US Missiles Fired Into Syria

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Darrell
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US Missiles Fired Into Syria

Post by Darrell »

The United States launched dozens of cruise missiles Thursday night at a Syrian airfield in response to what it believes was Syria's use of banned chemical weapons that killed at least 100 people, the U.S. military said.

Two U.S. warships in the Mediterranean Sea, the USS Ross and the USS Porter, fired 59 Tomahawk missiles intended for a single target — Shayrat Airfield in Homs province in western Syria, the Defense Department said. That's the airfield from which the United States believes the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad fired the banned weapons.
http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/u-s ... n_20170406

Some say that the chemical attacks were themselves a false flag operation by anti-Assad forces. I wonder what the Chinese leader, presently visiting Trump, must think.
Eppur si muove--Galileo
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Jericho941
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Re: US Missiles Fired Into Syria

Post by Jericho941 »

What does China care about any of this?

If it was a false-flag operation, it's brilliant. I doubt it, but it would be absolutely brilliant. The trouble is that it would've meant deploying WMDs on their own people.

Basically, what has happened here, is that Assad has thrown a catapult full of eggs right in Putin's face by deploying sarin after Russia supposedly "confiscated" all of Syria's chemical weapons. He also handed the US an excuse to break his air assets, and Trump can show once and for all that, by making something of this, he's not Putin's good buddy.
Johnnyreb
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Re: US Missiles Fired Into Syria

Post by Johnnyreb »

I caught a bit of video purportedly showing the aftermath of the attack, injured people, dead kids, etc. And half a dozen still images, mostly of people who are still alive being treated. The still alive part is what I question. Those kids and the 3 men in the white plastic suits and the oxygen masks. This was nerve gas right? People exposed to nerve gas don't live through it do they? I thought just a tiny speck of that stuff was instant death. Nerve gas attacks leave lots of dead people, but wounded and still alive people would not be much around. And the dead would not be taking long enough to die to get on camera I wouldn't think. Nerve gas kills quickly, seconds, a minute tops or am I wrong about that?

And if someone is killed in a nerve gas attack, and someone wearing no protective clothing comes over and picks them up and carries them... is that a safe thing to do? Wouldn't that just kill you too?

I kind of hope I'm thinking wrong about this this and the video footage and stills are real and not faked. Because if it is faked, then the Muslems just pulled a Pallywood on Trump.

If you don't know what Pallywood is, you may still be able to find it on youtube. Someone fakes being hit, a bunch of people run up and grab him to put him in the ambulance and off it goes around the corner, where it stops and lets the "wounded" man out and everyone sets up to do it again. Meanwhile, men are lining up to shoot through a hole in a wall, that faces away from the Israeli police station. And when the west sees it, they see edited video showing a pitched battle and "innocent" Moslems getting shot by evil Israelis. When there was no battle, and no one got shot.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t_B1H-1opys
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Jericho941
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Re: US Missiles Fired Into Syria

Post by Jericho941 »

Johnnyreb wrote:I caught a bit of video purportedly showing the aftermath of the attack, injured people, dead kids, etc. And half a dozen still images, mostly of people who are still alive being treated. The still alive part is what I question. Those kids and the 3 men in the white plastic suits and the oxygen masks. This was nerve gas right? People exposed to nerve gas don't live through it do they? I thought just a tiny speck of that stuff was instant death. Nerve gas attacks leave lots of dead people, but wounded and still alive people would not be much around. And the dead would not be taking long enough to die to get on camera I wouldn't think. Nerve gas kills quickly, seconds, a minute tops or am I wrong about that?

And if someone is killed in a nerve gas attack, and someone wearing no protective clothing comes over and picks them up and carries them... is that a safe thing to do? Wouldn't that just kill you too?
That's... not how it works at all, really. A pencil dot of VX, i.e. the state actor lab super chemical agent, is a lethal dose... but it's not instantly fatal. There's a difference between inhaling a cloud of droplets and having one contact your skin. Even with VX, "Death usually occurs within 15 minutes after absorption of a fatal VX dosage."

But we're not even talking about VX. We're talking about sarin. In vapor form, not droplets. Despite its toxicity, it is entirely possible to take a lethal dose and still be treatable. A lethal dose doesn't mean "you're done son", only that you are probably going to die without treatment. As with all things vs the human body, concentration counts. A lot. There's a difference between slugging six shots of rum in five minutes and nursing 6 beers over 5 hours, y'know?

Relative toxicity still counts even with something as potent as a nerve agent.It's worth noting that doctors treating patients in the area have also wound up suffering symptoms of sarin exposure.

Also, the sarin gas attacks in Tokyo caused over 4,000 non-lethal casualties. "Several of those affected by sarin went to work in spite of their symptoms, most of them not realizing that they had been exposed to sarin. Most of the victims sought medical treatment as the symptoms worsened and as they learned of the actual circumstances of the attacks via news broadcasts."
BDK
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Re: US Missiles Fired Into Syria

Post by BDK »

Sarin is a bit of a surprise- I wouldn't have thought a state actor would bother with it (it does make sense if Russia took their real chemical weapons and they made it themselves. I would expect any state actor to be able to make sarin.) - and the casualties probably aren't any more than an incendiary attack would have been.

But the news is pretty confident the attack was by fixed wing aircraft, so its leading everyone to blame Syria.
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Vonz90
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Re: US Missiles Fired Into Syria

Post by Vonz90 »

BDK wrote:Sarin is a bit of a surprise- I wouldn't have thought a state actor would bother with it (it does make sense if Russia took their real chemical weapons and they made it themselves. I would expect any state actor to be able to make sarin.) - and the casualties probably aren't any more than an incendiary attack would have been.

But the news is pretty confident the attack was by fixed wing aircraft, so its leading everyone to blame Syria.
It is hard to tell, but I don't discount incompetence. (i.e. a "we are running out of bombs, let's use these from the back of the bunker with the funny paint stripes" kind of thing)
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blackeagle603
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Re: US Missiles Fired Into Syria

Post by blackeagle603 »

Scuttlebutt is that we gave our frenemies the Russians 30 minutes heads up to get their people clear and that Trump was at dinner with the Chinese as it went down.

That's was just the appetizer round. How's the dessert sound to you Cousin Kim? Should we Fed-Ex some to the current address of USS Pueblo?
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Netpackrat
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Re: US Missiles Fired Into Syria

Post by Netpackrat »

Still not sure why if these assholes want to kill each other in job lots, we should interfere with that.
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skb12172
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Re: US Missiles Fired Into Syria

Post by skb12172 »

This ^^^
There must be an end to this intimidation by those who come to this great country, but reject its culture.
Greg
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Re: US Missiles Fired Into Syria

Post by Greg »

Netpackrat wrote:Still not sure why if these assholes want to kill each other in job lots, we should interfere with that.
In this case mainly because we have a legitimate interest in discouraging proliferation and use of certain types of weapon.

Knowing that, and who helped bring things in Syria to this state... makes the Iran deal where we green lighted and agreed to help pay for, Iran's acquisition of nuclear weapons, even more, for lack of a stronger word, treasonous.
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