WestCoastRunner

Are you suggesting I don't care about other bombings because quite frankly that's not your place to suggest that to me.

And the fact is, Syrian refugees didn't want to leave their country but they have nothing to go home to. Their towns are destroyed and it will take decades for their home country to be re-established. In the meantime children need to be educated and that won't happen in the camps.

I can't believe that some men are arguing about this still. Move on for crying out loud. Can't you find something more relevant to debate?

And this could very well happen. Obama seems to backing down somewhat on Assad.

Are you kidding? There was tons of coverage and outrage in the media. That story went away just as the Paris story will.

Strategy? There is no strategy.

While I don't agree with all your thoughts, I do think this is a good post.

I don't believe I'm conflicted any longer. ISIS needs to be stopped through whatever means is necessary. I just hope that the World Leaders have the vision, courage, integrity and smarts to accomplish this and as you say, do not use this for political points.

If we let itself burn to the ground, then we are just as responsible as ISIS for innocent lives and an ever growing problem of refugees. The western Western militarism created this mess, it's up to us to help fix it. Neil Macdonald wrote a good piece "Paris attacks: Only 2 equally bad options for taking on ISIS". "Which effectively leaves Western leaders with two options: either continue the current half-baked campaign of airstrikes and military assistance indefinitely, or just disengage and leave." "Neither option is a good one. One of them would cost us our humanity." "Everyone knows airstrikes will not decide this fight. And the U.S.-led campaign to arm and train "moderate" rebels in Syria and troops in Iraq has been an embarrassment, to put it mildly." "Generally, whenever ISIS or its affiliated extremists have shown up, America's proxies have cut and run, often leaving their U.S.-provided guns and hardware for the enemy to scoop up." "But disengaging and letting the Middle East sort itself out would involve a hideous price for the populations on the ground." "ISIS operates by its own grotesque set of the Hama rules, and the massacres that would without question follow an ISIS expansion would validate Pope Francis's observation that what we are seeing today is a piecemeal version of World War III." "There is no Solomonic solution available, and, to make it worse, the brutal truth is that America's so-called coalition of the willing, which invaded Iraq on a false pretext, effectively created ISIS (which, unsurprisingly, has several of Saddam Hussein's former generals among its commanders)." "The West sowed dragons' teeth, which grew into armed fanatics now bent on taking the battle back to the West. And ahead of them, massive rivers of miserable refugees are trudging toward Western soil."

Yes, he is a rookie, and his first time on the world stage. So let's cut him some slack. And of course he's not going to commit to anything yet. He needs to consult with his advisors. His foreign policy advisor only took the job this week. I didn't hear of anyone thinking Canada is an embarrassment from any of the other world leaders. Do you have a cite for that? Now, there may be concern from the other leaders about Trudeau's announcements regarding Syria, but that was then and this is now. Let's see how he handles himself in the coming days with regards to questions on Syria.

Iraqi intel has released info that 24 individuals were involved in the attack on Paris and they were trained in Raqqa (the place that was bombed today).

I don't know. This is what I have read from today's bombing: The bombs targeted a command center, an arms depot, 3 recruitment posts and a training camp. Good for them. France is now asking to be part of the 'Five Eyes Intelligence Alliance', which currently includes: U.S., Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Britain. They have unfortunately paid their dues to belong to this Alliance.

Yes, I know that, but Trudeau has not mandated a date for withdrawal. It could be sooner or it could now be later. We will have to wait and see how things unfold.

It's my understanding that Canadian jets are still bombing targets and have not been pulled yet. No decision has been formally announced as to when or if it will now happen.

It is also difficult for refugees to obtain work without some form of identification.

Many people have not thought of the babies being born in these refugee camps. Some facts: At least 100,000 babies have been born to Syrian parents in exile over the past five years, according to the European Commission’s humanitarian arm. Turkey is home to at least 60,000 such infants, AFAD said, and another 70 are born here each day. Syrian nationality laws only allow children to obtain citizenship through their fathers. But many men “have either died in combat or regime bombardments or are fighting among opposition ranks,” an AFAD spokesman said. Women outnumber men in Turkey’s 25 refugee camps, and many are single mothers with small children.“The sheer volume of exodus of Syrian refugees, coupled with obstacles to birth registration as well as destroyed civil registries and gender discriminatory nationality laws, constitute a toxic mix and a ticking time bomb in terms of the risk of childhood statelessness,” said Chris Nash, director of the European Network on Statelessness, a coalition of human rights groups. We can't lose sight of this as we consider ways to allow legitimate refugees into Canada. http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2015/9/24/not-syrian-not-turkish.html

Because they can't go home and they can't move forward without one apparently. They are in limbo and so are the babies being born in the refugee camps. It's a desperate situation for the legitimate refugees.

I do agree with that, however, I just wanted to point out that fake passports are also in the possession of legitimate refugees.

Well, that's a good question. At least the mods should be consistent with the review of status updates. I have seen plenty of status updates that would have been deleted in a heartbeat if they were posted in a thread.

Fake passports are also being obtained from legitimate refugees who had to leave documentation behind when fleeing Syria.

It's my understanding that status updates and any discussions that take place in the chat room are not moderated to ensure PC. MH has even admitted on this thread that he does not read the status updates. Judging by what is posted on the updates, it just seems to be a free for all and a platform to express thoughts that would otherwise get deleted in threads. I am just as much a perpetrator of this habit as are most of the posters on here. Big deal.

The U.S. has provided some intel to France. They are currently bombing strategic locations in Syria. This post was contributed from a 'bright lights' poster.

The problem is we have Canadians travelling abroad. Why is it the the responsibility of the U.S. And the UK to protect us!

Clearly I'm being ganged up on. I get it.

Why are you suddenly weighing in? You normally ignore my posts?