Declarations of victory over ISIS by both Iraq and Syria, along with Russia, are not having an impact on US military policy in the region, according to Defense Secretary James Mattis, who insisted on Friday that “the war is not over.”
Which isn’t to say that the US is determined to keep fighting a war against ISIS, as such, but rather that there’s definitely going to be a war against somebody in those countries. Mattis in particular has been keen to talk up the idea of an “ISIS 2.0” emerging in areas ISIS has been expelled from.
Mattis’ comments are very interesting in the context of other Pentagon statements, which have insisted that US troops would stay in Iraq and Syria long after the ISIS war has ended. This had long been assumed to be just a quiet, permanent garrisoning of the two countries, particularly controversial in Syria since they don’t welcome a US military presence.
Instead, Mattis seems to be presenting this as not just an open-ended deployment, but an open-ended war against an ever-changing collection of enemies. In Syria in particular, this is likely to mean a shift away from Islamist rebels and toward pro-government militias.
In Iraq, the continuation of the war is likely to be very much like the last US occupation of Iraq, fighting with any and all forces that are aligned in opposition to the Iraqi government, or against the occupation itself.
There was no “War” in Syria not even a UN Resolution allowing the current circumstances..
There could be a war if approved by Congress and was in any way related to U.S. security, but it wasn’t and
it isn’t. U.S. forces have been operating illegally inside Syria for
three years.
Interesting. The USA has been filmed escorting ISIS members in convoys to the North with their families. Russian news also reporting that ISIS leader being airlifted out of conflict areas to the North by US helicopter.. Russia and China may have to act against ISIS and their main allied supporting countries, aka USA.
China and Russia will continue to provide oil as it is not listed correctly in the UN sanctions. The US has been caught red handed aiding and abetting Terrorism on video in Syria.
Tat really removed any doubt that ISIS and all it’s satellites have been the adopted child of US foreign policy for some time now. In retrospect there might have been a similar deal going all the way back to the Itraqi “surge” of the mid-2000’s when so many Islamist militants were able to get to and cross the border into Syria .
ISIS 2.0?
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/ffa57eb14cd45368f1d5ced0f03d776af49e881a1d2da7ca9e4836b714ded2ed.jpg
AP photo from Al Tanf
RICO tactics.. keep it broken so it always has to be “fixed”.
Doesn’t Mattis know the United States was supporting the free Syrian Army Which was mostly Al Qaida and Al Nusra All these terrorist name changes seem to confuse our government Or maybe our government is trying to confuse us . We know AlQaida and Al Nusra transfered their weapons and troops over to fight for ISIS . So Mattis says we have to stay in Syria to fight ISIS . Dosen’t he know that would be for us to stay and fight ourselves .
Of course he knew. He’s probably known it for years, it’s just that like most officials it does not seem to disturb or disillusion him very much (except maybe for Flynn, who apparently became unhinged )
LOL! Of course :the war is not over”. Because it’s never over. That’s the whole point!
This dude is making bad jin for America.