Trevor Timm, The Guardian: US special forces in Syria are Obama's latest broken foreign policy promise
Obama was elected on a promise to pull back US troops from the Middle East. Instead, the presidency has been marked by mission creep
The Obama administration announced on Friday it will send US special forces into Syria, breaking its repeated vow that Barack Obama would not send ground troops into the war-torn country. This is the latest in a series of U-turns and broken promises that further cements our Forever War and sets a disturbing precedent for whoever becomes the next US president in 2016.
These forces will supposedly be “advising and assisting” rebel armies in the northern Syria who are fighting Isis, including Kurdish forces, while not engaging in direct combat. (Separately on Friday, the prime minister of Turkey, a member of the anti-Isis coalition, threatened to attack the US-backed Kurdish troops, who are believed to be the most effective fighting force against Isis, yet also sworn enemies of the Turkish government.)
While the administration says they will only be “advising and assisting” we know that the US military has already carried out combat operations inside Syria. “Advise and assist” is the same thing the White House said that our troops would be doing in Iraq, but now the Pentagon is admitting: “We’re in combat” in Iraq as well (and have been for months).
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WNU Editor: I would also add that the U.S. is now engaged in so many military operations/wars/conflicts/etc. around the globe that even this blog .... which monitors these events .... has lost track. Was this the scenario that American voters believed in when they first elected President Obama .... I doubt it. And for the next U.S. President .... untangling this mess is probably going to be his (or hers) biggest task .... unless the global financial system completely collapses from now to then.
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