The U.S. is about to attack Syria. Here’s what you need to know:
- Bombing Syria will only strengthen the hardliners [7] … and harm America’s national security [8]. The top U.S. military commander says that attacking Syria would be risky and expensive [9]. (Security experts – including both conservatives and liberals – agree that waging a war which is not absolutely essential to defend ourselves from imminent threats weakens national security and increases terrorism [10]. Indeed, just spreading our resources too thin leaves us vulnerable [11] to terrorists.)
- A Syrian war could be one the least popular wars in American history [12]
- In fact, most of the world is against attacking Syria [13]
- There is no “coalition” [14] supporting a war
- War against Syria could spike oil prices and plunge us back into another recession [15]
- Russia has repeatedly stated [16] that it would consider an attack on Syria as an attack on its national security. China has also strongly cautioned [17] the U.S. against attacking Syria. China and Russia hold a lot of U.S. debt [18], and could make life difficult for us economically if we unnecessarily anger them
- Experts initially expressed some doubts [19] that chemical weapons were actually used
- The American government – in a replay of the Iraq war – is trying to stop UN weapons inspectors from seeing if chemical weapons were used [20]
- If chemical weapons were used, it’s unclear who used them [21]
- Even though the U.S. government claims that the Syrian government is the perpetrator, it admits that it has no idea who in the government ordered the attack [22]. It could have been a rogue, low-level military officer. Given that American [23], British [23] and other Western soldiers have pleaded guilty to massacring civilians and committing war crimes, should we condemn the entire Syrian regime if it turns out to be a crime carried out by one rogue officer? (Update: U.S. and British intelligence now that admit they don’t know [24] whether it was the rebels or the Syrian government who carried out the attack)
- The U.S. has repeatedly falsely accused others of using chemical weapons [25]
- The Syrian rebels have – apparently – previously used chemical weapons [26]
- The U.S. has been backing Al Qaeda and other known terrorists [27] in Syria
- A former Democratic Congressman said that a U.S. strike on Syria would make America “Al Qaeda’s Air Force“ [28]
- The U.S., Britain and Israel have used chemical weapons within the last 10 years [29]
- “Humanitarian” wars usually don’t turn out very well [30]
- Attacking Syria without Congressional approval would be unconstitutional [31], and over 150 [32] Congress members have demanded a vote on Syria
- The U.S. and Britain considered attacking Syrians and then blaming it on the Syrian government as an excuse for regime change … 50 years ago [33] (the U.S. just admitted that they did this to Iran [34])
- The U.S. has been planning regime change in Syria for 20 years straight [35]
- The U.S [36]. has been arming [37] the Syrian opposition [38] since 2006 [39]
- America is not involved in Syria because that country poses a threat to America’s security … but for entirely [40] different reasons [41]
- Many see the timing of the Syria crisis as an attempt by the U.S. government to distract from its domestic scandals. If you need a reminder about what’s going on inside our country, here’s a cheat sheet on spying [42]