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He ended the war in Iraq that your boy Bush started, and he is drawing down the debacle in Afghanistan, although he has backpedaled in this regard, as he is likely pressured by the military industrial complex, which knows, as he does, that the entire facade will crumble as soon as our troops are gone.
As far as breaking his promise of no "boots on the ground", his latest command to send 50 operators into the area for training is a smart thing to do. We need to do more than airstrikes against ISIS, which are pretty much useless at defeating this operation. 50 well trained operators on the ground can also gather intel in the event we need to do more rescue missions for hostages. It's a small measure, 50 troops. But such command and control relies not only on training allies, but gathering intel. Can't do it from the air.
The situation in Iraq and Syria is extremely fluid. Our allies can turn and run against the more disciplined ISIS fighters, and they need to be trained up.
Vietnam wasn't a war either.. It was never a declared war. Yet 60,000 Americans died there at the convenience of our government. It was a police action. (I never saw a cop). People that split hairs over what is and isn't a war are intellectually dishonest and pointing them to the truth will always be an effort in futility. John Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson never took us to war according to his definition of convenience.
I mean, Bush deployed hundreds of thousands of U.S. troops to his pointless war. THOUSANDS of them were killed. HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS of Iraqis- many of them peaceful civilians- were killed.
So while I'm not too impressed with Obama's foreign policy... I can't point to anything he's initiated that's even remotely on that scale.
amounts to 50 Special Forces personnel. That is hardly going to be a decisive blow to Islamic State militants, even if we believe the official rationale for their deployment.
50? Seriously? Special forces personnel are not space aliens. These people are humans, super humans maybe, but they are still humans. It is ridiculous to send only 50, how about sending 0 instead!
They are a preliminary group of advisors essentially to get on the ground and try to
pick up the pieces from the massive Russian effort that has essentially cleaned up
the whole country and put Assad back in the driver's seat.
Rachel Maddow said this week that her sources indicate this 50 special op advisors
are going to assess the need for more troops across the country.
It's all clear now. The RT article is spot-on.
The only way it falls apart is if Russia is still willing to bomb where the American
human shields are.
It could also unravel if Iranian and Syrian forces converge to kill Americans.
Putin is being tested.
Why does it all have to be such a sick joke ?
I hate the actions of America.
How does the forum feel about the prospect of American special forces
being put in harms way to protect terrorists ?
Did our soldiers join the military to become human shields protecting
the most disgusting killers on the planet ?
Interesting take on it. And accurate too I suspect. Can you imagine how the **** will hit the fan if/when one of these American soldiers is blown up?
I think there are two possible (and NOT mutually exclusive) goals here:
1. Deterrance- just as the article describes. Russia will think twice about shooting/bombing any groups where American soldiers are hanging out. For obvious reasons.
2. Perhaps the powers that be WANT an escalation of the war? Or at least they're more than willing to accept it. Remember how Woodrow Wilson got us into WWI? He made it clear than any American casualties- even on British ships, knowing they were at war- were cause to go to war with Germany. He even pushed the issue further by shipping supplies and munitions on these passenger ships. And then the inevitable happened... the rest is history. Now, we're not talking about American CIVILIANS here... but the tactic is pretty similar.
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