Posted on 12/20/2024 12:38:02 AM PST by Tench_Coxe
In a surprise announcement, the Defense Department disclosed Thursday that U.S. officials have doubled the number of American troops in Syria to support the fight ISIS, an increase that predates the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime this month.
The Pentagon press secretary, Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder, said at the Pentagon briefing that the U.S. has roughly 2,000 troops deployed in Syria, even though the U.S. military and U.S. Central Command have consistently reported having only 900 troops there.
Ryder did not say when the number of U.S. personnel had increased. He said he had learned Thursday that the number has been significantly higher for some time.
(Excerpt) Read more at nbcnews.com ...
1. The Pentagon is lying (plausible)
2. The Pentagon on a whole may not know, which means there is an element in our military structure that is operating operating independent of the chain of command (given revelations re: Milley, Esper, et al, this isn't so far fetched either)
Both are problematic, but the second option should be cause for concern.
Third reason: The group of people puppeteering Biden intended to get us in another war that would deflect criticism and allow them to stifle dissent - because questioning the government is treasonous during time of war, right?
I think it is just mission creep. And need for more defense on our chosen sights.
The whole thing is a potential quagmire. Emulate the Israelis. Blow up crap that could project their hate beyond their border and leave.
Fourth reason: This is Joe’s way of burning it all down.
During the First and Second World Wars -- both officially declared wars -- Pres. Wilson there were US Federal laws providing for censorship of the press and prosecution of sedition.
The Sedition Act of 1918 defined "sedition" as:
During WWII, though there were more incarcerations of "alien" populations (i.e., Japanese, German & Italian), there were fewer prosecutions for sedition, and there have been none since 1945, that I can find.
In 1953 the Rosenbergs were convicted and executed for espionage, while in 2006 Adam Gadahn was charged with treason for providing information to al-Qaeda.
Gadahn was never captured but died in a 2015 US drone strike in Pakistan.
So, as best I can tell, it's been about 80 years since anyone was prosecuted only for "questioning the government".
Options aren’t mutually exclusive.
So we’re up to 2000 this week. What will the number be next week, and the week after?
Incredible how they can get away with LYING to us so easily. But thank goodness they NEVER LIE about Ruzzia and Ukraine, no, they wouldn’t dare do that.
The Pentagon was lying.
Many knew there were more forces in Syria. As well as the remnants of the Coalition to eliminate ISIS.
Turkey is trying to take over Syria. Period.
Erdoo is the only leader in the world who would shelter ISIS. He has done so for many years.
If nothing else, they would use it to shout down people complaining about the Administration. They’re already projecting that on the Trump Admin.
There has been some resurgence of ISIS, in particular, in the desert areas not well controlled by other groups. Also, since Hamas attacked Israel, there has been an increase in attacks by Iranian backed militias on US troops. Basically, we and the Kurds present an additional impediment “in the way” of Iranian logistics to Hezbollah. Likely, that helped Israel a lot, but as activity ramped up, that stretched our forces too thin. The Pentagon would likely not want to volunteer this info., until it figured it had to confirm it.
The problem is, like Roundup, without frequent re-application, in short order the weeds are choking the field again.
Actually, that’s an oversimplification.
Recall recent history: ISIS was on the march and killed a lot of Kurds. ISIS was obviously a huge threat to most everyone else in the region too, and beyond, so, we (and others like Russia) stepped in. We wanted to hold down our casualties and the Kurds were more than willing to fight, so, we provided the air, intel, and advanced weapons support, and the Kurds provided the Gropos, the Kurds again with heavy casualties. That worked, but, to keep ISIS suppressed, we couldn’t just arm them to the teeth, because Turkey would then attack the Kurds, as within the Kurds (but not dominant) is the PKK, which almost everyone still deems a terrorist organization. Add to this the disruption of Hezbollah’s logistics by the we and the Kurds simply being in (more or less) in the right area. I suspect that last is a major, generally unspoken factor. It’s easier to get support for “we have to keep ISIS down” than it is to argue for disrupting Hezbollah’s logistics.
Argument can be made that the Israelis should take on our role, and there seems to be some thought by the Kurds to move that way, but, Israel doesn’t have the “NATO leverage” on Turkey that the US does, not to mention that a potential dust up with Turkey is NOT a place Israel wants to go. Nor does Israel want to become over-extended defending a large area not even adjacent to itself. The Kurds, for their part, don’t want a partner who only shows up when things go to hell, they want a partner who will help prevent that.
Yuck.
Amir Tasrfati (Dec 22, 2024)
behold israel channel
The Syrian Center for Human Rights reports a convoy of US military reinforcements arriving in the area of the Kurdish city of Kobani in northern Syria, near the border with Turkey. In addition, reinforcements were reported to have arrived via US cargo planes to the Harb al-Jir base in eastern Syria - amid the escalation of fighting between pro-Turkish forces and the Kurdish SDF forces.
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