Throughout the first couple of months of the Trump Administration, everyone seemed to be relatively on the same page with public comments about their plans for changes to the various US wars, and the answer was pretty much exclusively to send more troops and conduct more strikes everywhere.
This was true of Syria too, but the actual scope of the escalation could be far bigger than anyone expected, with reports circulating that National Security Adviser HR McMaster is pushing a massive escalation with a deployment of up to 50,000 US ground troops to the country.
When President Trump took office, Syria had only about 300-400 US troops present, and while that number has grown significantly (exact figures are no longer provided by the Pentagon), a 50,000 troop deployment would be both shocking and have a huge impact on the region, likely sparking a major backlash from Syria, who has not invited US troops to operate in their territory in the first place.
Either way, the Trump Administration’s leadership seems to be quite divided on the question of troops for Syria, with many said to be resisting any massive changes in favor of smaller, more manageable escalations. This is in keeping with what the US commander in Iraq and Syria said only yesterday, and with President Trump’s recent assurance that the US isn’t “going into Syria,” because while the US is already very much in Syria, it would be absurd for Trump to offer such an assurance and then send 50,000 troops shortly thereafter.
“…it would be absurd for Trump to…”
This is the “absurd” administration. There is nothing that is excluded from the realm of possibilities with this group – the more absurd the more likely, it seems to me.
McMaster is a sophisticated thinker. He might well be saying to do it or don’t do it, but stop poking at it. If the price of doing it is 50,000, then it is very likely he’s really presenting the “don’t do it” argument in the classic way — present three “choices” of which two are impossible and one is what you want.
Nikias said the Sicilian Expedition ought not to be sent unless the force was doubled. He got his wish and….
McMaster wants?
Trump wants!
Obama didn’t want!
It’s going to be a long time before the US ever gets another president who tried to put the brakes on it’s wars the way Obama did. And it took a black man to do it!
And it took a black man to motivate the country for a new president that is anxious for war to make American great again.
No chance, Russia would sink them all in the Atlantic, with ease.
“it would be absurd for Trump to offer such an assurance and then send 50,000 troops shortly thereafter.”
No more absurd than saying we are not going into Syria and then sending 59 tomahawk cruise missiles crashing into a Syrian airfield.
Trump, do something absurd? Noooo!