Escalations of airstrikes against ISIS targets are so common as to be virtually trivial at this point, but Pentagon officials are expressing growing disquiet about the latest calls for dramatic escalation of the war, saying they don’t believe the political leadership has learned the lessons of Iraq and Afghanistan.
They warn military gains quickly evaporate in the absence of political and diplomatic moves to sustain those gains, and see a similar expectation of a sweeping military victory without any real moves to sustain it coming up once again.
“We can kill a lot of them,” one senior military official noted, but with ISIS continuing to attract massive numbers of recruits and losing very few to anything but fighting, it’s not a long-term solution, and would just lead to a future war with a future ISIS.
Indeed the US already went through this once, killing massive numbers of al-Qaeda in Iraq (AQI) forces during the Iraqi occupation, only to see them rebuild rapidly amid sectarian tension in Iraq, expand into Syria, and become the huge ISIS caliphate they are today.
Officials don’t seem to have a good idea how to resolve the sources of ISIS recruitment, let alone much interest in doing so. Military action is the go-to political talking point, and a lot of officials see it as a cure-all, despite its checkered history. This means ultimately the Pentagon is likely to be dragged deeper and deeper into this war, repeating the mistakes of the past.
Excellent. However, tomorrow some other Pentagon official is going to claim that war is the only answer. It happens too often that one reasonable statement coming from the Pentagon is quickly drowned out by lunacy.
Yes, diplomacy and political solutions. That is if the US had a foreign policy. Instead israel has a foreign policy and the US has to enforce it.
Support Assad. Stop treating Iran as a danger to the region. Let the people elect whomever they wish to elect and support stability and order. Then you'll notice how attacks on terrorists can be much more effective. But if IS is the only employer in town because you've blown up the government, don't be surprised that youth flocks to it. Not unlike American youth selling their soul to the US military, in a way, because it's not like the US is full of opportunities anymore.
I certainly support stability and order. However Syria and Iraq are now destabilised and have fallen into disorder. Therefore I'd suggest that the best strategy is to step back and let the locals fight it out. Once the most murderous of the contending monsters has mangled and mutilated his way to power, Obama hugs and kisses him, congratulates him on his staunch support of democracy and decency, points out how much the US was paying the other guy to be reasonable, and offers him the same deal. You'll have noticed how a similar deal with Hirohito and the Japanese ruling class worked well in Japan after WW2. The rapid rubber-stamping of de-nazification certificates and the placing of the old administration in power in West Germany at the same time also worked well. Whereas Bremer's disbanding of the Iraqi army and dismissal of 'Baathists' in the administration destroyed the structure of the Iraqi state and left the US struggling to rebuild it.
What would that strategy accomplish though? And IS isn't made up of locals fighting for some political goals.
In a way, yes, step back but only if that means stop supporting IS, stop arming them, stop funding them, stop turning a blind eye to those who are providing material support, etc. Only then can Syria with Russia's help clean up the mess and rebuild.
Of course! Let Putin win! What's scaring this blogger is obviously the idea that Putin is getting bogged down in Syria and will ultimately destroy himself.
"Let the locals fight it out" is not good enough (even if Putin was willing to withdraw, which he is not). The US cannot just go into someone's country, make a mess and then say "sorry, we shouldn't have intervened" and then go home leaving the locals to clean up the mess as best they can. It's abit like saying "I realise now I shouldn't have shot that guy dead and, let me assure you, the next time I meet him, I won't shoot him dead"!
Israel is our master. Israel wants Assad gone and that is what will happen. American boots on the ground will then insure a minimal amount of stability in Syria until Israel can goad us into storming Tehran.
This blogger is obviously scared silly of the idea that US generals are saying that the war in Syria is unwinnable. In the light of the tenor of his comments on many other articles, I'm not in the least bit surprised.
I don't think the war in Syria is unwinnable. I'm not the one who thinks that IS is invincible, that it is more powerful than states. IS gets its money from somewhere, it gets its weapons from somewhere. It's not like IS is a producer of anything. The West (including Russia) could easily and quickly cut off financing and arms from these jerks. But there is no political will in the West (excluding Russia).
The real problem is not "absence of political and diplomatic moves." There are plenty of moves. The problem is that the moves are to exploit those gains, not "to sustain those gains."
The difference is profound. We don't want or attempt anything good for the people of those countries. We don't want or attempt anything that could last on its merits.
It is pure "War is a Racket" straight out of Gen. Smedley Butler's explanation of the Banana Wars.
the military would never admit that their role is good as useless and even counterproductive because it would mean a downscaling to realisitic levels – self preservation and growth are their aims
I don't think we should call it the Isis caliphate. It's a fringe muslim group and it gives them legitamacy that no muslim accepts. Their guy isn't even really a descandant of Hussein so let's just call it Daesh. It's what the Arabs call it.
"…Officials don’t seem to have a good idea how to resolve the sources of ISIS recruitment…"
Perhaps if the "officials" were examining the root causes for the rise of these kinds of groups – and then mitigating those root causes they wouldn't need to be concerned with reducing the number of ISIS recruits. But to examine why ISIS exists would require a cold-blooded extensive look at what the US has done to create and grow these groups. And the likelihood that that will happen is nil.
@skyblaze: In this election cycle the military is not concerned with admitting their failures because those running for President and those who are in Congress are so nationalistically ginned up that even the truth won't cause them to cut the defense (offense) budget. It would make them (Pres and Congress) appear "soft on terror" or in league with the muslims and the "base" doesn't like those kinds of images. But then, the military isn't actually taking responsibility for their failures…it's all (always) the fault of the civilian politicians.
The MSM is falling all over itself in trying to attribute the Paris bombings to everything other than our own stupid sticking the hornets nest,and than giving them better stingers than swords.And Israel?Bulletproof.Absolutely innocent.sheesh,what a disaster of prejudiced minds.
And yes,the military does take orders from the pols,so yes the blame for all this goes to the bought off Ziowhores.
The war in Syria is unwinnable. If the military are starting to say that out loud, so much the better. Obama's unwillingness to commit ground troops suggests that he shares that view. Of course, if Putin wants to wade in, the way LBJ did in Vietnam, I doubt if anyone will try to stop him.
Jan 28, 2015 Suspected ISIS leader in Pakistan admits receiving funds via US report
A suspected Islamic State operative in Pakistan, Yousaf al Salafi, confesses to recruiting jihadists to fight in Syria, and says he received funds, wired through the U.S. RT's Gayane Chichakyan reports.
https://youtu.be/m3CRWcR4U5o
“We can kill a lot of them,” one senior military official noted…'
Afterwards, that psychopathic murderer will just spend another
500 million in USG taxpayer's dollars to recruit and arm more
boogeyman (terrorists) he can kill.