Pentagon Mulls Sending More Ground Troops to Syria

Military Facing Growing Congressional Calls for Escalation

Though they still would not say if the initial deployment of ground troops into Syria had arrived yet, an anonymous Pentagon official told USA Today that the military is considering yet more deployments into the country.

Since launching its war against ISIS last year, the US has repeatedly announced small escalations on an extremely regular basis, with more troops being deployed all the time, more warplanes, and more Centcom predictions of a victory that never comes.

Still, the escalation will sit fine with Congressional leaders, as Rep. Mac Thornberry (R – TX) chair of the House Armed Services Committee, reiterated his calls for a “greater commitment” on the ground in Syria again today, promising to press the Pentagon on the matter at a Tuesday hearing.

That’s one of the milder calls, as Sens. John McCain (R – AZ) and Lindsey Graham (R – SC) are demanding 20,000 ground troops be immediately deployed to the war. The administration has avoided debate on its smaller, intermittent escalations by contrasting them to such broad, bellicose demands.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.