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US Bombing Will Prolong War, Reasons Against US Military Intervention, US Already Involved

Juan Cole, H Patricia Hynes, Nicolas J.S. Davies
Obama's plan to bomb Syria with cruise missiles will do nothing to hasten the end of the conflict. Instead, it will likely prolong it. The US couldn't end the Iraqi civil war despite having over 100,000 boots on the ground. It is highly unlikely that Washington can end this one from 30,000 feet. The "limited" Tomahawk Cruise missile strikes with "no boots on the ground" are quickly expanding to "a broader strategy" to arm and strengthen opposition rebels.

The Activist

By Kurt Chandler Milwaukee Magazine
No stranger to protest, the head of Voces de la Frontera, Christine Neumann-Ortiz, has put herself and her organization at the center of one of the most bitter labor disputes in recent Milwaukee history. Can she win?

On Syria, a U.N. Vote Isn’t Optional

By Oona A. Hathaway and Scott J. Shapiro New York Times
The question Congress and Mr. Obama must ask now is whether employing force to punish Mr. Assad’s use of chemical weapons is worth endangering the fragile international order that is World War II’s most significant legacy.

The Environmental Consequences of Privatizing Mexico’s Oil

Christopher Sellers Dissent: A Quarterly of Politics and Culture
Today’s American readers will find the arguments favoring Peña Nieto’s energy reform familiar. They center around the flaws of the state-run enterprise: its corruption and inefficiency, its coddling of unions, and its monopoly in the national market for consumer goods such as gasoline, which has kept prices high. But thus far, the debates have hardly touched upon the local consequences of this reform for regions that will be most affected.

Bay Area Chilean diaspora commemorates the 40 anniversary of 9/11

By Fernando Andrés Torres Published by Portside
The Chilean 9/11 created a community in California and around the world of Chileans that fled to escape the brutal military regimen. The Bay Area Chilean community commemorates September 11, every year with a cornucopia of cultural and art events. “This is part of our history as a community here in the Bay Area,” said Marci Valdivieso, one of the organizers.

How Intelligence Was Twisted to Support an Attack on Syria

Gareth Porter Truthout | News
A careful examination of the Obama administration's summary of the intelligence on which it is basing the case for military action to punish the Assad regime for alleged use of chemical weapons reveals misleading language evocative of the infamous 2002 Iraq WMD intelligence estimate.