So lets see the evidence, What are they waiting for ? surely the investigation couldn't have taken this long ? 

Why not? why wouldn't an investigation take this long? This investigation has hardly started and some investigations tend to take months if not years to complete. 

If they have enough evidence to start hanging people by their own petard, they will do so just like they have already done for 2 Trump insiders. Investigations like this require due care, and an onus of proof before they act, but once they have it, they will act. 

Britain about to invoke Article 50 today (in a mere few hours).

A lot of chest beating going over Syria ATM, be interesting to see if anything happens.

-PB

I thought Trump showed great leadership today. Too early to say if it is just words as he will not reveal any plans. but the soundbites are very positive. 

Yes, the international community has a responsibility to act and stop the chemical attacks and war crimes in Syria and to hold Assad accountable to these crimes. 

What will happen in the future is difficult to predict as the situation is complicated with Russia's involvement. 

well it looks like Trump has doubled down.

US has launched over 60 cruise missiles on Syrian Air Bases. 

The images of that chemical attack disgust me. Seeing the man laying on the ground struggling to breath is just horrific.

Was this the Syrian government attacking its own people?

What about the image of a man holding his 2 dead twin children.

Awful.

World has got to act against these war crimes.  

I have just seen this.

If Russia blocks any UN action on this, they should be expelled. Allies or not, chemical warfare against civilians is a crime against humanity.

Assad and his regime need to look at the families of those who have lost loved ones in the eyes.

Shit. Here we go...

i don't think Syria and Russia or Iran care about the loss of innocent civilians or the use of chemical weapons. 

they have an agenda to keep Assad in power and repress the Sunnis who they say are terrorists. In fact, the do not distinguish between them and DAESH. 

Maybe this action from trump will change things a little. 

Uugh.

They can't be. They're a permanent member.

There's this great new thing called google and wikipedia.  Give them a crack one day.

There are 5, if not 6 separate wars going on in Syria at the moment.  It is a well of poisoned snakes that Trump is climbing into.  He is going to need to be very careful because any involvement here will make the quagmire they waded into in Iraq look like a Sunday school picnic.

More to the point is  Why now ?

This shit's been going on for 6 years.  Just cos someone's taken some HD piccies ?

It's better late than never.

if the Yanks did this earlier, they would have been blamed and held responsible for many years of war and the disintegration of Syria. Either way, no win scenario. 

Yes it's a quagmire indeed. And it is going to get very messy. Oh it's already very messy and complicated and Iraq pales into insignificance.

but there is no option. The world can't just stand by and watch all these atrocities and war crimes to take place. If we act, and act to address these issues and attempt to hold those responsible for war crimes accountable, then we can hold our head up high.

this is the prelude to the creation of safe haven in my opinion for the Sunnis and their rebels. 

and replace with what ?

A safe haven will require western soldiers on the ground to protect it. I'm not sure we want to go down the path of western/American occupation and nation-building in the ME again.

Some problems don't have Western answers.

Shoulve launched an investigation first, for all we know a syrian air strike hit a chemical stockpile. I also highly doubt Assad ordered this, he's the head of a highly fractured syrian govt, theres a high probability that this was ordered by a local commander, without Assad's blessing. Let's not pretend that chemical weapons are being used on mass here(unlike barrel bombs and rebels unguided rockets)

Also worryingly is this base is vital to effort against ISIS in the eastern homs desert, and the beisieged city Deir Ezzor, which is currently on lifeline.

Seems a bit odd that theres apparently chemical weapons at this airbase, and the u.s. just bombed it, doesnt seem like a good idea to bomb chemical bombs.

Edit: according to experts Sarin has to be prepared, so it was more than likely a government bomb.

How about a national Unity where 15 million Sunnis have a place in their own country, and a say? 

better than having 15 million refugees. 

Not necessarily. It can be maintained with Air Superiority. 

And there are already Ground Troops in Syria. Either way, this Syrian conflict is about sectarian cleansing - a major war crime affecting some 15 million innocent people of the Sunni faith. 

If you want to address terrorism and Islamic State, then this has to be looked at. 

There are sunnis on both sides of the conflict, youre oversymplying the conflict if you think its as simple as sunni vs alawites, there are sunnis in government positions, the retaking of Aleppo was done mostly by a sunni palestinian militia Liwa Al Quds, there are sunni tribes loyal to the governent, from all reports assad has the backing of many middle, and high class sunnis, but not the rural poorer sunnis, hell I have a friend in Damascus and shes a pro govt sunni.

Went from unconfirmed details on the ground of the chemical attack to launching bulk cruisies within 24 hours lol

Some good farken Intel?

Be interesting to see where Russia goes with this.

-PB

Trump's disapproval ratings at home are woeful - hence the attack.
Nothing more.

@paul yup Russia's response will be interesting, I also read it as a bit of a warning to North Korea.

Battle of the Hair-do's incoming

No I never said that it was as simple as Sunni Vs Allawite. But it is a fact that the Sunnis have been marginalized in Syria for decades. this has of course led to the formation of more than 50 militia groups - some of which are affiliated to Al Qaeda. It has also led to Islamic State and the civil war in Syria.

out of the 50 militias, there are also some Kurdish Groips, Turkman Groups (also Sunni), and also some Christian Militias as well. 

The arrogance & hypocrisy is just, well, delicious.....

US strike on Syria: The thing Donald Trump warned Barack Obama against doing

DONALD Trump’s first major military decision to launch a strike on Syria delivered a tough message to the world — but it was something he once warned was “very bad”.
The US President told reporters at his Mar-a-Lago estate on Thursday evening (local time) that he was motivated to launch the strike after Syria launched a “horrible chemical weapons attack on innocent civilians”.
But rewind a few years and Mr Trump had a very different stance.
Former president Barack Obama was contemplating taking action in 2013 after Syrian President Bashar al-Assad used chemical weapons on his citizens in 2011 while trying to crush a rebel uprising.
But in a series of tweets in June, August and September 2013, Mr Trump made his views very clear and warned Mr Obama against attacking Syria.

http://www.news.com.au/finance/work/leaders/us-strike-on-syria-the-thing-donald-trump-warned-barack-obama-against-doing/news-story/735c8bbef583fa4f8de307e4758deb03