Pentagon Delivers Plan to Escalate ISIS War

Officials Say Proposal Would Lead to 'Rapid Defeat' of ISIS

Full details of the plan have not been released yet, but the long-promised Pentagon proposal to escalate the fight against ISIS in Iraq and Syria has been delivered today, and is said to includes options for large deployments of additional troops to Syria, as well as increased targeting of ISIS the world over.

The plan for the Pentagon is to “rapidly” defeat ISIS, with the assumption that throwing more US troops at the situation will make it go faster. Officials at the Pentagon conceded this strategy might need to be further refined before implemented on the ground.

It is particularly noteworthy that we don’t really know any more about the plan today, beyond the talking points, than we did about it in recent weeks when officials started hyping its upcoming delivery, with the recommendations still apparently boiling down to straightforward additions of a number of combat troops.

With some 6,000 US troops already active in Iraq, the deployments are likely to be heavily focused on Syria, where the US is hoping to pick up the pace of the offensive against the ISIS capital city of Raqqa, which was announced last year and which still sees only a limited effort made to surround parts of the city.

President Trump has expressed interest since the election campaign in a plan that would rapidly lead to the outright defeat of ISIS, though as a practical matter officials concede that the ground deployments in Iraq are likely to last far beyond ISIS defeat at any rate.

While today’s reports on the plan made no mention of how it will involve US aid to other factions, previous reports have suggested that it will also involve a substantial increase in US aid to Syrian Kurdish faction, with some Kurdish officials claiming recently that they’ve been getting an increase in US aid since Trump took office.

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Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is news editor of Antiwar.com. View all posts by Jason Ditz

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john g

ISIS doesn’t really exist.
wars r u.s.

This can’t be true. The Donald is a non interventionist. I mean he’s a really huuuge non interventionist.
Dracaveli

I firmly believe Kerry and Obama should be arrested and ought to have been impeached they are complicit in allowing ISIS to rise in Syria push all the way to Damascus..inflicting total murder and chaos on Syrians, Americans and Europeans they encountered all in a effort to illegally assasinate the head of a foreign government.

now sins and daughters, mothers and fathers, brothers and sisters from America will be sent into Syria to curtail a enemy created in part by their own president.
- Don
  
  Well there’s no doubt that Obama and Kerry stopped allout US war in Syria. But I have to wonder if the US would have gone to war in Syria against ISIS. It’s more likely that the US would have gone to war against Syria. Thereby killing Syria mothers, fathers, sins, daughters, etc. There’s a possibility that ISIS fighters would have deliberately stood under US bombs!
- curmudgeonvt
  
  “…they are complicit in allowing ISIS to rise…”
  
  Right alongside Bush, Cheney, RIce, Rumsfeld, Bremer and the rest of the wackjob neocons (and the military commanders who “advised” them) who with the de-Baathification of the Iraqi government and the dismissal of the Iraqi Army laid the foundation for the formation of ISIS. I agree that Obama and Kerry did nothing to curtail the formation of ISIS but they were pretty much handed a situation not of their creation and completely out of their control. So, if you want to prosecute then make sure you include the fools who started it. But that’s just this old Curmudgeon’s opinion.
- john g
  
  ISIS doesn’t really exist as an organisation. It is a US psyop. The guys acting as ISIS are US proxies.
  
  It is all about defeating an uprising in Iraq and fueling the insurgency in Syria with the aim of overthrowing the state.
  
  Wheels within wheels and factions galore.
Brian

February 27, 2017 NEO – The Joke of America’s Military Rule

This is another classic Gordon, with more than a dose of anger, as he asks the tough questions of the Afghanistan and Iraq war vets why when they came home no one told about what was really going on inside those wars.

http://www.veteranstoday.com/2017/02/27/neo-the-joke-of-americas-military-rule/
TellTheTruth-2

Why not just get rid of the CIA .. it’ll be faster and cheaper. THE CIA AS ORGANIZED CRIME: How Illegal Operations Corrupt America and the World by Douglas Valentine. This book should be required reading for every American who wants to know the truth! Because the CIA is “self-funding” like the MOB, “eliminating” the CIA would require Congress to REPEAL the CIA’s charter legislation! Then they would be just another criminal organization with the gang members subject to arrest and prosecution for what they’ve been doing “under the cover” of being a government agency. If we’re smart, WE THE PEOPLE will drain CONGRESS and the CIA and NSA out of the swamp.
AriusArmenian

The CIA created Al Qaeda and ISIS while the DOD bombs them.
Imagine a Dali painting on the lunacy of US foreign policy.
ton

Is he genuine, or is it a covert action to topple the Assad government which would lead to direct confrontation with Russia. Worrying situation. The unwarranted increased spending on the US military war machine might be an indication. Trump did give us some hope, but has he turned around under pressure of the Deep State? Time will tell, but I don’t feel very happy right now.