The NYT is reporting that President Obama is prepared to go it alone and attack Syria; just published after UK Parliament says no go to Cameron.
"President Obama is prepared to move ahead with a limited military strike on Syria, administration officials said on Thursday, even with a rejection of such action by Britain’s Parliament, an increasingly restive Congress, and lacking an endorsement from the United Nations Security Council.
Although the officials cautioned that Mr. Obama had not made a final decision, all indications suggest that the strike could occur as soon as United Nations inspectors, who are investigating the Aug. 21 attack that killed hundreds of Syrians, leave the country. They are scheduled to depart Damascus, the capital, on Saturday."http://news.nytco.com/...
Another source suggested today fifty targets had been picked out.
What a mess. How can you bomb fifty sites, if that's true, and not escalate the War?
Pentagon officials insist strikes are likely “within days” and that the U.S. was “past the point of no return” on the issue -- suggesting Washington was prepared to act unilaterally.
http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/...
As the crisis deepened, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) warned that any escalation of Syria's civil war would deepen shortages of medicine, food and water in rural areas.
"The suffering of civilians in Syria has now reached unprecedented levels, and there appears to be no end in sight," said Magne Barth, head of the ICRC’s delegation in the country, in a statement. "Further escalation will likely trigger more displacement and add to humanitarian needs, which are already immense.”
Three days of airstrikes planned
Senior officials told NBC News that Defense Department planning had advanced to the point that three days of strikes were anticipated, after which strategists could run an assessment and target what was missed in further rounds.
Many Americans asked about the slaughter in Syria are torn as to how the U.S. should get involved. NBC's Kevin Tibbles reports.
U.S. missile strikes would almost certainly be launched from Navy destroyers or submarines in the Mediterranean Sea. The U.S. in recent days has moved destroyers closer to Syria, which sits on the sea's eastern edge, but that was mostly a symbolic move. U.S. Tomahawk missiles are so precise that they can hit not just buildings but also specific windows, and they could hit Syrian targets from far farther west in the Mediterranean.
Navy officials said four destroyers are lined up ready to strike: the USS Barry, the USS Mahan, the USS Ramage and the USS Gravely.
http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/...
One central piece of the White House intelligence, officials say, is an intercepted telephone call in which a Syrian commander seems to suggest that the chemical attack was more devastating than intended. “It sounds like he thinks this was a small operation that got out of control,” one intelligence official said Thursday.
http://news.nytco.com/...
Raining down cruise missiles for three days is out of control, that's war.
Unbelivable.