Syria the most intense campaign of Obama’s presidency

[jsr]

http://www.boston.com/news/world/2013/09/07/syria-most-intense-campaign-obama-presidency/WugiMFS9LUUkIJnU16zhVJ/story.html

Syria the most intense campaign of Obama’s presidency
By Mark Landler and Jonathan Weisman

WASHINGTON — Each morning for the past week, at 7:45, more than a dozen White House aides have mustered in the corner office of President Barack Obama’s chief of staff, Denis R. McDonough, to get their marching orders for what has become the most intense, uphill lobbying campaign of the Obama presidency.

The White House’s goal is to persuade Congress to authorize a limited military strike against Syria to punish it for a deadly chemical weapons attack. But after a frenetic week of wall-to-wall intelligence briefings, dozens of phone calls and hours of hearings with senior members of Obama’s war council, more and more lawmakers, Republican and Democrat, are lining up to vote against the president.

Officials are guardedly optimistic about the Senate, but the blows keep coming. On Saturday, Sen. Mark Pryor, D-Ark., perhaps the most endangered incumbent up for re-election, came out against the authorization to use force.

In the House, the number of rank-and-file members who have declared that they will oppose or are leaning against military action is approaching 218, the point of no return for the White House. Getting them to reverse their positions will be extremely difficult.

[leftstreet]

1. NOW he decides to fight for something

This is just sickening

[liberal_at_heart]

2. Why can't he fight for education or wages or food stamps?

This is infuriating.

[leftstreet]

3. Good question

[kath]

4. Or single-payer health care, or even the damned public option??

he sickens me. utterly disgusting.

[avaistheone1]

16. Obama was a total dud one single-payer.

He never allowed it to even be part of the discussion of this country's future health care policy.

Too bad Obama didn't lobby for it the way he is in overdrive lobbying for this dumb war.

[Harmony Blue]

5. I am puzzeled...

[haikugal]

6. Meet the real Obama...

sometimes the truth hurts.

[Douglas Carpenter]

7. of all the things to gamble so much political capital on

he chooses something that IF he does get it - which is looking less than likely - it will at best make no difference If we are extremely fortunate it will serve no purpose - But is more likely to facilitate a catastrophe in the middle of an ethno/religious civil war

[moondust]

8. I think it might be

the scores of indiscriminately murdered kids, especially, that he feels he can do something about.

[eridani]

9. By murdering even more of them with bombs, naturally

Fire is so much less painful than poison gas, donchaknow.

[R. Daneel Olivaw]

10. Does it troube you that US drone strikes have murdered children as well?

Or do you not count that as murder?

Do these murdered children get the same level of sympathy from the CiC in your opinion?


http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/drones-killed-4-700-u-senator-says-141143752--politics.html

“We've killed 4,700,” the lawmaker said. “Sometimes you hit innocent people, and I hate that, but we're at war, and we've taken out some very senior members of al-Qaida."

http://www.salon.com/2013/07/22/leaked_report_shows_high_civilian_death_toll_from_cia_drone_strikes/

The United States has consistently claimed only a tiny number of non-combatants have been killed in drone attacks in Pakistan – despite research by the Bureau and others suggesting that over 400 civilians may have died in the nine-year campaign.

The internal document shows Pakistani officials too found that CIA drone strikes were killing a significant number of civilians – and have been aware of those deaths for many years.

Of 746 people listed as killed in the drone strikes outlined in the document, at least 147 of the dead are clearly stated to be civilian victims, 94 of those are said to be children.

http://articles.latimes.com/2012/sep/24/world/la-fg-drone-study-20120925

The study authors did not estimate overall civilian casualties because of limited data, Cavallaro said. But it cites estimates by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism, which has reported extensively on drone strikes, of 474 to 884 civilian deaths since 2004, including 176 children.

Scores of indiscriminately murdered kids...

[Sand Wind]

11. Yes you can Obama, Go ! Nt

[HangOnKids]

13. Jesus is this a football game?

There are times when pom poms are just not cute.

[warrant46]

18. Its a Disease

Cheering for death

[Maedhros]

14. The way you slaver at the prospect of war is very off-putting [n/t]

[NuclearDem]

17. Glad you think this is a game.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

15. The White House has turned into a Hawk sanctuary.