Weapons for the Free Syria Army

[blue b4 the moon]

Just cut out 20/30 years of escalation and give both sides a nuke missile. That way when it really goes tits up it can be spun as not our fault.

The phrase 'One man's terrorist is another mans freedom fighter' has never been so true. The only problem is it should start as 'This week'.

 

[Deleted member 58678]

Well that was a great plan ,the weapons are now in the hands of Iss or what ever there name is this week .the weapons we gave the Iraq army is also in there hands ,we never learned the lessons of Afganistan what a fu*k up the west have made of this situation

We are being governed by idiots.

There's a trend though. Many people in positions of power, whether it be government/business/banking worldwide are idiots. It's not just our government. It's all about making money out of something and if there's collateral damage, never mind it's alright, we might be able to make some money off that somewhere down the line.

 

[Dalian Blue]

They don't need Turkey. They have a huge fuck off airbase in Qatar.

You haven't really thought through the logistics have you? Turkey (NATO member) has borders with Syria and Iraq, Qatar is a peninsula on the eastern side of the Arabian Peninsula, the most direct way to get to Iraq or Syria from Qatar would involve crossing Saudi airspace, the Saudis may not be too happy about this option, which is why the 'fuck off' military base was relocated from around 40km south of Riyadh to it's current location in Qatar. It takes hours to fly East - West across Saudi, it would take minutes from bases in Turkey.

Try looking at a map and then get back to me as you've just been talking through your arse. The direct path is over the Persian Gulf and anyone that has ever flown into Doha knows full well that (until three ago), the flight plan goes over Basra, Baghdad and Mosul and it takes less than 45 mins to leave Iraqi airspace and enter Qatari.

No idea why you say "it takes hours ro fly East - West across KSA" when they would be flying North - South (for less than 20 mins in a fighter plane) between Qatar and Iraq and going no where near Saudi airspace.

As for Al Udeid Air Base itself, read this:

Al Udeid Air Base (Arabic:قاعدة العديد الجوية) is a military base west of Doha, Qatar, also known as Abu Nakhlah Airport (Arabic:مطار أبو نخلة). It houses foreign coalition personnel and assets. It is host to a forward headquarters of United States Central Command, headquarters of United States Air Forces Central, No. 83 Expeditionary Air Group RAF, and the 379th Air Expeditionary Wing of the USAF. In 1999, the Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Hamad,[3] told U.S. officials that he would like to see as many as 10,000 U.S. servicemen permanently stationed at Al Udeid. [4]

The Al Udeid Air Base now serves as a logistics, command, and basing hub for U.S. operations in Afghanistan and Iraq. Nearby Camp As Sayliyah houses significant U.S. military equipment prepositioning and command facilities for the CENTCOM area of operations. Both Qatar and the United States have invested in the construction and expansion of these facilities since the mid-1990s, and they form the main hub of the CENTCOM air and ground logistical network in the area of responsibility. As a result of ongoing operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, U.S. and partner nation facilities in Qatar and elsewhere have received higher use in recent years.

There is no need to be so abrasive in you replies to other posters.

Yes, there is a flight path along the Persian Gulf to a small costal area of Eastern Iraq, there are two issues with that, one is Iran, the other is that they then have a considerable distance to cover over Iraq before reaching the 'area of interest'.
I could have looked up that quote on Wikipedia myself, thanks.

I was living in Riyadh when Prince Sultan airbase was handed over to the Saudis and the US transferred operations to Qatar. At the time there was a lot of concern from the Saudis about having a US military presence within the Kingdom.
The base in Qatar started life as a Command and Control centre, due to Saudi sensitivities and the 'need' for an offensive base in the region operations transferred to Qatar post 9/11, ideally situated for operations in Afghanistan but not so ideal for Northern Syria which wasn't a consideration at the time.

<a class="postlink" href="http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prince_Sultan_Air_Base" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prince_Sultan_Air_Base</a>

 

[SWP's back]

You haven't really thought through the logistics have you? Turkey (NATO member) has borders with Syria and Iraq, Qatar is a peninsula on the eastern side of the Arabian Peninsula, the most direct way to get to Iraq or Syria from Qatar would involve crossing Saudi airspace, the Saudis may not be too happy about this option, which is why the 'fuck off' military base was relocated from around 40km south of Riyadh to it's current location in Qatar. It takes hours to fly East - West across Saudi, it would take minutes from bases in Turkey.

Try looking at a map and then get back to me as you've just been talking through your arse. The direct path is over the Persian Gulf and anyone that has ever flown into Doha knows full well that (until three ago), the flight plan goes over Basra, Baghdad and Mosul and it takes less than 45 mins to leave Iraqi airspace and enter Qatari.

No idea why you say "it takes hours ro fly East - West across KSA" when they would be flying North - South (for less than 20 mins in a fighter plane) between Qatar and Iraq and going no where near Saudi airspace.

As for Al Udeid Air Base itself, read this:

Al Udeid Air Base (Arabic:قاعدة العديد الجوية) is a military base west of Doha, Qatar, also known as Abu Nakhlah Airport (Arabic:مطار أبو نخلة). It houses foreign coalition personnel and assets. It is host to a forward headquarters of United States Central Command, headquarters of United States Air Forces Central, No. 83 Expeditionary Air Group RAF, and the 379th Air Expeditionary Wing of the USAF. In 1999, the Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Hamad,[3] told U.S. officials that he would like to see as many as 10,000 U.S. servicemen permanently stationed at Al Udeid. [4]

The Al Udeid Air Base now serves as a logistics, command, and basing hub for U.S. operations in Afghanistan and Iraq. Nearby Camp As Sayliyah houses significant U.S. military equipment prepositioning and command facilities for the CENTCOM area of operations. Both Qatar and the United States have invested in the construction and expansion of these facilities since the mid-1990s, and they form the main hub of the CENTCOM air and ground logistical network in the area of responsibility. As a result of ongoing operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, U.S. and partner nation facilities in Qatar and elsewhere have received higher use in recent years.

There is no need to be so abrasive in you replies to other posters.

Yes, there is a flight path along the Persian Gulf to a small costal area of Eastern Iraq, there are two issues with that, one is Iran, the other is that they then have a considerable distance to cover over Iraq before reaching the 'area of interest'.
I could have looked up that quote on Wikipedia myself, thanks.

I was living in Riyadh when Prince Sultan airbase was handed over to the Saudis and the US transferred operations to Qatar. At the time there was a lot of concern from the Saudis about having a US military presence within the Kingdom.
The base in Qatar started life as a Command and Control centre, due to Saudi sensitivities and the 'need' for an offensive base in the region operations transferred to Qatar post 9/11, ideally situated for operations in Afghanistan but not so ideal for Northern Syria which wasn't a consideration at the time.

<a class="postlink" href="http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prince_Sultan_Air_Base" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prince_Sultan_Air_Base</a>

Iran are not an issue at all and if the Yanks were overly concerned about the points you raised then they would not have 10,000 personnel personally stationed there for situations exactly this.

 

[Ifwecouldjust.......]

Why would US / UK or anyone else for that matter want to fly over Syria to get to Iraq when Turkey is in NATO?

They don't need Turkey. They have a huge fuck off airbase in Qatar.

You haven't really thought through the logistics have you? Turkey (NATO member) has borders with Syria and Iraq, Qatar is a peninsula on the eastern side of the Arabian Peninsula, the most direct way to get to Iraq or Syria from Qatar would involve crossing Saudi airspace, the Saudis may not be too happy about this option, which is why the 'fuck off' military base was relocated from around 40km south of Riyadh to it's current location in Qatar. It takes hours to fly East - West across Saudi, it would take minutes from bases in Turkey.

And as for bombing towns in Syria? When we sided with the rebels? How do you think that will get signed off by the Syrian Government who have obviously come to an agreement with ISIS as they're not fighting them.

 

[Dalian Blue]

Try looking at a map and then get back to me as you've just been talking through your arse. The direct path is over the Persian Gulf and anyone that has ever flown into Doha knows full well that (until three ago), the flight plan goes over Basra, Baghdad and Mosul and it takes less than 45 mins to leave Iraqi airspace and enter Qatari.

No idea why you say "it takes hours ro fly East - West across KSA" when they would be flying North - South (for less than 20 mins in a fighter plane) between Qatar and Iraq and going no where near Saudi airspace.

As for Al Udeid Air Base itself, read this:

Al Udeid Air Base (Arabic:قاعدة العديد الجوية) is a military base west of Doha, Qatar, also known as Abu Nakhlah Airport (Arabic:مطار أبو نخلة). It houses foreign coalition personnel and assets. It is host to a forward headquarters of United States Central Command, headquarters of United States Air Forces Central, No. 83 Expeditionary Air Group RAF, and the 379th Air Expeditionary Wing of the USAF. In 1999, the Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Hamad,[3] told U.S. officials that he would like to see as many as 10,000 U.S. servicemen permanently stationed at Al Udeid. [4]

The Al Udeid Air Base now serves as a logistics, command, and basing hub for U.S. operations in Afghanistan and Iraq. Nearby Camp As Sayliyah houses significant U.S. military equipment prepositioning and command facilities for the CENTCOM area of operations. Both Qatar and the United States have invested in the construction and expansion of these facilities since the mid-1990s, and they form the main hub of the CENTCOM air and ground logistical network in the area of responsibility. As a result of ongoing operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, U.S. and partner nation facilities in Qatar and elsewhere have received higher use in recent years.

There is no need to be so abrasive in you replies to other posters.

Yes, there is a flight path along the Persian Gulf to a small costal area of Eastern Iraq, there are two issues with that, one is Iran, the other is that they then have a considerable distance to cover over Iraq before reaching the 'area of interest'.
I could have looked up that quote on Wikipedia myself, thanks.

I was living in Riyadh when Prince Sultan airbase was handed over to the Saudis and the US transferred operations to Qatar. At the time there was a lot of concern from the Saudis about having a US military presence within the Kingdom.
The base in Qatar started life as a Command and Control centre, due to Saudi sensitivities and the 'need' for an offensive base in the region operations transferred to Qatar post 9/11, ideally situated for operations in Afghanistan but not so ideal for Northern Syria which wasn't a consideration at the time.

<a class="postlink" href="http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prince_Sultan_Air_Base" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prince_Sultan_Air_Base</a>

Iran are not an issue at all and if the Yanks were overly concerned about the points you raised then they would not have 10,000 personnel personally stationed there for situations exactly this.

In your opinion (I suspect you intended to say permanently stationed?)

 

[SWP's back]

There is no need to be so abrasive in you replies to other posters.

Yes, there is a flight path along the Persian Gulf to a small costal area of Eastern Iraq, there are two issues with that, one is Iran, the other is that they then have a considerable distance to cover over Iraq before reaching the 'area of interest'.
I could have looked up that quote on Wikipedia myself, thanks.

I was living in Riyadh when Prince Sultan airbase was handed over to the Saudis and the US transferred operations to Qatar. At the time there was a lot of concern from the Saudis about having a US military presence within the Kingdom.
The base in Qatar started life as a Command and Control centre, due to Saudi sensitivities and the 'need' for an offensive base in the region operations transferred to Qatar post 9/11, ideally situated for operations in Afghanistan but not so ideal for Northern Syria which wasn't a consideration at the time.

<a class="postlink" href="http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prince_Sultan_Air_Base" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prince_Sultan_Air_Base</a>

Iran are not an issue at all and if the Yanks were overly concerned about the points you raised then they would not have 10,000 personnel personally stationed there for situations exactly this.

In your opinion (I suspect you intended to say permanently stationed?)

Good spot. Was just testing you.