls for him to hand over power to his vice president and allow creation of a unity government to clear the way for elections.
Elaraby told the Cairo meeting that Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov wrote him a letter Saturday that conveyed what he called a partial change in Moscow's stand on the Syrian crisis. He quoted Lavrov as saying Russia would agree to a joint U.N.-Arab League peacekeeping force.
The League also said it wanted to provide the opposition groups with political and material support. It called for a halt to all diplomatic contacts with Syria and for referring officials responsible for crimes against the Syrian people to international criminal tribunals. It urged a tightening of trade sanctions previously adopted by the League but not been fully implemented.
The foreign ministers were also expected to consider a proposal by Gulf States to expel Syrian ambassadors from Arab capitals, but the resolution made no mention of that.
Meanwhile, Washington piled more pressure on Syria.
President Barack Obama's Chief of Staff Jacob Lew said it was only a matter of time before Assad's regime collapsed.
"The brutality of the Assad regime is unacceptable and has to end," he told "Fox News Sunday." The U.S. is pursuing "all avenues that we can" and that "there is no question that this regime will come to an end. The only question is when," he said.
Late Saturday, al-Qaida chief Ayman al-Zawahri threw the terror network's support behind Syrian rebels trying to topple President Bashar Assad, raising fears that Islamic extremists are exploiting the uprising that began peacefully but is quickly transforming into an armed insurgency.
The regime has long blamed terrorists for the revolt, and al-Qaida's endorsement creates new difficulties for Western and Arab states trying to figure out a way to help force Assad out of power.
Foreign ministers from the Gulf Cooperation Council — Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, United Arab Emirates, Oman, Qatar and Bahrain — are also proposing the expulsion of Syrian ambassadors from all Arab League nations during the meeting in Cairo. The GCC ministers also proposed that Arab nations withdraw their ambassadors from Damascus, according to the officials.
The GCC proposals, reported by Arab League officials, were not mentioned in the resolution, but the clause calling for a halt to all diplomatic contacts in Syria appeared to reflect a compromise.
The six nations, particularly Saudi Arabia and Qatar, have been campaigning for a tougher stand against Assad's regime and may offer formal recognition of the National Syrian Council, the largest of Syria's opposition groups, at Sunday's meeting.
Assad's regime has pursued a harsh crackdown against the uprising since it began last March. The U.N. estimates that 5,400 people have been killed since March, but that figure is from January, when the world body stopped counting because the chaos in Syria has made it all but impossible to check the figures. Hundreds are reported to have been killed since.
Elaraby said he had accepted the resignation of Gen. Mohammed Ahmed Al-Dabi, the head of the Syrian observer mission, and nominated former Jordanian Foreign Minister Abdul-Illah al-Khatib as the new envoy. Al-Khatib's nomination was ratified by the Arab ministers.
"He (Al-Dabi) asked me yesterday to end his mandate because it no longed suited the present stage," Elaraby said without elaboration. The Sudanese general was harshly criticized for his management of the monitors mission, which was perceived by the Syrian opposition and many protesters to have provided a cover for the regime's continued crackdown.
Al-Dabi was also criticized for being a longtime aide of Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, himself indicted by the Hague-based International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity in Sudan's western Darfur region, where a revolt against the Khartoum government began in 2003 but has petered out about five years later.
"The new mission must be totally different from the previous one," Elaraby told the foreign ministers as he proposed a joint Arab League-U.N. mission to Syria. "The previous experience has shown that there can be no stop to violence and restoration of security without an agreed upon vision on the components of the sought-after political settlement."
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Leave a Comment:
Oh, hell!
I think it is best to let Muslims deal with Muslim issues otherwise we will be blamed for anything that goes wrong.
Peter -
That's what I meant by my comment. I agree.
Yeah, well - eff off, Arab BeLEAGUEred.
Hello, Scrembabe!
I guess Syria's "friends" don't include Russia and China. Can't wait to see what happens here when the opposition figures out that Russian made tanks killed their family and neighbors. The USA needs to let the Arab league handle this. Hands off.
Let the Arab league do it them selves....they have all the oil money. Let them handle it.
This might actually work out in the long run. While I do think the Arab League should do it themselves, if it comes down to a UN-Arab League peace keeping force, it may strengthen ties between the Arab world and the west.
Maybe if the Arab League agreed to foot the bill the rest of the world would go along.
They need to stop asking us to keep going on their magic carpet rides ....
We should be done with their billions in fair charges ....
How could the peace loving Muslims possibly take military action against Syria?
Maybe Al Qaeda can be part of the peace keeping force.
Hey, HOTTICKET!
Mike S. Good opposing viewpoint. You may have something there. However, I think America is tired and should focus on America.
Well, it looks like Obama wants to sit this one out. More than fine with me. Thank the gawds and stars above he has enough brains to.
Let the Arab League fund it. They'll want to dictate any actions so let them supply the men and money.
Where is the Arab League?
The got the most and sofisticated weapons they bought from the USA with the oil money.
So where are all those Arabs, it is their backyard, they are all from the same tribe (not religion) it should be their fight..
No balls eh? Want somebody else to stick their nose in to it and collect the body bags.
Bunch of chicken sh*ths those Arabs. All mouth and money AND NO BALLS.
@cynical175: No balls eh ? For the past year arabs have faced armies, cops, ... with weapons way more powerful than whatever they had, and they faced them, never backing down, until they beat them, at the price of thousands of deads.
That's what you call no balls ?
mimi, I knew that is what you meant so I added my version of what you said in agreement. Thanks.
FINALLY, some sense coming from that region in the words of the Saudi Foreign Minister, "It's a disgrace for us as Muslims and Arabs to accept" the bloodshed. Ummmm YEAH. Why is there so much crying about the UN and the West not doing anything, while the Arab league really is doing nothing either. How about some of the Muslim and Arab countries in the region, YOUR NEIGHBORS, step up and do it yourself. Trust me, I am sure if you die trying to HELP one of your "brothers" Allah will give you just as many virgins as if you die killing an American. Lets see some martyrs of Good for once, for ONCE.
i can see, that a Positive Direction is being worked out..the UAR maybe slow for now, time will pass & Assad will meet his fate..his Actions, his game plan, will fade away like; a dehydrated Camel....
why don't they go in themselves. Lousy chicken @!$%#s
This is a GREAT IDEA. Let's just make sure that all the Peace Keepers are Arabic and Muslim and let the
Arab League finance it. This is not a problem of the United States.
Hello folks, when will we discard our Imperialistic mindset? If you can't see that we are the instigators in most of the world's wars and displacement of millions of people who are fleeing our aggression, than you are in denial and are not paying attention. We need to stay out of other country’s civil disputes. I hope we aren’t going to go against the United Nations vote earlier this week and unilaterally go into Syria under the pretext that we need to stop the violence like we did in Libya. General Wesley Clark has stated that a Syria invasion has been pre-planned for quite awhile.
Friday, March 25, 2011
General Wesley Clark: "America will take out 7 countries in 5 years"
According to Former NATO supreme allied commander, former presidential candidate and 4 star US General Wesley Clark that they had received a memo that America is going to take out 7 countries in the Middle East in 5 years starting with Iraq, Libya, Syria Lebanon Sudan and Somalia, seeing what's going on today in Libya but also in Syria where violent protest just erupted, it is amazing how these things that were planned years ago are being achieved in front of our eyes.
Why is it other countries feel like they have to defend their territory? Could it be that they know we have no problem invading their sovereignty just as we have done to countless other countries. Since World War II, 90% of the casualties of war are unarmed civilians. 1/3 of them children. Our victims have done nothing to us. From Palestine to Afghanistan to Iraq to Somalia to wherever our next target may be, their murders are not collateral damage, they are the nature of modern warfare. They don't hate us because of our freedoms. They hate us because every day we are funding and committing crimes against humanity. The so-called "war on terror" is a cover for our military aggression to gain control of the resources of western Asia.
This is sending the poor of this country to kill the poor of those Muslim countries. This is trading blood for oil. This is genocide, and to most of the world, we are the terrorists. In these times, remaining silent on our responsibility to the world and its future is criminal. And in light of our complicity in the supreme crimes against humanity in Iraq and Afghanistan, and ongoing violations of the U.N. Charter in International Law, how dare any American criticize the actions of legitimate resistance to illegal occupation.
We are going into Syria for a couple of reasons, one, we are trying to dislodge Russia from there because they have a foothold in the Middle East via two military bases in Latakia and Tartus in Syria. Two, Syria is a strong ally of Iran. If we invade Syria we take out a strong ally and maybe incite Iran to assist giving the U.S. the reason they are looking for to attack Iran. The ultimate goal is to surround, weaken and to invade Iran. The petro dollar is at stake as other countries are switching to other forms of currency in buying Iran’s oil.
Since the Russian war in 1828, Iran has never attacked another country. We on the other hand have attacked to name a few:
Libya, Iran, Nicaragua, Haiti, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Angola, Mozambique, Honduras, Chile, Congo, Yugoslavia, Afghanistan, Iraq, Lebanon, Somalia, Angola, Columbia, Peru, Panama, Yemen, Pakistan, Grenada, Mexico, etc..
Wake up people we are being herded down the Military Industrial Complex gauntlet again to another false war to enrich the greedy Corporations and distract the American people. Did we not learn anything from the Iraq war where we have killed well over 1 million Iraqi people, lost thousands of American lives and God knows how many hundreds of billions of dollars?
Who do you support, humanity or the greedy elite?
Many of our soldiers don't fight for America, they fight for their lives and their buddies beside them, because we put them in a war zone. They're not defending our freedoms, they're laying the foundation for permanent military bases to defend the freedoms of Exxon Mobil and British Petroleum.
Face it we're Imperialists pure and simple. The elite look down on all of us as expendable chattel.
"Military men are dumb, stupid animals to be used as pawns for foreign policy" Henry Kissinger
I’m not asking you to hate war but to love peace. War, what is it good for? Absolutely nothing!
If the Arabs want a peacekeeping force, let them provide it. There is no reason for UN troops to go in and die to fix an Arab problem. It is about time the Arab world started taking care of it's own problems instead of always looking to the west to clean up their messes. Then when a few civilians die they start calling the west the great satan and condemning us for interfering in Arab affairs. For western troops to go into Syria as a peacekeeping force is a lose-lose situation. Let the Arab league send in their own troops to do the job and leave the UN and the west out of it.
It's not enough to say the Arabs should finance a peacekeeping force - they can also provide the bodies!!
Ask Trustverify what time it is and he tells you how to build a freakin' watch.
jrae, the problem with the U.S. is the dumbing down of America, you are a good case in point! I guess there truly was one child left behind!
Here's a idea, the Arab League should meet and vote on sending Arab League troops into Syria. That's what NATO does. So can they. It's not a matter of transport. Turkish troops can march and drive into Syria as can the Saudis.
Hello folks, let the Arab league take care of it. Are we the police men of the world? As a fellow blogger so eloquently put it, America, land of the free, dictator to the rest of the world!
The Arab league has their own armies..let them go there since they are so worried about it and pay.
Better yet..The Arab league should ask Russia and China armies to go there since they are buddy buddy with them in Syria.
Peter Jacobs:
That is what we are seeing; The Muslims are doing themselves in; very expected. Left alone, all Arabs will see to destroying their UAE States---
They are Warriors; no value for anyone's life---yes, they think the Christians and Jews are bad; but all other religions are standing back watching them self-destruct. They have to fight for the sake of fighting and killing.
Most are barbarians, the Killers from Assad's Regime--who knows what the average citizen's thoughts are about really running a Peaceful Democracy. Is that what they want? What do they want?
The Syrian Military takes over the Country, just like Egypt and Libya---if the US gets involved, then the Arabs have no one to blame except Western Society for all their woes. It is hard to watch all the Slaughtering--The UN Council wants to send in Peace Keeping Forces. Who would want to go into Syria knowing they will be killed?
Assad has got to go; the only way for Syrian's Presid/PM is for some other Syrian to mow him down---it will happen. Maybe another Terrorist Group like the Israeli's had to puncture Iran's scientists.
His days are numbered, but the Military will rule. No elections. The Muslim Brotherhood is far away from ruling this country. The citizens are trapped into a more hellish life than before.
Arab Spring. What a way to celebrate the coming of Spring---twisted, murderous, illiterate, poverty stricken people who want just a taste of Peace. It will never happen.
Peter Jacobs- In response to your comment I agree with you. Already the middle east blames us for Lybia, Egypt, Pakistan, Iraq, Afghan and god knows what else. When is this country ever going to mind their own business and worry about our own problems right here at home.? I say to our Government mind your own damb business. If any country wants our help then we should charge them a huge $$$$$$$$$$$. USA is so stupid.!!!!!!!!
Seems the Obama administration is handling this quite adeptly. The President repeatedly demonstrates unerring instinct regarding foreign policy.
Oh please, does anyone feel sorry for these Syrians? The UN has vetoed help for the Syrian Freedom fighters. They are on their own. May the Force be with them.
Arab Leagues is asking support from the U.N. = ask NATO = which is mainly supported by U.S. troops.
Wow, amazing that the Arab League cannot control it's own membership....wait a minute....Syria was "suspended" from the League in Nov 2011. Yep, couldn't control Syria.
And the Syrian Rebels are the same Al-Qadea who is killing our troops all over the ME ? Yet, Russia and China are backing the Syrian Government ?
Hey, Steven Spielberg.....great scenario for a movie.....just leave the U.S. out of it.
Shucks....here comes another photo-op, media "select" question and answer, on the Syrian "problem" campaign blitz from Mr. Obama.
The SAME thing was said by Mr. Obama and his "elite" staff about Gadhafi every day, every week, and every month, and the "Libyan Rebel (Muslim Brotherhood)" support effort approached $ 1,000,000,000,000 of American taxpayers money.
Yep, Mr. Obama kept his promise to NOT SEND TROOPS ON THE GROUND IN LIBYA, but yet has sent 12,000 troops there recently. Where is the article on this troop deployment ?
Yes, I am so sure Mr. Obama's "comments" and "actions" concerning Syria are going to be right on target since he "repeatedly demonstrates unerring instinct regarding foreign policy".......HUH ?
If the Arab League wants peace keepers in Syria, then the Arab League should put their poop in a group and send them. I'm sure Russia and China would volunteer for the job...LOL.
"Until when will we remain spectators?" he said. "It is a disgrace for us as Muslims and Arabs to accept" the bloodshed in Syria, he said."
That's right, start using your own money and your own Muslim brothers to go out there and risk their own lives to try to save other Muslims and Arabs. Don't expect the Americans to pay for it with human and financial sacrifice.
There is NO PEACE TO KEEP. What they want is peacemakers. That being the case, then they can send their own military to die for the cause....we have shed enough treasured American blood in the ME, Persia, and North Africa. Peacekeepers my butt.
Why does the Arab League call for UN Peacekeepers? If it is necessary to fight and kill to establish the peace, Muslims are forbidden by the Koran to kill Muslims except in a case of personal, family, tribal or home defense. This is why the Arab Nations which participated in the Libyan thing were used for support and aid.
Funny, isn't it that Arab on Arab warfare and out-and-out murder is so common by those who supposedly answer to the same rules? The Christians had the same problem during the early schisms and invented the Inquisition to single out and murder those they named heretics; The Muslims just declare Jihad.
The U.S. should sell the Arab League all the advanced weapon systems they need to deal with this themselves. Put Americans back to work!
P.S. Just make sure all those weapons systems have a secret back door so that we can de-activate them when the Arabs eventually turn them on us!
Ido
Why don't you provide links and proof for your outright lies about the cost of Libya and our troops being on the ground there?
Oh that's right because you can't support made up BS. You hate Obama so much you just make s**t up about him. We didn't even come close to spending a trillion on Libya. It cost the same as a few weeks of Iraq and we didn't lose a single American life. It was over in about 6 months. Those are the facts. You just hate Obama so much you make up your own facts.
We haven't heard about any of your numbers because they're lies. How sad and despicable.
It's a no win. If we help we will be blamed for any little failure to include a lightbulb going out and the muslim world will hate us. If we do not help we will be blamed for not doing anything. Damned if you do, damned if you don't.
It's only natural the Arab League would seek outside help being there's no money in the ME to spend on military action. It's not like there are a bunch of oil wells over there generating millions of dollars per hour......duh and double duh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The UN is a failed experiment and just another example of wasting US tax dollars to play police force for the world in general. We need to get out of the UN for good, how many times has the US been back-stabbed by the same countries we helped. With every mention of the UN comes a sucking sound of millions of dollars being pulled from our economy and added to our ever-growing monstrous debt.
ENOUGH is ENOUGH!!!
So, why don't you guys come over here and take care of this little matter? (snicker, snicker) We're sure that you'd be better suited to dealing with things than we are.....
I wonder why the Arabs have a selective memory.
They had no problem invading Bahrain, now suddenly they turned chicken and want the UN to invade Syria?
Maybe we should be more accomodating to the Iranians than the Saudies for the oil (just being sarcastic)
If Obama goes in with un and does something to help them, Republicans will be all over it saying he is getting involved in something he shouldnt. If he does nothing then Republicans will say how can he let the suffering go on? Basically Republicans suck.
And now it comes back to Russia and China, I'm not sure anything has truly changed for them.
Actually no. This resolution isn't for passing. It's announcement of unilateral intent. The Arab League, and the west by association, are saying, "go ahead and veto it." Then they will use the veto to justify unilateral action.
Expect Turkey to invade the North.
Expect Turks to see what Syrian armored columns can do first hand and the effect of Sarin gas.
@TheDevil: Oh yeah the turks will see it first hand, and they will laugh.
The Turkish army is so much more powerful and better trained than the Syrian army that it would be like at a training range. Syrian armored columns wouldn't even know what happens to them as Turkish attack helicopters and fighter jets pick them out from the sky, while the Syrian air force wouldn't even be able to take off without getting shot down.
You tend to forget that the Turkish army is the 2nd biggest army in NATO, only behind the US, and they have all the latest US hardware. They're one of the very few countries in the top tier of the F-35 development program notably.
Hello folks, we have major issues in our country that need immediate attention .When are we going to leave other countries alone? Our country is broke and we are interfering with other countries when we have plenty of problems we need to fix and take care of in America first! If we don’t recognize and categorize our problems, how are we going to know what it is that needs fixing? I hope we can come together as a nation and figure out the solutions to our problems.
We allow a foreign entity (Federal Reserve, neither federal nor a reserve, a group of mostly European banksters) to control our currency! This system is why you, I, economies and nations are debt slaves!
We let Wall Street run our government! Wall Street is Washington and Washington is Wall Street! We have a two headed one party system serving their masters Wall Street and the Federal Reserve!
Our presidential politicians in both parties are going to spend approximately 1 billion dollars each on their campaigns this year, yet we are laying off fire fighters, teachers and policemen. Two billion dollars on presidential campaigns, is that insane or what? Then, we allow the Super Pac’s with little regulation and full anonymity to influence our American elections through the sheer volume of money that will most likely be used for negative advertising!
Our congress is bought and paid for by lobbyists and are involved with insider trading, doing the bidding for those who put the most money in their pockets! They get rich while we the “freeloaders” get cuts to Medicare and Social Security all the while they receive a tax payer salary and health benefits for life for themselves and their family compliments of the “freeloaders”.
We've legalized Corporations (Citizen's United) as people! They can now buy any election they want to, from sheriff to president! They don't even have to be American corporations! Corporations have severed their moral contract with America. It used to be you worked hard and helped them gain success and you shared in their success through better wages and benefits, all you get now is a pink slip.
The BP Corporation will likely not be charged with any criminal malfeasance in the largest natural disaster in history. The oil leak continues to flow and there are reports Corexit is still being used without any oversight by the U.S.. Many scientists claim the gulf loop current has been broken as a result of the leak. If you want evidence of the leak just talk to the residents and oil spill workers living along the gulf from Texas to Florida.
We invade a different country every year! Killing and displacing millions of people and spending trillions of dollars to enrich the Oil, Banking, and Corporate cartels!
The Census Department of the American Federal Government recently reported that “50% of the nation’s population were living below the poverty line”.
50 million people can't go to a doctor because they don't have health care!
47 million people need food stamps just to feed themselves!
25 million people are unemployed or underemployed!
15 million people's mortgages are worth more than their homes!
Our national debt is going on 17 trillion dollars! We pay off our debt with more debt! That is like putting gas on the fire! They tell the U.S. citizens it is their fault because they don't live within their means! They fail to mention it has everything to do with corrupt business and political leaders and the Federal Reserve and their fractional reserve banking system!
The worlds GDP is 65 trillion and the derivatives market is estimated at 1.4 quadrillion. If Greece defaults at 100% and If the ISDA (International Swaps and Derivative Association) labels this credit event a default, our 5 largest banks who own 97% of world’s derivatives will crash. They can’t pay on the credit default swaps owed associated with Greece! But that’s ok, we’ll bail them out again! You know their motto, privatize profits and socialize losses! QE3 has already started with the currency swaps.
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac the flagships of our housing bubble that has burst! The housing market used to be what was fueling the middle class as manufacturing was being outsourced to foreign countries, it got over leveraged like our banks and stock markets and there is no resolution in site! The mortgage settlement just signed is just another small fine and in reality a bailout for the banks for what they are truly liable for.
They tell us social safety nets, Medicare and, Social Security that you and I paid into is Socialism when the largest recipients of social welfare in the history of the world are our “Capitalist, Free Market” banking and financial institutions! Remember the bailouts? We keep bailing out the banks to the tune of tens of trillions and we're told it's because they are too big to fail and all the while we allow them to get bigger! We are witnessing the biggest bank robbery in history and the banks and financial institutions are doing the robbing!
Our media (presstitutes) are bought and paid for by corporations and treat us like mushrooms! Reuters and the Associated Press try to tell us what to believe and think, such as unemployment is at 8.3% and falling, war is peace, they hate us for our freedom, the terrorists are out to get you, the economy is great, borrow and spend! etc…
Our constitution, our most sacred document as a country is meaningless!
We have lost most of our civil liberties through the passage of the Patriot Act and National Defense and Authorization Act! They have authorized the use of spy drones in American skies! You can be surveilled by any number of Federal agencies, have your phone and computer tapped, bank, medical, and private records accessed! You can be arrested without gaining access to an attorney or a trial. We are molested at the airports or radiated for “security” etc…!
NYPD’s aggressive street policing program, called “stop-and-frisk,” which predominantly targets low-income minority neighborhoods. In 2011, the program stopped and searched more than 500,000 New Yorkers, 85 percent of them black or Latino. This program is moving to a city near you!
We have created another cartel the “Prison Industrial Complex”! We have outsourced our incarceration of United States citizens which consists of over 6 million prisoners! This exceeds the number of prisoners held in the gulags of the former Soviet Union at any point in history! All objectivity of prison reform has flown out the window in exchange for profits! No prisoners no profits! Are there prison lobbyists? You bet and loaded with cash compliments of you and me!
The Military Industrial Complex is King, our defense budget is larger than the rest of the world’s combined! We are the enforcement arm of all the world’s cartels! The policeman of the world! In our countries short history we have bombed over 60 different countries! The outsourcing of our security to private military companies like XE (formerly Blackwater) is increasing dramatically!
The phony war on drugs! While our military protect the poppy fields in Afghanistan, Wells Fargo has been caught laundering money for the drug cartels in the United States (look it up). The use of drugs in the health care industry is over a 100 billion dollar a year scam. There's no profit in the cure only in the treatment. You are not allowed to buy the same manufactured prescription drugs from other countries at a cheaper price because the drug lobby has had congress pass laws against it to protect their profits.
We need to take care of America first and stay out of other countries business!
Hey Trustverify - how about just a comment and not a freakin' book! No one reads your pages of opinions, they just scroll past it.
Same could be said for the US along with the other "coalition" countries before going into Iraq and Afghanistan and where are we now after war that lasted longer than WW11 and Viet Nam?
Hey jrae, take your riddlin! A mind is a terrible thing to waste!
@shouldofwouldofcouldof:
Big difference : Here the Syrians are ASKING for people to come help them. In the case of Iraq and Afghanistan nobody asked the US to enter the country, in these two cases you were ENEMIES invading the country.
the result would be the same, there are so many different factions to deal with that it seems it would spiral down into greater civil war.
Michael - so you say on afghanistan and iraq. to bad neither you, I or the majority of the world knows what behind the scenes negotiations took place. It is no stretch of the imagination that afghans and iraqisb could have asked for help as well. After all the taliban and saddam were such advocates of civil rights.
So is this what Al Qaeda wants - a nation of their very own? They would find it's much easier to stand outside trying to bring down a government than to be on the inside of the government trying to actually govern while looking over your shoulder for the next insurgency come to town.
Tell the Arab Leaque to stand up for themselves for a change. That's a NO-WIN for the United States....
I don't believe there are any U.S. troops under U.N. command right now. So any intervention by the United States would be by it's own military, not the U.N.
Why help the Muslim Brotherhood like the forces did in Lybia & now they grow strong in Egypt. The US needs to stay out of the Middle East unless the become a threat to the US.
Um mike, what about bosnia, south korea?
Arab League and Al-Qaeda both want to help the same side....who would have thought? /sarc
Arab league, aren't they the ones who want the heathens and non believers to get OUT of their affairs? Oh I know... just send us your money and sacrifice the lives of your people and buy our oil and let us blame you for all of our problems.
I wonder how the Arab League would react if the UN voted to send peacekeeping troops to Bahrain.
Ouch, that's right on the money brother.
If I have learned any real truth in my life it is this. Help some other country like France or any Arab country and they will hate you forever and blame you for everything that goes wrong and all of their ills. We saved France twice and they cannot stand us. We have saved many Arab countries and they all hate us. We kicked Great Britain's ass to win our freedom and they kind of like us. We concurred Mexico and forced them to surrender and they mostly hate us. Japan attacked us and we get along fine now after we defeated them. Same with Germany. My point is when you step into it do it to win or stay the hell out of it.
If it wasn't for the help of France during the American Revolution we would be celebrating Queen Elizabeth's Jubilee this year and not the 4th of July.
Yes they helped a lot but we repaid the debt in 1917, and 1944, or the French would not be here, just a German Vassal state.
jrae...think about what happened in France immediately after the American Revolution...they went broke...which in turn prompted a rise in taxes...which led to popular unrest...and became the spark that ignited the French Revolution...that in turn led to nearly twenty years of world-wide warfare and three consecutive changes in the government of France within a four months. France never really recovered from helping the Americans, they still haven't and the way things are going they never will.
I have one word to say to this. B******!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! No American boots on the ground there. Let the Arabs take care of their own problems. Don't remember the "Arab League" assisting us when we needed help. F*** them!
I didn't get to do this during VietNam,so I'll do it now.Hell no,we won't go.No more war,no more war!!!
Arab League wants UN to form joint Syria force.
Translation:
Arab League and rest of UN will stand by and watch while U.S. spends a few trillion dollars and countless American lives in another country that hates Americans.
Did I get that right?
Yep. You got it dead on the screws right. Pretty much sums it up right there.
But what the Arab League wants and what it will get will be two different things.
Up yours, Arab League. Deal with it (the whole Syrian mess) yourself.
Yep!
Why don't we all e-mail our representatives and let them know our opinion. Gee, it might just open our representative's eyes. Do not expect them to go to the media for answers. Try your representative's website. And yes, we need to keep our hands out of this affair. Let Russia and China back Assad. After all, what good is freedom if one does not know how to use it?
Russia has now said it will agree to a joint UN-Arab peacekeeping force. Why didn't they propose that in the first place? I don't understand Russia's stance. If Iran and China are such strong trade partners I can see why they back Iran's buddy,Syria, but what is Russia's connection?
Let the Middle East learn to deal with the Middle East ....
How can all those Middle Eastern countries be so incompetent ....
They surely seem competent enough to take our billions in aid ....
The whole area there is hopeless. Let the Arab League try and they will fail. Coming to terms with the fact that there are no solutions to any Islamic countries turmoil is something that is very difficult for non-Islamic countries to deal with. Staying out of a conflict while another country does what Islam does best is hard to tolerate. The ruthless, barbaric slaughtering of others is not what civilized countries do but to Islam it is just normal.
Let's see Russia and China avoid this one!
They veto this move and they're pretty much done with any influence in the Middle East.
We should be as smart ....
Solomon---
Anybody that has a pocket full of cash has influence in the Middle East.
Solomon Kane
Except for the Syrian and Iranian regimes.
It will be very difficult to get Russia and China to agree to UN participation in a peacekeeping force. They both are heading down a similar road with their own people. They will not set a precedent by supporting external involvement in their internal affairs. The blatant oppression of basic human rights by the Communist Chinese leaders and the illegal manipulation of elections by Putin and his misguided followers will continue to raise a firestorm of protest and demonstrations in the future. In my opinion, the Russian people will overcome any obstacles put in their way of ultimately achieving free and fair elections and will soon move their future into the bright light of democracy and freedom. The strong arm and ruthless oppression by the elite Chinese Communist leaders will unfortunately carry far into the future. Their bankrupt political and moral system will ultimately lead to their demise at some point in the distant future.
The U.S. should not actively participate in the peacekeeping force if it is approved. There is already sufficient hatred and distrust of our actions in the Middle East.
Well Recon - you've answered my question about what motivates Russia in all of this. If this whole thing leads to a joint UN-Arab peacekeeping force - who would be in the peacekeeping force if not Americans? I know we don't want to get sucked in,but the Arab League has already said it will provide money and supplies,no mention of their own guys.(that's not an opinion - I'm looking for a more informed answer than I would be able to give)
The US should veto this and beat the Russians and Chinese to the punch.
Stay out of Syria. Let the other UN members who sat out most of the current war in Iraq/ Afghan show a commitment world peace. I would just a soon let the whole muslim world go up in flames. Did we not learn anything from our involvement in Vietnam? How about the Soviet disaster in Afghanistan? We orchestrated that to break the Russians. Perhaps they are doing the same now??? Nothing in Syria is worth American Lives or money.
...let the arab league form its own force for syria, and pay for it, too! the forces from other countries will be asked to intervene in syria, and then they'll be shot at for intervening, while muslim fanatics bomb at home. let the arab/muslims do their own dirty work for a change! and don't forget egypt and somalia while they are at it!
This is their country. I dont want to see anymore of our boys coming home in flag drapped coffins over something that does not involve us. I did not agree with libya and wonder were all those anti-war democrats were when Obama pulled that crap?
Those who are intelligent know obama got involved in libya because he knew they were a very weak country and it might make him look like a good commander and chief.
Nice post...............until you brought Libya and political parties into it.
The headline should read "Muslim terrorists want outside help to help solve a problem that is not going their way." It is amazing that these Arabs want the UN help but usually ignore any peace proposals with Israel. The only way the violence in Syria could end is let them kill off each other until no one is left. Syria is a terrorist state and should be wiped off the face of the earth. What good have they done for mankind or peace. Soon Iran will want will try to take over the country, so we should wipe Iran also off the face of the earth.
xxxooo
Libya and Egypt are a damn mess, Iraq is in shambles and we're fighting in Afghanistan to make it safe for China to extract the precious minerals there.
We can't afford Syria.
You noticed it eh.
Americans are dying in Afghanistan and the Chinese getting all the mineral mining contracts.
So who is the sucker here?
A simple guiding principle is ALWAYS do what is in the best interest of the U.S. in keeping with our constitution and American heritage.
Any reasonable minded person must question where is the outrage from the people of Middle Eastern countries when Islamic extremism and terrorism is killing people by the hundreds within their own countries and around the world every day. Where are the humanitarian calls for peace? How many of the Syrian people who are under attack by their own terrorist leaders, were cheering when the U.S. was attacked on 911 or when suicide bombers purposely kill innocent children and women around the world.
@Recon70 : you tell me, how many cheered on 9/11 and when bombs got off ? You think plenty did ? Back it up with proof.
If you weren't such an idiot you would know that all of the arab world condemned 9/11, that iranians, lebanese, syrians, ... were lighting candles in front of the US embassies to mourn 9/11, that most arab countries help the US catch Al-Quaeda men, including Syria and Iran.
Michael-1495965: Arabs were dancing in the streets after 9-11.
@brad caven : Really ? Come on, prove me that a majority of the arab world was dancing.
I don't want to see a video of a few arabs dancing, there were happy people in the US also, I want data showing that most of the arab world was happy about 9/11
The reality, backed by fact, is that all arab countries condemned this, even Hezbollah and Hamas condemned it.
The struggle of the Syrians for freedom has won the admiration of international communities and their bravery is a testament to their strong will to free Syria from decades of dictatorship.
In support of these brave freedom fighters in Iran and Syria, The New Iran (www.TheNewIran.com), an organization opposing the Islamic Republic in Iran will be hosting a protest rally in front of the Chinese Consulate in Los Angeles, California. We invite all organizations and individuals who value freedom and liberty to join us and voice their opposition to the selfish and heartless veto act of China and Russia to block international intervention to stop this bloodshed.
Please join us and show your support.
February 14, 2012 – From 11:00 AM to 13:00 PM
The Chinese Consulate General
443 Shatto Place
Los Angeles
CA 90020
Good luck. I truly hope it helps
The only thing thats heartless is the fact that the west are sending foreign fighters dressed as civilians to cause havoc. Anyone doubting the complicity of the west need answer one question how are the rebels getting similar arms to the Libyian rebels......look at the mess intervention by the west has left for Egypt & Libya. You still think you are doing good look at the mess in Iraq, let's not talk about Afghanistan where the US is loosing the battle & making more enemies including an old allie Pakistan
well,, this may shock and anger some US citizens, but,,, the US is not!! and does not want to be!, the "worlds policeman",... and that is a very intelligent POV to take it seems to me,,the thing is, re;"going to war".. it is best to wait until you are asked..no??..as some commenters have said here,, this is largely a global issue now,,and as such, any solutions, must! be global in nature,,,and regardless of your skin colour, your religion, your personal anger!,.. this is not about "you".. it is about the entire planet,,all of us!!...you all! have a choice,,, do you want to be part of the solution? or part of the problem,,, choose one please,,,hey, I like Americans,and libyans, and iranians, and SYRIANS!! etc etc,,,most Canadians as well, ha ha,[we are,all of us, just people when we get down to it, no??],,this is a smart move,, and signals the global nature of this action,,a wee bit late, and weak for sure,,, but hey,,, it is on the right track,,,make it so!..and..."engage"...but make it global,,, or it will fail,, again,,and if any of you have a better tool to suggest other than the UN??. we are all ears.... "suggest" away ...please!...
Passing the buck
Agreed with much written. Arab "societies" "leagues" and whatever else needs to take greater control in their own region. The US should play as little of a role as possible.
By running to the UN it almost seems like they are passing the buck and avoiding problems that they need to deal with. When not solved, just blame the UN and it's "American influence." It becomes a matter of convenience over necessity then.
Of course they pass the buck. That way they avoid all responsibility if things go south. We should sit back and watch. Pass the popcorn please.
I think the arab leauge should handle this one themselves.
Headline: Arab League wants UN Peacekeepers in Syria
Why do they have to be at someone elses expense funded through extortion (tax)? If all these Arab nations agree, then send the money and troops and quit trying to tax our people to solve their problems. If we invade and stay too long, we're bad guys. If we don't go we're heartless.
BS!!!
It's not our problem, and it isn't our business.
Those Arab nations are rich (oil), populated, et cetera. Send your own blood and treasure if you think it's so importent. Stop asking the rest of the world to subsidize your opinion of what a good outcome is.
War is not Peace. Slavery is not Freedom. Ignorance is not Strength. Interventions are not Humanitarian. Pepper Spray is not a Vegetable. Orwell 2012?
Both Parties are running Orwells it seems (Romney, Obama). Both take the "not" out of every one of the above universal truths. Doublespeak is now "patriotism" (it's actually nationalism), and dissent is "treason" (it's actually patriotism).
Welcome to Hell my fellow Amerians. Fascism...the other white meat.
What a fu&*(ing mess that whole region is !! Pull our troops the hell out, let them all kill each other off (the peace loving people they are) and make friends with the winner. They are barbarians who can't figure out how to live peacefully with each other, so have at each other you bunch of morons.