Fresh off of yesterday‘s reports that the Pentagon was considering sending more ground troops into Syria, Defense Secretary Ash Carter has announced another deployment of combat troops into neighboring Iraq, explicitly for the purpose of conducting raids into Syria.
Details on where the troops will be and how many are scant, but Carter says the troops will be conducting operations inside Iraq only at the “invitation” of the central government there, and will also be positioned to conduct “unilateral operations into Syria.”
Other officials were quoted by NBC News as saying the newly announced deployment will only involve smaller “expeditionary units,” but that it “cracks open the door” to an even broader US combat operation in both countries.
The Pentagon and Obama Administration have struggled with the narrative on combat operations against ISIS, sometimes denying any combat is taking place and then at other times insisting that there are “obviously” US troops engaged in combat in Iraq.
Carter reiterated today that the troops are in combat, telling Congress today that “tens of thousands of US personnel” are operating in the region already, and even more are “on the way.”
So is it a "pretend war", a "stealth war", or just another attempt to intimidate the Evil Rooskies into retreat from Syria?
I wonder if the DC Dunces have considered what could happen if Uncle Sam's troops encounter Russian or Syrian troops in Syria…
Some of we Canadians watch the comments at antiwar.com very closely. We are most interested in whether the comments are honestly and truly antiwar or if they are still mostly antiwar against the other party's wars and the commenters will quickly switch to pro-war when it's their party starting one.
There does seem to be a slight turn around since the Kosovo war where the Republicans were antiwar on this site and the Democrats were pro-war, pro-Clinton, but the change is still negligible.
We're hopeful!
Clinton Bush and now Obama two different parties but really one regime . Not dimes worth of difference in these two parties they both are bad .
So the USA is "invited" into what remains of Iraq, but will then be positioned to conduct “unilateral operations into Syria.”
No invitation there, though Russia has had one, from the elected government, no less.
Does our government and military have a plan or have all the bright strategist left government?
There are too many careerists in the military who use it as a job not as a vocation. I started off as an enlisted marine in 68. I have little confidence in what we do especially since neocons and neocon Zionist cabals hijacked our government in 2002.
US have no legitimate business in Syria. The racket of selling stolen Syrian oil on the Black market has been exposed.
We must remember Israel was caught despite US embargo selling Iranian oil on the Black Market and it only ended when the Mullahs put the kibosh on the deal.
Israel still owes the Mullahs $mils in unpaid invoices but won't pay 'bc of the sanctions'. Strange how US sanctions never stopped them purchasing Iranian oil but it strangely hinders them paying for it
I have a lack of confidence in our decision making by the military.
I get a few magazines and try to stay informed. I wish congressmen and others would tell us just why around 2011 when we ended combat operations in Iraq and the campaign went from being called Operation Iraqi freedom to New Dawn that all of a sudden it was bombs away by NATO- on countries throughout the Mideast and North Africa-seemed to come out of nowhere by NATO. I never believed Clinton and wondered how she even got the post she was in. I guess it was part of the PNAC thing. We bombed Libya, Syria, and several other countries.
At one time our relations with Assad were stable then all of a sudden he is our great enemy. Now American military leaders say Russia is our greatest threat.
Is our national defense related mainly to world banking? Did Assad not want to "get with the program"?
I never see clear reasons given by our leaders. They just announce all of a sudden that certain people are the "bad guys now". Or is this NWO stuff. I do not trust any of our major newspapers or TV stations to give us any truth.
Don G. – what are you talking about? Commenters are overwhelmingly anti-war, as are the writers.
If my memory serves me right, I can’t recall Assad sending the US an invitation to carry out military ground operations in his country.
Nor the Iraqis. They have said there is no invite to the Americans. This is a flagrant Anglo-American invasion into Iraq-Syria… probably to occupy and then dismantle both countries
Jessica, I agree. I did not comment through the years even when I was following antiwar.com and other sites but now I need to ask questions. The masses around me believe what TV tells them. If Fox News personalities appeal to them, they swear by the very pro Israel Fox News, and the same applies to the very liberal pro Israel MSN. The reason antiwar.com appeals to so many of us is that it looks for the truth and does not automatically side with these television personalities who are all very pro Israel.
I too do not see this Republican-Democrat thing that Don G says. In the USA we cannot get the truth from 98% of our media. We have to go to other places to find truth. I do not belong to any political party. I am not a Libertarian. I do know that these "elites" from Washington DC, NY City, Hollywood, and so on think that war is like a football game. They have never had horrific, massive bombs, mortars, or even grenades come their way.
Paul Wolfowitz visited Walter Reed Army Hospital some years ago- the injuries seemed like "nothing" to him, like it was all just a play in a theater or a sporting event. He lacks the ability for empathy. He cannot grasp what serious injuries and deaths do to families.
Most of these elites care little to nothing for the young men and women they send to war. When I was around these types in Washington DC and other places they cared more about their steak dinners in fancy Georgetown restaurants than they did about what was happening to our young military members.