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Subscribe to RSSThe NATO Military Alliance has agreed to a Turkish request and will station several Patriot Anti-Missile batteries along its border with Syria. ITN's John Irvine reports.
Updated at 1:35 p.m. ET: NATO foreign ministers on Tuesday gave the go-ahead to deploy Patriot surface-to-missiles in Turkey in order to protect from any spillover from the civil war in neighboring Turkey.
"We stand with Turkey in the spirit of strong solidarity and we stand ready to take the necessary steps for the defense of Turkey," NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen, said after the decision.
The move could calm Turkey's fears that it could come under missile attack - possibly with chemical weapons - from Syria.
"The NATO ministers unanimously expressed grave concern about reports that the Syrian regime may be considering the use of chemical weapons," Rasmussen told a news conference. "Any such action would be completely unacceptable and a clear breach of international law."
The 28-nation alliance gathered in Brussels for a twice-yearly meeting, sending a strong signal that it stands behind Turkey, a NATO member, diplomats told Reuters.
"NATO has decided to augment Turkey's air defense capabilities in order to defend the population and territory of Turkey and contribute to the de-escalation of the crisis along the Alliance's border," a statement from NATO foreign ministers on Tuesday said.
Turkey asked NATO last month for Patriots, which can be used to intercept missiles and planes, after weeks of talks with allies about how to increase security on its 560-mile border with Syria, which is immersed in civil war.
The move follows media reports, citing European and U.S. officials, that Syria's chemical weapons had been moved and could be prepared for use in response to dramatic gains by rebels fighting to topple President Bashar Assad.
President Obama made clear to Syrian President Bashar Assad and those under his command that "the world is watching" and the use of chemical weapons would be "totally unacceptable." If Syria does try to use those weapons, Obama added, there will be consequences. NBC's Andrea Mitchell reports.
Obama warns Syria's Assad not to use chemical weapons
Syria said on Monday it would not use chemical weapons against its own people after the United States warned it could take action against any such escalation.
"Turkey's request, when it came to Patriots, was to augment its air defenses with the capacity to deal with the threat of ballistic missiles and particularly the threat of ballistic missiles potentially armed with chemical warheads," another NATO diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity, said, according to Reuters.
Osman Orsal / Reuters
A look back at the violence that has overtaken the country
The United States, Germany and the Netherlands are the countries expected to supply Turkey with Patriots. Germany and the Netherlands may need parliamentary approval to send the missiles and deployment could take weeks.
Report: Syrian rebels clash with Lebanon troops on border
The first diplomat said that NATO's Supreme Allied Commander Europe, U.S. Admiral James Stavridis, had the power to deploy NATO's own fleet of AWACS surveillance planes if he judged it necessary to counter a specific threat and would not need ministerial approval.
However, there is no immediate plan for him to do so in the case of Turkey.
A dramatic report from northern Syria shows how rebels control much of the countryside but remain locked in deadly battle with government forces who have the fire power. Some displaced civilians have taken refuge in the ruins of one of the Dead Cities of Syria, the ancient city Serjilla, abandoned around 1600 AD. NBC's John Irvine reports.
PhotoBlog: Turkey scrambles jets as Syrian government forces bomb border town
Turkey has repeatedly scrambled jets along the countries' joint border and responded in kind when shells from the conflict came down inside its borders, underlining fears Syria's civil war could spread to destabilize the region.
A senior State Department official accompanying Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to Europe for the NATO talks, said he did not expect final details this week on the number of missiles that would be deployed, where or for how long.
He said the deployment would not be part of "an inexorable move towards a no-fly zone" over Syria, of the sort NATO mounted to defend anti-government rebels in Libya who toppled Moammar Gadhafi last year.
The Patriot system, according to chief contractor Raytheon, is the world's most advanced missile defense system, capable of shooting down aircraft, ballistic missiles, cruise missiles and drones. Its first test came in the 1991 Gulf War and has been upgraded many times since. It is currently deployed in the U.S., Netherlands, Germany, Japan, Israel, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Taiwan, Greece, Spain, Korea and the United Arab Emirates.
Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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Whaow, a whole two opening windows twice a year to request missiles within NATO? I might want to live there? not.
Talk about being between a rock and a hard place... How would anyone want to be born into a place where they have to beg for assistance to defend against their neighbor?
Wait. I'm confused. I thought there were no dangerous dictators and nations anywhere in the world. There were no "credible threats" to be concerned with. No worries of danger emanating from a tiny little Syria or Iran. Al Qaeda was on the run. The middle east has widely embraced freedom and a live and let live ideology.
That's all I heard from US and UN leadership the last 4 years. If all that talk was true, then why would any nation in the world need defensive military hardware, especially an innocent little nation like Turkey?
What fantasy world are you living in? I'd like to know so I could join you.
I thought that the idea was to station NATO Patriot missile crews complete with their hardware on Turkish soil? Then when the crisis is mercifully over - perhaps two years down the road - the crews (who will have been rotated in and out several times) and hardware will come back to the NATO member nation.
This is expensive high-tech stuff, not something you take out of the box ready to go-go-go.
"War is peace....Freedom is slavery....Ignorance is strength."~ George Orwell, 1984
The Wall Street Corrupted Corporate Media just keeps pushing their so called "Truth" and Obama will get his next UN "Not War" at "Our" Expense and "Their" Profits just you wait and see!
Turkey is the "Admitted" Aggressor against Syria which is against the NATO Treaty and we have NO BUSINESS getting involved supporting Al Qaeda first in Libya now in Syria! The Russians and the Chinese have already said "They" will get involved if we do!
Now is the Time to get US out of NATO and the UN's Endless "Not Wars".....Let US stop letting the Tail Wag the Dog and if UN Globalists want to start another "Not War", let "Them" pay for it this time!
Impeach Obama in 2012 for Criminal Conspiracy to Cover Up the Murder of an American Ambassador, Secret CIA Prisons and Supporting Al Qaeda in Benghazi-Gate!
"If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face—for ever." ~George Orwell, 1984
I agree, s.texan. You are confused.
Sorry I cannot help you.
Out of curriosity, who are you claiming told you there were no dangerous dictators in the world?
I think that this is a bad move. NATO should not be getting involved here. Turkey is not the innocent bystander they are trying to claim to be. They have been supporting the rebels and allowing them to use Turkey as a base of operations and to launch attacks against Assad's forces from Turkish soil. This is not a case of some innocent bystander getting caught up in a conflict, Turkey has willingly and knowingly taken sides in this battle and made themselves a legitimate target. If they want to claim the neutrality that affords them the protection they are seeking from NATO then they need to kick all of the Syrian rebels out of Turkey and stop allowing the rebels to use their country as a base of operations. They also need to stop providing the rebels with materiel assistance, which they have been doing for some time. You do not get to pick sides in a fight and then come running to others to help defend you.
NATO,, what a joke.
Hardly a joke when they are supporting their ally, just like they supported us in Afghanistan.
Turkey has deployed over 1,100 troops, and have lost over a dozen soldiers in Afghanistan.
"….US imperialism has come full circle to support Al Qaeda, the Islamist terrorist organization that it initially fostered in the 1980s war to oust the pro-Soviet regime in Afghanistan, when Osama bin Laden collaborated intimately with the CIA. While claiming to fight terrorism, Washington is backing a terrorist war in Syria replete with suicide bombers, car bomb attacks on civilian neighborhoods and sectarian death squads…"
http://www.dropshots.com/GCaplan#date/2012-11-03/19:31:43
Obama and Al Qaeda
5 December 2012
NATO foreign ministers meeting in Brussels Tuesday approved Turkey’s request for the deployment of Patriot missile batteries and hundreds of US and other foreign troops on the country’s border with Syria. The deployment will mark a qualitative escalation of the US-backed war for regime-change in Syria, paving the way, much as in Libya last year, for a direct US-NATO intervention.
Turkey, which has played a leading role in funneling arms, money, foreign fighters and logistical assistance to the so-called “rebels” seeking to overthrow the government of President Bashar al-Assad, justified its request by claiming it was threatened with the use by the Syrian regime of surface-to-surface missiles armed with chemical weapons.
In a clearly coordinated campaign, Turkey’s unsubstantiated claim of a chemical weapons threat from Syria was amplified by a flurry of allegations by the US government and major American media outlets. The New York Times and CNN cited unspecified “intelligence” about the supposed movement of Syrian chemical weapons components. This was combined with threats from President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who spoke of Syria approaching a “red line” that would result in direct American military intervention.
If the American public is experiencing an unsettling feeling of deja vu, it is for good reason. For the second time in a decade, Washington is threatening to launch an unprovoked war in the Middle East on the grounds of phony “intelligence” concerning “weapons of mass destruction.”…
…If the Obama administration is silent on this score, it is because the Al Qaeda forces inside Syria are acting as US proxies in the war for regime-change. They have been armed to the teeth by the CIA and Washington’s Arab allies, particularly Qatar and Saudi Arabia, and unleashed in a brutal sectarian civil war aimed at destroying the country and creating the conditions for the imposition of a US puppet regime….
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2012/dec2012/pers-d05.shtml
I support Turkeys right to defend itself. Turkey has been a good ally to the west since the Korean war. The move to place the patriot anti missle system to defend against Syria is just a ruse though. The real reason is to defend Europe against Iranian nuclear tip missles which will be coming soon.
It will be a big blunder to help the ungrateful and backstabbing Turkey led by seventh century Islamist Erdogan and his party.
If we are not careful, we will have one more Libya on Assad being removed by the Sunni Syrian rebels.
Syrian rebels are helped by the most bigoted Saudi and co Sunni hater and killer fronts like al Qaida, MB, Salaffi and other Sunni label ones.
It is high time for the Jews like Netanyahus and Christian right to wake up before it is too late.
To give Turkey more weapons is beyond stupid. They have been becoming a more hardliner Islamic country in the past decade. That means trouble for any peace in that region.
Syria wanted a revolution and they got one. Iran and the communists have been sending help to Assad to assist in murdering Muslims. I wonder if the Egyptians and Libyans and the rest of the ME Muslims are watching how far the Communists are willing to support their agenda. Assad years ago used chemical weapons on his own people. The USA has also been involved in supporting dictators murder their own people. I can understand their wanting foreigners out but they still at the end of the day have to deal with each other and in that department they haven't shown themselves to be willing to compromise with each other either.
Some never learn! Even Iraqi wars, Afghan war and Libyan major bunglings have not taught much.
No help to double dealing and backstabbing Turkey with Patriot missiles or any weapons.
Uhhh, Patriot missiles are a defense tool for taking down enemy missiles shot in their direction. They are not for offense.
Turkey should have the system.
Turkey should not be given the missles. They have a large army and air force and if attacked they can defend themselves that way. We don't need getting dragged into Syria deeper by our "NATO" ally. If anything NATO should be collapsed. There are no Warsaw Pact countries or Soviet Union anymore. Adding more weapons to the middle east is just plain stupid. Turkey should just attack and end the civil war by hanging Assad. Their just afraid that if the break it they own it so they want us too. Syria was Turkish and later French territory. Let them solve it.
Fight for freedom-
I have been to Turkey 2 times in the past year for good periods of time. What you said about Turkey becoming or moving towards "hard line Islam" is UNTRUE! In Fact, its just the opposite as they cherish democracy and an economy based on free enterprise. You should google "Ataturk" and learn a bit more before casting off impressions that are so off base. Ataturk was their George Washington, Lincoln, and MLK all in one person. He was their PM in the early 1920s!!! A long time ago! Woman have the right to vote because of him. Woman have the right to own land and business. The Turk education system is modeled after the USA. Religion has no role in their govt. as they have modeled their system in many ways after the USA system. I could go on and on but Ive made my point....they are more like us than you know. In the past, the big question mark was the military and I would say show me what they have done that we (in USA) would not have done the same. Are your talking about the terror group PPK who attack buses in rail and blow up citizens in their country? Do you think if the PPK existed in the USA we would not fly drones over them and blow them up too?
Concern has it right Patriot missles are for defense not offense. Military knowledge is helpful too prior to comment.
I have two friends who have been receiving medical treatments in Turkey for 2 years. They absolutely love the country, and have no problems with the progressive 'westernized' culture. The people there receive them warmly... I also know a girl who has been a Christian missionary in Turkey and has the same genuinely positive opinions about '92.7%' of the population.
As a side - off topic note... My first two friends are there because medical procedures are 1/4 the cost as in the USA, and just as effective. It has saved them 10's of thousands of dollars to go for treatments there - even considering flights, lodging, and all associated expenses.
Turkey is not Iran, Syria, or Libya. Turkey is Turkey, and Turkey is our friend!
Turkey is a NATO member and a secularist country.
To the posters who believe Turkey is not moving toward an Islamic mindset you are entitled to your opinion. Knowing a few individuals does not in my opinion lend credence to the assertion that Turkey is actually going toward a more secularist mindset. I have read numerous articles that support my supposition. In addition, I have spoken to Muslims who have said that this shift is happening block by block. I respect your right to respectufully disagree but I don't buy into your reasoning.
Turkey has had a democratic form of government for longer than either Spain or Portugal, and have had womens suffrage since the beginning of their republic, in the 1920s.
Some of you hear second hand news accounts of Islamic extremism and throw yourselves into a panic.
The decision to allow the shipment of Patriot Missiles to this nation, our NATO ally since the 1950s, was absolutely the right decision.
dman Consider this immigrants move into a country they engage in high birth rate strategy and once they have achieved a high enough population percentage they begin to agitate all the while they continue to reproduce at high rates. Within their communities they live as they choose. Eventually they begin to push out those in that same neighborhood with threats etc. Even implied violence is enough to make many people move their families from threatening groups. This is what has happened throughout the ME by Muslims to Muslims by Muslims to Christians Hindus Buddhists and any group not a part of their particular group.
Given the powder keg the ME and Muslim dominated countries have become and how split Muslims can be within their own countries, it is not an overreaction to err on the side of caution.
Finally saying that Turkey has been a ally since the 50's is not completely accurate. Turkey has at crucial times not been supportive has not allowed America to use their airspace etc. It is understandable why they would hesitate to offer assistance when they are dealing with the rest of the Muslim world who consider it a serious crime against Islam to support an infidel against another Muslim.
fight for freedom: I agree with you. Most of the Muslim traitors and Trojan horses do exactly as you mentioned.
These days, they ruin their nations and flock to prosperous nations like the US, Britain and others with their baggage and tear the nations to peices.
This has been going on since the birth of Islamic cult.
I wish more could understand what is going on around them and in the world.
fight-for-freedom, - you mean like Catholic immigrants from Italy and Ireland, who brought their subservience to the Pope in Rome here, and used their high birth rates to achieve dominance, eventually seizing the presidency, and subverting our political and legal institutions?
Which is, of course, why, we are all now Catholics here in the U.S., and regulate our lives by dictates of the Pope.
Is that what you mean?
Turkey is not a country suffering from massive immigration, and has been a predominantly Muslim country since the 1500s.
If we were providing them with nuclear weapons, I could understand your statement. But to deny them access to a purely defensive weapon, such as the Patriot Missile, is not erring on the side of caution, it is being paralyzed by fear.
There's a difference between being an ally, and being a wholly governed province or client state. Neither Turkey, nor any of our other allies are obligated to follow our foreign policy where it conflicts with their own. They stood with us in during the heights of the cold war, and during the first Iraq War, when we threw Saddam Hussein out of Kuwait. If they refused to participate in the 2003 invasion of Iraq, that only proves that they are not a nation of tail-wagging idiots.
You guys are too much.
Do you check under your beds at night, looking for Muslims?
Muslims, especially Sunnis, search for girls, women, minority sect/tribe people and non-Muslims all over once they get a stronghold.
We are learning some things from the traitors and liabilities on societies, nation and earth on how to face them!
dman- So glad someone sees the reality of Turkey like myself. They are 100% ally in person and govt action. Turkey doesn't follow our foreign policy all the time just like Germany, Russia, and China dont follow all of the time. Turkey gave citizens personal freedoms BEFORE even France and many other "trusted" EU countries... like I said go read their history post Ottoman empire and tell me they are not a fully westernized state. Ataturk was a great man of civility and understanding of his people. He fought for them and he is loved like we love George Washington and Lincoln for their sacrifices for liberty to our country. They have all the key facets both govt and economically to support a free society, which most in the Middle East are fighting for currently.
Jonathan- What are you talking about? Please learn how to write complete sentences and come back to us with your ideas.
"Muslims, especially Sunnis, search for girls, women, minority sect/tribe people and non-Muslims all over once they get a stronghold." <<<< makes zero sense!
Zen, thank-you for seconding my statements. There is so much anti-Islamic sentiment prevalent in our society today that one wonders if Kareem Abdul Jabbar could even play in the NBA under his adopted Islamic name.
US, British, French, Germans and NATO must learn from recent experiences with Iraqi wars, Afghan war and Libyan intervention.
Sunni Saudis, oil companies and their lobbyists outsourced their dirty jobs of removing Saddam through two Iraqi wars.
How much did Sunni Saudis and other Sunni Arab League rulers and Turkey helped NATO during Iraqi wars?
Sunni Saudis and other Sunni rulers just conned US and allies in wars in Muslim nations by vanishing from the scene and acting as good guys.
In double talks, double games and double dealings even Turkey has joined the most bigoted Sunni Saudis.
During Hamas crisis with Israel, most of the Sunni Saudi gangsters sided with Hamas. Hope the US Jewish lobby in the US can remember them.
In Syria, Sunni Syrian rebels are assisted by highly rabid anti-US, West, Jews, Christians and others Sunni Saudi extremist hater and killer fronts like al Qaida, Salaffi, MB, and other label ones.
In Libya, Sunni Saudi front organization was responsible for Benghazi attack.
In Egypt, Sunni Saudis have almost taken control.
Can't they handle Syria's Assad and Iran?
Let Sunnis and Shiites handle their battles in Syria, Iran and other places on whose Allah is greater.
While battling the US, Jews, Christians and other non-Muslims, Sunnis, Shiites and all Muslim sects join hands. Look at the hater and killer marches during rioting on video on Mohammad.
Let us remove sanctions on Iranian oil to crash oil prices and reduce our economic worries.
No help to double dealing Turkey either. Let Sunni Saudis and co, Turkey, Egypt and all battle Assad.
NO REPITITIONS OF IRAQI WAR JOKES IN SYRIA AND IRAN AND HELP OUR ENEMIES NO. 1 SUNNI SAUDIS AND CO.
JUST KEEP AWAY FROM SYRIA, IRAN and other MUSLIM battle zones.
What's a Sunni Saudi? Where can I get one?
Todd: I refer to Sunnis of Saudi Arabia as Sunni Saudis. Sunnis of Saudi Arabia includes British creation and US supported House of Saud.
House of Saud includes a ruler and 5000 princes and princesses. They are all strict Wahhabis and fountainheads of Islamic extremism.
Saudi Arabia has Shiites minority population. Shiites and females are treated worse than animals.
As you are aware, NATO forces guarded these Sunni Saudis and their holy places against Saddam by two Iraqi wars. You may know that US forces/NATO forces guarded the Sunni Saudis without Bible.
So you can ask about Sunni Saudis from the NATO forces' soldiers and those who sent them.
Even oil companies and their lobbyists will give still a better picture of Sunni Saudis and where you can get them.
Most of them have also a better idea on how to sell oneself cheaply!
For the US, British, French, German and others, House Saud ruler and his 5000 princes and princesses are model rulers and they are paragon of virtues like "democracy", "secularism", tolerant and moderate Islamic elements", "very fair toward females and minorities" and other big words used when required.
I forgot to mention that we are in 21st century.
While writing about Sunni Saudis, I thought I had to describe about those in seventh century and those dancing along with them!
Another snow job by NATO and its cronies. No need for interceptors here. This is just a ploy and the real objective is to encircle Russia . Most people forgot that in the sixties we almost had a nuclear confrontation over us bringing medium range iCBM and putting them into Turkey. Russia and China will not back down on Syria and are prepared to punch us in the face . Time for Turkey to disintegrate anyways. They need to be destroyed at all costs and sent back across Aegean Sea where they belong. Southern half will become Kurdistan and the healing in the Middle East will begin.
Turkey has got away with murders by acting as friends of the US and allies. It is a backstabbing enemy.
Sooner Turkey disintegrates better it will be for Kurds and others.
Please explain your wisdom as to what exactly Turkey did to backstab anyone? I think its time to let the Kurd thing go as it was only 100 years ago and is Turkey, Syria, Iraq, and Iran going to give the land the Kurds lost? Oh I know just like its always Obama's fault...its the Turks fault and not anyone else. The last time I checked they are a thriving democracy that is in the black as an economy. USA cant even say that at moment. They have enjoyed over 50 years as a democracy where the voting is not rigged like some other middle eastern countries.
I hate to say it but I think your talking out of your arse. Some of you need to open a history book.
Zen over 40,000 Kurds have been murdered since the 1970's. Granted the Kurd's are a thorn in Turkey's arse but you might wish to open a newspaper yourself. The point is that Muslims are killing Muslims all over the world they are killing Christians and Hindus Buddists and anyone who gets in their way. Many Americans are skeptical about giving any Muslim a weapon which could be later used to hurt a true western ally. The west has good reason to distrust. From the Muslim perspective I have no doubt they also feel distrustful. Sometimes it is better for the sake of peace to steer clear of and reduce the mingling of Muslims with the rest of world. Call it a time out for them to work out their own problems. I know that won't happen but it is in my opinion the best road to peace for the west.
fight for freedom-2341533, "Call it a time out for them to work out their own problems. I know that won't happen but it is in my opinion the best road to peace for the west."
We tried that approach once with Europe. We waited and waited for those problems to be "worked out". We waited as all of eastern Europe was decimated, conquered and then claimed as spoils of war. We waited as enemy forces murdered six million Jews in concentration camps. We waited as France was occupied by the aggressor while only a few brave Frenchman still resisted with the French Underground. We waited as London faced multiple bombing raids daily that killed thousands of innocent civilians.
We waited for peace until the ruthless Axis aggressors viciously attacked our own shores and forced us to step up to the plate. We did that with courage, sacrifice and vengeance with the help of our brave allies to defeat a ferocious enemy well on it's way to world dominion.
Hindsight may be easy, but it begs a few questions. How many millions of innocent lives might we have saved if we had only acted much earlier? How many hundreds of thousands of brave young American fighters may have returned home safely to their families instead of being blown to bits or buried in foreign lands? I will be the first to insist that our efforts in South Vietnam and Iraq were political blunders at the horrible cost of brave young American lives and the U.S. treasury.
The United Nations is not the force of evil to destroy the United States and establish one world government as many would have you believe. It has no power to bend the will of any leading Nation to compliance regardless of a majority vote. It HAS been a very useful tool to force rogue nations into compliance with the support of the most powerful nations. As with any council, the votes don't always fall our way in our every endeavor. That is as it must be to maintain their credibility.
Of course don't give them Patriot Missiles but DO sell them to them. This will help our economy and provide for some people to keep their jobs as well.
Who will pay for the Missles NATO gives to Turkey?? The answer, good ole Uncle Sucker, that's who. All these Damned countries are the same. They all Hate our Guts but all you hear from them is Gimme, Gimme, Gimme. Enough of this crap. You want Missles, then PAY for them. Or else kiss our ASS. Turkey is NO damned friend of ours anyway. We can't even Protect our OWN Damned border with Mexico and here we are Protecting Turkeys Borders?? Bull @#%$.
They are already paid for... Just saying. Replacements are probably in storage too. And Turkey is a huge ally of ours in the region, they have been in NATO for quite a while, unlike other countries we have supported.
Regarding the border with Mexico, last time I checked, they weren't launching rockets or missiles at us. Maybe then, we could deploy Patriots.
One man is creating all this, Can someone stop him.
If you believe that, then it's already too late.
Who in the hell comes up with stupid ideas as this one? No one should get our missiles, not Turkey, not Israel, not even Germany or France. Turkey's affairs should be Turkey's affairs - don't look for us to intervene. GEEZ!!!
NATO - North Atlantic Treaty Organization. They are not OUR missiles. We are a part of NATO along with Nations you mentioned......and the missiles are a defense system .
@ PValdes, Maybe you missed this part of the story, "The United States, Germany and the Netherlands are the countries expected to supply Turkey with Patriots." Yes, they are indeed OUR missiles. NATO has no weapons of its own.
We station "our" patriots on Turkish soil and "we" run them. We take our toys with us when we leave. What's the problem with that? Turkey is a friend and a participant in the NATO alliance. We are bound morally and bound contractually to come to their aid with these defense mechanisms.
As predicted, this fiasco is starting to ramp up into something bigger and the US will be involved. Before we know it we'll have personnel there and costing billions a day to maintain. Another mess- endless!!
PVades....finally someone makes a comment that is accurate.
Turkey is part of NATO people. An attack on one is an attack on all. If we dont help them at all with any request was does that show the world. When I say we I mean the other countries in NATO too.
I would take Turkey as an ally any day over any other middle east country....oh and France....LOL
Agreed. I don't understand people that quickly want to dump our allies, when one they we might need them. Turkey has been a great ally, willing to sacrifice their own men for us.
In the Afghanistan conflict, they have deployed over 1,000 troops, and have lost over a dozen soldiers. So, I would also take them as an ally over a lot of other nations in the region.
They need a no fly zone in Syria......That is the only way to tip the scales and get Assad out. The scary part is who or what ugly beast will take his place. That is the question ....
Hell no to a no fly zone.
Those are deadly and expensive.
Our no fly zone in Libya killed over 100,000 people. Mostly Black soldiers.
100,000 black soldiers ? Is that right ?
MC...Have you been hitting the crack again?
We fired over 20,000 Missiles or rockets.
They weren't hitting empty cars.
Of course they weren't...As you say they were killing black soldiers....
So is it too early to ask if Obama is in the running to get a second Nobel Peace Prize? (with all his success in the Middle East)
Maybe Hamas or the Muslim Brotherhood could present the Prize?
Turkey uses Chem Weapons against their own people.
They don't need weapons to protect against radical Islam or Assad.
They are very close to becoming radical themselves.
Does America have to much money laying around?
Are the big piles of cash getting in the way?
I could store some in my empty refrigerator if it will help.
Update.
We have to much money.
Let's blow some setting up a missile system in a country that gases it's own people.
Turkey has a much stronger military than Assad.
Another waste of American tax dollars.
Turkey will turn these weapons against Russia and engage in genocide against Armenians and Kurds. NATO is a sponsor of world-wide terrorism.
The opening sentence in this article looks like it was wrote be a third grader. Does anybody edit this crap?
"surface-to-missiles" ?? Protect Turkey from the civil war in neighboring Turkey?? Geez..
Can't anyone see the real war that's coming?
"NATO foreign ministers on Tuesday gave the go-ahead to deploy Patriot surface-to-missiles in Turkey in order to protect from any spillover from the civil war in neighboring Turkey." Fact check needed here. The civil war is in Syria, not Turkey.
Geez: if Curly can edit this article, how come MSNBC can't? Just kidding: nobody's perfect.
After seeing the video of the Syrian Rebels- Even a tank has an Achilles Heel (a weak spot). The guy with the Duganov sniper rifle needs to find that weak spot and hit it. It will require him to get a little close but it can be done.
Fire might actually work better, depending on the tank. Maybe an up-to-date version of the "sticky bombs" used in WWII, or thermite. (easy enough to make thermite, I have ten pounds of it, used for rendering old computer harddrives unreadable)
Tripper.
"The move could calm Turkey's fears that it could come under missile attack - possibly with chemical weapons - from Syria"
An angle on this sentence regards another aspect of "defensive weapons". Deploying "defensive weapons" may give one the confidence to use offensive weapons against an adversary with less fear of retaliation.
Why do they say Nato it is the U.S. that makes the patriot missiles. Obama wants to cut the military but he is always sending our weapons to every radical government in the middle east. When is our government going to learn from history to keep out of that area. Those people are still living like it is 1200 ad and we want them to act like civilized people it is never going to happen they are just like wild animals
Because while Turkey is becoming LESS secular, they are still members of NATO and the US is obligated to defend a fellow NATO member. (Remember after 9-11 the US invoked the NATO charter for collective defense)
"NATO foreign ministers on Tuesday gave the go-ahead to deploy Patriot surface-to-missiles in Turkey in order to protect from any spillover from the civil war in neighboring Turkey." Wow. That's possibly the worst-written opening line I've ever read in an article.
Oops, Tidy got it.....
Yep, I agree, Tidy got it...
So basically handing over advanced technology to Islamofascists. Good move.