
U.S. Launches Attacks on Syria - plessthanpt05
https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2018/04/13/601794830/u-s-launches-attacks-on-syria
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Nuzzerino
Keep an eye on the DEFCON Warning System Twitter. A few minutes ago, they
stated that a counter-attack has been launched, according to Syrian National
TV. [https://twitter.com/DEFCONWSALERTS](https://twitter.com/DEFCONWSALERTS)

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written
Just take the info with a grain of salt. Counterattack on whom? US forces in
the east? US/French ships in the west?

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Nuzzerino
Erm, I think most of the readers here understand how to think critically.

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written
Have you looked around? :)

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abecedarius
What’s the story on how this is legal? I know that “Congress declares war, not
the president” has been getting increasingly theoretical, but getting an
explicit justification now might matter later when the politics have changed.

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kss238
The President can deploy military personnel for up to 90 days without
congressional approval.

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manjushri
Haven't US special forces been in Syria for years now?

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johnny313
There are currently 2,000 US troops in Syria [0]

[0]
[https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/04/11/world/middlee...](https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/04/11/world/middleeast/syria-
military-us-russia-iran.html)

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jumelles
The UK and France, too

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pcunite
YouTube version:
[https://youtu.be/n0pMQHNjtxc?t=3m34s](https://youtu.be/n0pMQHNjtxc?t=3m34s)

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cycrutchfield
Wag the Dog

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MBCook
Who would have guessed after the Cohen raid, Comey book, start of the Stormy
trial, constant Pruitt news, renewed discussions about him being unhinged, and
everything else the president would want to distract people? Why no one
predicted this at all.

Certainly not 18+ months ago.

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not_kurt_godel
I think plenty of people predicted it, especially after Bolton’s appointment.
It’s a stupid reaction by a stupid man to circumstances arising directly (and
indirectly) from his own stupid actions and decisions.

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plessthanpt05
Scrubbed from the front page, huh?

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Jerry2
Always censorship going on.

------
eeks
The day when Trump lost 90% of his base.

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miketery
They'll support him more than ever.

"Unlike weak Obama, who let others walk all over his red line, TRUMP did what
needed to be done!"

You can come up with pro & con arguments for anything if you try.

Most people don't want to look at the net of those pro and cons, and simply
select only some, this is how we get polarization.

~~~
geofft
That is, in fact, a significant number of the comments here:

[https://np.reddit.com/r/The_Donald/comments/8c45dk/president...](https://np.reddit.com/r/The_Donald/comments/8c45dk/president_trump_announcement_regarding_syria/)

"Trust Trump." "We don't know what Trump knows. I trust him to make the right
decision." "He wouldn’t do this if it weren’t appropriate. I’m not happy about
the decision but it’s not like we are deploying battalions to restructure
their government." "Unless you are in a very small circle of people receiving
daily intelligence briefings, you do not know anything, you can only guess and
play armchair President."

Of course, none of these people would have extended the same courtesy to
President Obama, and they've been playing armchair Secretary of State for like
three years.

On the other hand there are quite a number of people who are genuinely
disappointed or unhappy, which is - oddly - pretty heartening.

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branchless
Because killing thousands with bombs is morally superior to using chemical
weapons.

UK along for the ride. As always.

~~~
deepbreath
Is there reason to believe the strikes will result in thousands of innocent
casualties?

They claim that they're only striking "chemical weapon research facilities".
Looks like it's 4am there, so I guess not a lot of people in research
facilities (plus they've been forewarned of the potential strikes)

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branchless
I mean before this in various regions it's been fine for the west to pummel
places yet when one small attack (which I also disagree with) happens it's a
"red line". I find it a little hard to swallow their concern for innocents
driving this action.

