The bottom line is that more than a thousand people have died through the use of chemical weapons.

WHOEVER deployed such weapons, should be punished so that they, or anybody else, do not try the same thing again.

Is that agreed ?

IF the criminals are the secular-democrats, or the Islamists, in Syria, then is it agreed that they should be punished ? Yes/no ?

If the criminals concerned are the forces of the Assad dictatorship, then they should be punished so that they don't repeat their crime. Yes/no ?

So we wait for the verdict. Personally, I hope that either way, the Yanks fly a few of their CMs into the camps and headquarters of al-Nusra and other pro-al-Qa'ida groups.

Ironically, I suspect that the final outcome of all of this will be an uneasy alliance between the secular-democrats and the Assad dictatorship. The road to democracy is going to be very long and very hard. But it will not be travelled by, or with, the Islamists.

Joe

9 hours and counting, I doubt it. Obama is on the out now.

He will be pressured from within and from without, but I doubt he is going to make such a serious mistake.

If he does, well it may as well be goodbye US of A, the hypocrisy will be so evident it will stink for a long time to come.

One has to question what the red line really is? Do the other 200,000 odd dead not count or is it really about justification for a wider agenda, I would suggest the latter, and who will pay in the long run, certainly not the general population of the West, to its continued shame.

Do I support Assad, no, but I also do not agree with the interference that is occurring, especially noting the immoral meddling of the US, UK, France, Germany, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and most importantly Israel.

It beggar's belief that any strike, whether fast and small or slow and long, will have any real prevailing good on the greater ME.

Geoff

The Yanks lied to us over Iraq. It fooled a lot of people though not anyone with two or more neurones to rub together, enough flickers of consciousnesses to notice their rejection of the chance to complete an inspection and examine the results.

Now the self-proven liars are telling us another story that would hardly fool a toddler - that they - the Yanks of all people! - are so horrified at the use of poison gas they they have to open a war against Syria. Just a lesson, mind, no intention to go on and clear Assad's regime out of the wreckage and install one of their own as in Iraq and Libya.

A very wise saying: Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me; fool me over and over again, I'm shameless.

David Geek and other closet Nazis are happy for hundreds of thousands of innocent to be maimed, gassed and killed as long as it is not done by the imperialists.

The question on most sane people's minds is whether the developed world has any responsibility to protect people from the brutality of their self appointed leaders or not.

If the answer is yes, then an unambiguous message needs to be sent. If not, then change the channel and let Assad and his thugs fire up the rockets and the ovens in peace.

Let's see if I got this right.

The Hashemites hate the Saudis, and the Shiites hate the Sunnis (and vice versa.) The PLO hates HAMAS, and it also hates Hezbollah because Hezbollah does not hate HAMAS enough. The Iranians who are Shiites support Hezbollah and they also support the Allowites who hate the Sunnis. The Sunnis hate the Saudis because the Saudis are Wahabbis who hate the Iranians because they are Shiites, even though the Sunnis hate the Shiites themselves. The Muslim Brotherhood hates the Shiites and they support Hezbollah even though Hezbollah is Shiite who are supported by Shiite Iran. The Baathists in Syria are Allowites and they hate the Baathists in Iraq becaue the Iraqi Baathists are Sunnis. The Iraqi Bathists hate the Syrian Baathists because they are Allowites.

And who is the real villain here? Well according to, Arjay, Emporer Julianne, Geoff of Perth, and David G. it is all the fault of the USA. Some weenies are even suggesting on OLO it must have been the USA that dropped the chemical bombs, and that the USA has used "mini nukes", and is trying to create an empire. Jesus Christ. What do these people use for brains?

Ain't multiculturalism grand? Let's create the same mess here and then we can blame the yanks or the Joos when it all goes pear shaped.

If the USA wanted an Empire it could do a lot better invading Australia instead of putting up with a bunch of violent religious fruitcakes who have no idea whatsoever on how to create successful, stable and prosperous societies. You couldn't give Afghanistan or Somalia away. The only good thing about Afghanistan, is that it makes a great training ground for the western military where our boys have fun genetically eradicating religious fundamentalism.

Lego,
These lovely people who can't get on with themselves let alone with others are now heading for Australia in boat after boat to run away from what ? themselves ? I doubt it very much because they're not off-loading their religious baggage which is the cause of it all. When you have people so superstitious & indoctrinated that they are incapable of any logic let alone any sense of community commitment & you offer them residency then you're effectively importing a gradual civil war.