General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsMaybe boots in airspace, but very high over the ground?
Question for the militarily informed community: What can planes do that missiles cannot that would justify that risk in this situation? I've been trying to guess. Perhaps Syria's anti-missile defenses would be somewhat effective vs. our missiles so the air defenses would be hit by stealth craft first? Some specific ordinance we don't have in missile form, like very large bunker-busting bombs? (Or just something we really want to try out?)
For the first time, the administration is talking about using American and French aircraft to conduct strikes on specific targets, in addition to ship-launched Tomahawk cruise missiles. There is a renewed push to get other NATO forces involved.
The strikes would be aimed not at the chemical stockpiles themselves risking a potential catastrophe but rather the military units that have stored and prepared the chemical weapons and carried the attacks against Syrian rebels, as well as the headquarters overseeing the effort, and the rockets and artillery that have launched the attacks, military officials said Thursday.
Gen. Martin E. Dempsey, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, has said that other targets would include equipment that Syria uses to protect the chemicals air defenses, long-range missiles and rockets, which can also deliver the weapons.
Mr. Obamas instructions come as most members of Congress who are even willing to consider voting in favor of a military response to a chemical attack are insisting on strict limits on the duration and type of the strikes carried out by the United States, while a small number of Republicans are telling the White House that the current plans are not muscular enough to destabilize the Assad government.
More: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/06/world/middleeast/pentagon-is-ordered-to-expand-potential-targets-in-syria-with-a-focus-on-forces.html?pagewanted=all
Autumn
(45,049 posts)Or some kinda bullshit like that.
morningfog
(18,115 posts)Autumn
(45,049 posts)along with body parts. And this is what our President is considering? It's overwhelmingly disgusting.
fujiyama
(15,185 posts)go all the hopes anyone had for his second term. Every piece of political capital is being squandered on this.
And he has no one but himself to blame.
Autumn
(45,049 posts)this happens. This is wrong.
fujiyama
(15,185 posts)That's the least of my concerns too. I hope it didn't seem like I was making light of this.
I really don't want to see any more Americans put in harms way to get caught in a nasty civil war just to make way for a Saudi backed puppet state.
pinboy3niner
(53,339 posts)enlightenment
(8,830 posts)don't die the same way the other forces do. When they get shot out of the sky, they just fly like sprinkles of unicorn glitter into a rainbow . . .
Erose999
(5,624 posts)pinboy3niner
(53,339 posts)In my experience, they were lifesavers.
Our jobs were very different, but the ultimate risks are the same.
I can't believe they're even considering sending our fliers over Syria.
enlightenment
(8,830 posts)who put themselves in harms way, regardless of their branch of service. I was AF, but the forces act in concert and always have (save football games and peacetime bickering).
This is so wrong - weasel wording of the first order and shameful to see.
pinboy3niner
(53,339 posts)I wasn't there to advise him, or I might have talked him out of it.
He got shot down and spent 3-1/2 years as a POW...
enlightenment
(8,830 posts)Awful result - but it sounds like he survived, at least. Changed, no doubt, but alive at least.
Autumn
(45,049 posts)pinboy3niner
(53,339 posts)Use of aircraft means crews will be at risk, especially with Syria's strong air defenses. This is rapidly going from bad to worse...
David__77
(23,369 posts)But it more than a small possibility that Russia will provide active support to Syria, at least informationally.
pinboy3niner
(53,339 posts)Neither state wants that, and both will take great pains to avoid it.
Russia does support Syria in lots of ways, and that will continue--and may escalate in response to U.S. military intervention.
More likely that Russia will move even further to supporting a negotiated poitical settlement.
Erose999
(5,624 posts)Next we'll be sending in a "peacekeeping force".
bobduca
(1,763 posts)Keep the boots closer to the ground, but still not on the ground!