looks like a predator drone hit the aid convoy

Quote :

"“On the evening of September 19, in that specific region, a drone belonging to the international condition, which had taken off from the Incirlik air base in Turkey, was flying at a height of 3,600 meters and traveling at around 200 kilometers per hour,” said Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov. “The object was in the area around the town of Urm Al-Kubra, where the convoy was a few minutes before it caught fire,” Konashenkov added. “It left after about 30 minutes.”"

9/21/2016 11:00:18 PM

How about a reliable source on that? I'm guessing this source isn't. Two reasons. One, you didn't cite it. Two, it refers to the drone as belonging to "the international condition."

Even if the source was OK, the source of the source, so to speak, isn't. I trust the Russian Defense Ministry about as far as I can throw it.

9/22/2016 8:56:30 AM

Coalition bombs Syrian troops. Whether its an accident or not who knows. Saw a report that it lasted 2 hours.

Russia in turn bombs aid convoy?

9/22/2016 9:11:30 AM

https://www.rt.com/news/360165-us-drone-syria-russia/

If the US just "accidentally" bombed hospitals and "friendly" troops, why isn't it a logical step to believe these stray bombs were from the US? No one else has such a record.

9/22/2016 10:04:25 AM

The Syrian government is a prominent example of a group that specifically targets medical facilities.

The same link goes on to say that the Russians don't think there was an air strike at all. It's pretty classic Russia. "We didn't bomb it and neither did the Syrians and also nobody else did but if somebody did it was the Americans."

9/22/2016 10:50:46 AM

^we armed terror groups who are doing a lot of damage and drawing fire from syria. you excuse israel for bombing hospitals terrorists are using as shields but a few hundred miles away you reverse your logic because its not our ally.

Where do you go for sources on this issue without bias? They don't exist. The western media is barely even covering most of the events and the american people don't even know what our own state department representatives are saying. We are supporting terrorist groups and our media calls them "rebels" instead of "terrorists". That changes the entire angle of journalism when you say assad is fighting "rebels" instead of fighting terror.

Quote :

""Our case is there's no way this war ends if they (Russia and Syria) aren't out of the air, if we can't get cessation of hostilities," Kirby said, "the opposition's not going to stop and you're never going to get to political talks, and the war will just go on and on. "

The only way to "end" the war is downing Russian and Syrian planes.

Quote :

"But Kerry also expressed sympathy for the Syrians' demands that the United States intervene more forcefully amid Syrian and Russian airstrikes against civilians, telling the group that he "lost the argument" for using military force against the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad."

holy fucking shit thank god you lost the argument for starting ww3

http://www.cnn.com/2016/10/01/politics/kerry-audio-recording-syria/

[Edited on October 1, 2016 at 12:48 PM. Reason : j]

[Edited on October 1, 2016 at 12:50 PM. Reason : jeez]

10/1/2016 12:47:06 PM

Quote :

"you excuse israel for bombing hospitals terrorists are using as shields but a few hundred miles away you reverse your logic because its not our ally"

I don't recall saying this, though it's possible. Without knowing the context I can't say whether it's something I would still say now.

I will say that I don't think hospitals are sacrosanct and above targeting under any circumstances. If they are being used as a staging point for military operations, then their value as targets has to be weighed against their humanitarian role. This is why, during traditional military conflicts, militaries try to keep up a firewall between hospitals and combat activity. Using a medical center as an army base voids its protected status.

My understanding is that the Syrian government goes after medical facilities and personnel as a matter of course, which is not OK. It would not surprise me to hear that Israel has done the same; in those instances, it is also in the wrong. It would also not surprise me to hear that sometimes Israel attacks hospitals that are being used as shields or bases; in these cases the question is more complicated. Ditto Syria.

Quote :

"Where do you go for sources on this issue without bias? They don't exist. The western media is barely even covering most of the events"

The BBC is about as good as it gets on that front. They're much less engaged with the Syria question, which helps, and in general I trust their coverage more than just about any other. And they have top stories on Syria every day.

Quote :

"The only way to "end" the war is downing Russian and Syrian planes."

That's probably the only way to win the war. We could end it by saying "Fuck this" and leaving the whole mess to the Russians and the Syrians. It would be a bloodbath. It would betray good people who are fighting a good fight. But at this point it's probably the best option.

There was a moment where military intervention would have been helpful without so many negative repercussions, but it was a while back - after Assad crossed the "red line" with chemical weapons and before Russia got involved. This administration's bluster about chemical weapons is their biggest foreign policy failure, in my mind; decisive intervention then could have averted a number of our current issues.

10/1/2016 1:11:24 PM