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Report: Securing Syrian Chemical Weapons Would Take 75,000 Ground Troops
Townhall.com ^ | September 5, 2013 | Katie Pavlich

Posted on 09/05/2013 1:00:46 PM PDT by Kaslin

During a hearing in front of the House Foreign Relations Committee Thursday, Secretary of State John Kerry suggested the United States would eventually need to put boots on the ground in Syria in order to secure stockpiles of chemical weapons. When pressed on the issue, Kerry quickly walked back the troops on the ground option and stated he was simply "thinking out loud" when he made the statement. A resolution passed by the Senate Armed Service Committee yesterday, leaving wiggle room for troops to be eventually placed on the ground in Syria.

Now, the Daily Mail is reporting the Pentagon knew a year ago that in order to effectively secure chemical weapons, at least 75,000 ground troops would need to be deployed.

Securing Syria's chemical weapons stockpiles and the facilities that produced them would likely require the U.S. to send more than 75,000 ground troops into the Middle Eastern country, MailOnline learned Wednesday.

That estimate comes from a secret memorandum the U.S. Department of Defense prepared for President Obama in early 2012.

U.S. Central Command arrived at the figure of 75,000 ground troops as part of a written series of military options for dealing with Bashar al-Assad more than 18 months ago, long before the U.S. confirmed internally that the Syrian dictator was using the weapons against rebel factions within his borders.

'The report exists, and it was prepared at the request of the National Security Advisor's staff,' a Department of Defense official with knowledge of the inquiry told MailOnline Wednesday on condition of anonymity.

'DoD spent lots of time and resources on it. Everyone understood that this wasn't a pointless exercise, and that eventually we would be tasked with going and getting the VX and sarin, so there was lots of due diligence.'


For some perspective, at the beginning of the Iraq war in 2003, just 63,000 troops were deployed.

So, what exactly is going to happen? President Obama has clearly indicated he's interested in a minor strike against Syria with no plan B should Bashir al-Assad be taken out of power. Senator John McCain wants to arm rebels in order to shift power away from Assad on the battlefield. Secretary of State John Kerry wants troops on the ground because realistically, that's the only way intervening in the civil war will be at least somewhat effective. He also wants the Saudis to bank roll for the whole thing.

The American people don't want intervention at all according to multiple polls.

 photo Screenshot2013-09-05at21231PM_zps135782f0.png

The question now is this: What is the goal of the United States? To secure chemical weapons or to destroy them.



TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial; Foreign Affairs
KEYWORDS: 0bama; bootsontheground; johnkerry; obamasyriaattack; syria; syriachemicalweapons
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1 posted on 09/05/2013 1:00:46 PM PDT by Kaslin
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To: Kaslin

Nuke them


2 posted on 09/05/2013 1:02:05 PM PDT by LeoWindhorse
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To: Kaslin

“The question now is this: What is the goal of the United States? To secure chemical weapons or to destroy them.”

Yes, Mr. _Resident. What IS your goal here? What IS your exit strategy?

*SMIRK* This administration sickens me.


3 posted on 09/05/2013 1:03:51 PM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin (I don't have 'Hobbies.' I'm developing a robust Post-Apocalyptic skill set...)
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To: Kaslin

Obama & Kerry would love to destroy the “Property Of Iraq Republican Guard”.


4 posted on 09/05/2013 1:04:30 PM PDT by TexasCajun (Creepy-Ass Cracka -- Don't Call Me Cracker)
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To: Kaslin

You know, if 0bama was any kind of leader (haha), he would try to get Russia and China to join with the US and the UN to request that Assad disarm and surrender all their chemical weapons. If the sole purpose is to keep these weapons from being used again, he should be able to make this happen.

But since his purpose to to help his MB buddies, he can’t imagine doing this.


5 posted on 09/05/2013 1:05:19 PM PDT by Truth is a Weapon (Truth, it hurts so good.)
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To: Kaslin

I hot an idea let’s just send in ALL of the NEWLY Minted FEMALE Combatants.


6 posted on 09/05/2013 1:05:37 PM PDT by US Navy Vet (Go Packers! Go Rockies! Go Boston Bruins! See, I'm "Diverse"!)
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To: Kaslin

Where in the hell did Syria get WMDs on this scale or quality? And how do we know what they have?


7 posted on 09/05/2013 1:08:00 PM PDT by Tenacious 1 (Waiting for next tagline.)
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To: Kaslin

As Gomer Pyle would say...”Surprise, surprise, surprise”


8 posted on 09/05/2013 1:08:06 PM PDT by DJlaysitup
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To: Truth is a Weapon

If Assad disarms we will have the Brotherhood running things in a week.


9 posted on 09/05/2013 1:08:32 PM PDT by Venturer ( cowardice posturing as tolerance =political correctness)
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To: Kaslin

Someone should alert our supreme stratego player we used to have some military presence in Iraq, that would be the next country to the east. Also, someone should alert him those units noted on his forces chart as reserve are mostly not active at the moment.

So, where will the forces come from Supreme Stratego Player?

This reminds me of when the Ruskies invaded Czeckoslovakia in 68. We were committed elsewhere but the bright light planners put a few companies of the 101st on airplanes with 150 rds of ammo in case they were needed in Europe.


10 posted on 09/05/2013 1:08:48 PM PDT by Mouton (The insurrection laws perpetuate what we have for a government now.)
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11 posted on 09/05/2013 1:09:14 PM PDT by Kaslin (He needed the ignorant to reelect him, and he got them. Now we all have to pay the consequenses)
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To: Kaslin

Boy Obama sure looks stupid pulling out our troops from Iraq and Afghanistan when they knew there was trouble brewing in Syria as far back as 2012.

Maybe someone in the MSM will write about it?


12 posted on 09/05/2013 1:12:43 PM PDT by EQAndyBuzz (Make today a great day. Insult a liberal.)
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To: Kaslin

13 posted on 09/05/2013 1:13:12 PM PDT by McGruff (Strange times are these in which we live..)
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To: Diana in Wisconsin
I would also like to ask a few "What ifs."

1.) What if when attacking Assad's military assets, we inadvertently kill civilians?

2.) What if while attacking any part of Assad's military assets a Russian adviser or advisers are inadvertently killed?

3.) What if while attacking any part of Assad's military assets we accidentally hit a store of chemical weapons and they are released into a neighborhood?

4.) What if we effectively hit Assad's military assets and leave chemical weapons unsecured. Who would have access to them? How do we prevent al-Qaeda from getting their hands on them?

5.) What happens if/when Assad demonstrates his ability to fight back and actually sinks one of our war ships?

6.) What if Russia comes to the aid of their ally (like they said they would) and sinks one of our war ships?

I haven't heard ANY of these questions being asked of ANYBODY in authority!

Now if a dumb dumb like me can think to ask these questions, why can't those supposedly smarter than me ask the same thing of those who are trying as hard as they can to rush us off to war?

14 posted on 09/05/2013 1:14:18 PM PDT by bayliving
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To: Kaslin

Kattie was great on The Five. They should replace that airhead Dana Perino with her. Pavlich is smart and interesting. Perino is a fool.


15 posted on 09/05/2013 1:18:05 PM PDT by SUSSA
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To: Kaslin

Not sure that I believe most of those polls.


16 posted on 09/05/2013 1:18:14 PM PDT by foundedonpurpose (It's time for a fundamental restoration, of our country's principles!)
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To: LeoWindhorse

My thoughts exactly....why ‘secure’ something dangerous? Destroy it with the most destructive means possible.

Anyone worrying about collateral damage - we can drop them some leaflets a few days before telling them to go buy some 50,000 sun block...


17 posted on 09/05/2013 1:18:57 PM PDT by Gaffer
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To: Kaslin

Hell no!! No troops to Syria to fight FOR al-Qaeda!! We have absolutely zero national interest, zero to gain, but everything to lose. This is nothing more than Obama’s continuing treasonous fight to have his pals the Muslim Brotherhood controlling all of the Middle East.

This is Obama’s war, not America’s!!

NO BLOOD FOR OBAMA!!


18 posted on 09/05/2013 1:19:34 PM PDT by Jim Robinson (Resistance to tyrants is obedience to God!!)
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To: EQAndyBuzz

Don’t count on it...


19 posted on 09/05/2013 1:19:53 PM PDT by NEMDF
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To: SUSSA

Despite what anyone might say, that Dana Perino is a certified liberal. She may have worked for Bush, but she’ll betray you in a heartbeat.


20 posted on 09/05/2013 1:21:02 PM PDT by Gaffer
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