Shops in Damascus are open, (click here) and traffic chokes the
main thoroughfares. But, after more than two years of civil war, the
mood is growing restive as Syria faces the prospect of a military strike by western powers.
Despite
the bustle of daily life in those areas of the city not directly caught
up in conflict, there is apprehension at what foreign intervention
would look like. But also hope.
Western powers
could attack within days to punish President Bashar al-Assad for a
poison gas attack last week that killed hundreds of civilians, envoys
from the US and its allies have told rebels fighting for his overthrow,
according to sources who were present.
“The big fear is that they’ll make the same mistakes they made in Libya and Iraq.
They’ll hit civilian targets, and then they’ll cry that it was by
mistake, but we’ll get killed in the thousands,” said Ziyad, a man in
his 50s.
Echoing local media reports, some residents said they expected the strike to begin later this week but not to last long....
Libya was already disarmed of any WMD. The USA does not want another Iraq. USA occupation doesn't solve anything. Nothing. Best examples are Iraq and Afghanistan. If anything the monies that comes with USA occupation increases corruption. If the USA is going to spread around money for the sake of Nation Building we don't have to occupy the country.
I don't trust Clapper. He needs to retire forever. The guy is problematic and I don't believe a word he has said or will ever say. I think he is a real 'Yes Man' and slime ball.
Actually, I thought Clapper was leaving, no?
Dear god he is still there. What did we do to deserve this? I think Director of National Security and the NSA should be elected offices.
Photo credit: AP | National Intelligence Director James Clapper (click here) testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington. The White House and key
lawmakers are standing by Clapper despite his admission that he gave
misleading statements to Congress on the how much the U.S. spies on its
own. (April 18, 2013
By DOUGLAS JEHL
Published: October 29, 2003
Libya was already disarmed of any WMD. The USA does not want another Iraq. USA occupation doesn't solve anything. Nothing. Best examples are Iraq and Afghanistan. If anything the monies that comes with USA occupation increases corruption. If the USA is going to spread around money for the sake of Nation Building we don't have to occupy the country.
I don't trust Clapper. He needs to retire forever. The guy is problematic and I don't believe a word he has said or will ever say. I think he is a real 'Yes Man' and slime ball.
Actually, I thought Clapper was leaving, no?
Dear god he is still there. What did we do to deserve this? I think Director of National Security and the NSA should be elected offices.
Photo credit: AP | National Intelligence Director James Clapper (click here) testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington. The White House and key
lawmakers are standing by Clapper despite his admission that he gave
misleading statements to Congress on the how much the U.S. spies on its
own. (April 18, 2013 By DOUGLAS JEHL
Published: October 29, 2003
The director of a top American spy agency (click here) said Tuesday that he believed
that material from Iraq's illicit weapons program had been transported
into Syria and perhaps other countries as part of an effort by the
Iraqis to disperse and destroy evidence immediately before the recent
war.
The official, James R. Clapper Jr., a retired lieutenant general, said satellite imagery showing a heavy flow of traffic from Iraq into Syria, just before the American invasion in March, led him to believe that illicit weapons material ''unquestionably'' had been moved out of Iraq.
''I think people below the Saddam Hussein-and-his-sons level saw what was coming and decided the best thing to do was to destroy and disperse,'' General Clapper, who leads the National Imagery and Mapping Agency, said at a breakfast with reporters.
He said he was providing a personal assessment. But he said ''the obvious conclusion one draws'' was that there ''may have been people leaving the scene, fleeing Iraq, and unquestionably, I am sure, material.'' A spokesman for General Clapper's agency, David Burpee, said he could not provide further evidence to support the general's statement.
The official, James R. Clapper Jr., a retired lieutenant general, said satellite imagery showing a heavy flow of traffic from Iraq into Syria, just before the American invasion in March, led him to believe that illicit weapons material ''unquestionably'' had been moved out of Iraq.
''I think people below the Saddam Hussein-and-his-sons level saw what was coming and decided the best thing to do was to destroy and disperse,'' General Clapper, who leads the National Imagery and Mapping Agency, said at a breakfast with reporters.
He said he was providing a personal assessment. But he said ''the obvious conclusion one draws'' was that there ''may have been people leaving the scene, fleeing Iraq, and unquestionably, I am sure, material.'' A spokesman for General Clapper's agency, David Burpee, said he could not provide further evidence to support the general's statement.
