U.S. Officials Won’t Call Russia’s Invasion Of Ukraine An “Invasion”

BuzzFeedNews ^ | August 28, 2014 | Rosie Gray

[Hojczyk]

Whatever you do, don’t call it an invasion.

U.S. officials are refusing to call Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine this week an invasion, and the issue is not on the agenda for Thursday’s National Security Council meeting.

“Today the president is meeting with his National Security Council to discuss the situation in Iraq and Syria, our ongoing efforts to support the Iraqi government, and our efforts to counter the threat posed by ISIL,” a White House official said on Thursday when asked if the situation in Ukraine would also be a part of the meeting. “You should not expect that we’ll have new decisions to announce on these issues today.”

The meeting will include heads of intelligence agencies, Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel, Vice President Joe Biden, and Secretary of State John Kerry, the three of whom plan to join remotely. The meeting is expected to include discussion of whether or not the U.S. will carry out strikes against the Islamist terrorist organization ISIS inside Syria.

Russian combat troops are currently inside southeastern Ukraine. NATO released satellite imagery showing this on Thursday. “The satellite images released today provide additional evidence that Russian combat soldiers, equipped with sophisticated heavy weaponry, are operating inside Ukraine’s sovereign territory,” NATO Brigadier General Nico Tak said. Despite this, no one seems to want to call what is going on in Ukraine an invasion.

[Captain Rhino]

Actually, I have heard of the Flying Tigers.

But, as the link below relates, Chennault and the rest were contract members of the Nationalist Chinese Air Force. The Chinese Air Force also owned the aircraft.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flying_Tigers

A better example would be the fully armed “volunteer” forces deployed by Germany, Italy, and Russia to Spain during the Spanish Ciivil War. However, I doubt any of them were in “leave” status while there.

[Captain Rhino]

The mention of Americans fighting with ISIS is an inappropriate comparison since: 1) they are not active duty members of the US Armed Forces, 2) being on leave is a authorized duty status for a serving member of an armed force - regardless of country, and 3) soldiers do not take organizational weapons (tanks, artillery, advanced AA missile systems, etc.) with them when they do go on leave.

Those Americans currently fighting with or even attempting to travel to fight with ISIS fall into another ststus. They are CRIMINALS since it is a felony under US law to give material aid to a terrorist organization. Every subsequent act they take will be done in furthering a criminal enterprise. The few that survive will be subject to arrest and imprisonment once they return. Personally, I hope they all die horrific deaths at the the hands of the peoples they came to brutalize or, at the very least, die in a hailstorem of American bullets and bombs. They richly deserve the worst end possible.

The use of “on leave” to somehow legitimize the insertion of Russian troops and arms into eastern Ukraine fools no one. And it actually degrades the service of the Russian soldiers sent to fight. If a government has ordered its soldiers as a unit to go fight in another country, it should at least have the integrity to state so openly and without using some vapor-thin fiction that they are just engaged in some sort of group off-duty activity.