Jason Ditz of AntiWar.com writes, “The idea that this could be accomplished with only ‘small teams’ of ground troops is dramatically far afield of what officials were saying only last week, when they claimed that the plans involved a 50,000-60,000 strong occupation force just to secure weapons, and even more for ‘peacekeeping’…
Officials did not indicate what ‘small teams’ meant in terms of numbers, or try to explain the difference from last week’s figures. It could reflect two different schools of thought inside the administration, or could simply be a way to get ‘some’ troops on the ground by any means necessary and then later on use the larger estimates as an excuse to escalate.”
As with Iran, Syria poses no legitimate threat to the United States of America or the American people. However, that does not stop the President and the Pentagon from preparing to invade yet another country.
Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the military has a “very professional and a very trained and ready force in the Gulf region … and it’s in a deterrent preparedness posture, but at some point if we’re asked to use it, it’ll be ready… I take the president’s word that he will consider the use of chemical and biological warfare as a game changer.”
While I can’t predict the future, I believe any action against Syria by the US military will lead to an attack on Iran. I suspect this partly because of the negative rhetoric against Iran and partly because of the relationship between Syria and Iran. Hossein Taeb, the head of the intelligence bureau of the Iranian Army of the Guardians of the Islamic Revolution, said, “We all have a responsibility to support Syria and not allow the line of resistance to be broken.”
I certainly do not condone the violence being perpetrated by Syrian President Bashar al Assad. Neither do I support the violence being perpetrated by the American government. Since the U.S. and coalition attacks began the American military has killed nearly 1 million people in Afghanistan and Iraq. Since 2009 there have been approximately 2,500 deaths from drone attacks in Pakistan, alone. The Congress recently passed legislation that allows the American military to use drones in the United States and the FAA estimates 10,000 drones in the sky by 2017, so don’t rule out the possibility of drone attacks in the “land of the free” in the not too distant future.
Whether or not the American military attacks Syria, Iran or any other country, I will continue to speak out against future violence, especially violence perpetrated by the American military.