Pentagon Mulls Options for Attacking Syria

75,000-Man Invasion Under Consideration

Despite the extremely speculative nature of the Syrian “threat,” the Pentagon is wasting no time in scrambling to prepare a set of options for different possible ways in which the United States could invade Syria.

Several different plans are under consideration, including the full-on occupation of Syria which officials estimate would require 75,000 troops just for securing chemical weapons, and many tens of thousands more for the open-ended “peacekeeping” operation certain to follow.

Officials say that the US has “everything they need” in the region already to carry out the attack the moment the president approves it, but this appears at the moment to be a few hundred ground troops waiting at the border and some naval assets off the coast, while the bulk of the occupation force would seemingly have to come from elsewhere.

The US appears to be the primary source of both the war rhetoric and the rumors of chemical weapons threats being used as an excuse for the rhetoric. The Obama Administration has been reluctant to directly insinuate itself into the ongoing civil war ahead of the elections, but has reportedly gotten more eager to involve itself since winning reelection.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.