Harsh Language from Moscow

For John, BLUF:  It is never as easy as our Government Official tell us it will be.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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This from USA Today, Putin calls Kerry a liar:

The apparent question is al Qaeda influence on the Syrian rebels, an issue Kerry has downplayed.

Speaking to his human rights council on Wednesday, Putin said: "This was very unpleasant and surprising for me.  We talk to them (the Americans) and we assume they are decent people, but he is lying and he knows that he is lying. This is sad."

Who knew that Russia had a Human Rights Council?  I wonder what it does?

But, back to the issue at hand, it doesn't appear we are building a consensus around the world on this Syria issue.

Have I mentioned that I am hoping the US Congress says No?  This has all the appearance of an open-ended, Gulf of Tonkin, kind of thing.  That was 7 August 1964.  In August of 1973 I was on my second tour of duty in Southeast Asia, flying combat missions over Cambodia.  Nine years.  Then we pulled out and a couple of million people were murdered by the Khmer Rouge.  And it all started with a small military action to show North Viet-nam that they were doing wrong.♠

As a mind game, ask yourself what we should do next if, after our use of some 150 Cruise Missiles, Syrian Government Forces use chemical weapons [again].

UPDATE:  Updated to insert a link in the footnote to an article on CIA training of Syrian Rebels.

Regards  —  Cliff

♠  Well, it started before that, but that was when the US Congress authorized the use of military force (AUMF) by the US President.  That was when we openly attacked targets in North Viet-nam.  Before that we were training and advising the South Viet-namese (read Syrian Rebels) and providing them weapons and ammunition and other support.