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Obama sends missiles and troops to Turkey
CNN
(CNN) — The United States and Germany are sending Patriot missiles and troops to the Turkish border, a warning to Syria’s besieged President Bashar al-Assad.
The surface-to-air interceptors would be “dealing with threats that come out of Syria,” said U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta. Threats would include Syrian strikes inside Turkey and fighting between the government and rebels that extends into Turkey.
Errant Syrian artillery shells struck the Turkish border town of Akcakale and killed five Turkish civilians in October.
“We can’t spend a lot of time worrying about whether that pisses off Syria,” said Panetta after signing the order Friday. He spoke after arriving Friday at Turkey’s Incirlik Air Base, a U.S. Air Force installation about 80 miles from Syria’s border.
Despite the prospect of U.S. missiles on Al-Assad’s doorstep and a weakening regime, U.S. intelligence officials said the Syrian leader is showing no signs of giving up.
The deployment includes two Patriot missile batteries, used solely for defensive purposes, and 400 U.S. troops to operate them.
The United States and NATO hope to have them in place by the second week in January, and a military advance team is going in in the next several days, CNN has learned.
The moves come a week after NATO foreign ministers approved the deployment of Patriots to protect Turkey against any threats from al-Assad’s regime, rapidly weakening by rebel advances.
Also Friday, the German parliament approved the deployment of German Patriot anti-aircraft missiles to Turkey, with 461 Bundestag deputies voting in favor of the deployment, 86 against and eight abstentions.
The Netherlands have shown willingness to add Patriot batteries, NATO said Friday, to defend Turkey and “de-escalate the crisis on NATO’s southeastern border.”
FreeMan & Sarah Intend to Defend
December 14th, 2012
What did he get in return?
Menderman
December 14th, 2012
Why? Can’t we just pass a law making missles illegal? That way, bad countries won’t have any missles.
and then we sit in a circle and sing “Imagine”.
Rick
December 14th, 2012
Israel, on the other hand, is still on its’ own against Katyushas.
even steven
December 15th, 2012
The Nobel Peace Prize-winning warmonger. That’s even better than the Nobel Peace Prize-winning strip miner, Al Gore.
Nutjob
December 15th, 2012
I’ll bet his favorite part of the movie Titanic is when Rose is on the front of the ship saying “I’m king of the world”
Probably jumps on the end of the bed and imitates it…or corrects her by saying “No, I’m king of the world”.
Tedjusant
December 15th, 2012
If obama wants to ban guns then at the same time ban missiles ,
BAN THE GUN THEN BAN THE MISSILE.