Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel and Army Gen. Martin E. Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, brief reporters at the Pentagon, Aug. 21, 2014. DOD photo by U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Sean K. Harp
Halting ISIS Would Require Attacks in Syria, Top General Says -- New York Times
WASHINGTON — The Islamic State in Iraq and Syria cannot be defeated unless the United States or its allies take on the Sunni militancy in Syria, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said Thursday afternoon.
“This is an organization that has an apocalyptic end-of-days strategic vision that will eventually have to be defeated,” the chairman, Gen. Martin Dempsey, said in his most expansive public remarks on the crisis since American airstrikes began in Iraq. “Can they be defeated without addressing that part of the organization that resides in Syria? The answer is no.”
But both General Dempsey and Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, who appeared beside him during a Pentagon news conference, deflected questions about whether the United States military would pursue the Sunni militants from Iraq into Syria, an issue that many defense experts say lies at the heart any attempt to defeat ISIS.
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My Comment: A surprising statement from Gen. Martin Dempsey (but not a surprising one) .... to defeat the Islamic State you will need to go into Syria. And while the generals may want to go into Syria to take out ISIS .... I suspect that the person who has the ultimate authority on what U.S. forces can and will do has a different point of view.
3 comments:
Putin's got to be laughing. We have gone from "we'll be bombing
Assad in 2 or 3 days" to becoming his air force. Two years ago Russia had almost no influence in the Middle East, now he's intimate with Syria and Iran, dealing with Egypt, some of the UAR, getting visits from Netanyahu, and reestablished a Russian naval presence in the Eastern Med.. Pretty good for not firing a shot or spending much more than the money his Babushka sent him for Christmas.
Meanwhile the US is running around bombing Toyota pickup trucks.
Heh .... leave the Babushka's out .... they are the backbone of Russia. :)
Come to think of it .... they are the ones who really run the country.
You've been preaching that, the pensioners support Putin.
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