Charles Pierce: Syria Is a Clusterf*ck, and It's About to Get Worse for the US

[eridani]

http://readersupportednews.org/opinion2/277-75/33196-syria-is-a-clusterfck-and-its-about-to-get-worse-for-the-us

I am getting ominous 1965 flashbacks again. Robert McNamara and Creighton Abrams are starting to appear in my mind's eye, pointing down a long, dark tunnel at the lights of an oncoming train.?

The debate over the proposed steps, which would for the first time position a limited number of Special Operations forces on the ground in Syria and put U.S. advisers closer to the firefights in Iraq, comes as Defense Secretary Ashton B. Carter presses the military to deliver new options for greater military involvement in Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan. The changes would represent a significant escalation of the American role in Iraq and Syria. They still require formal approval from Obama, who could make a decision as soon as this week and could decide not to alter the current course, said U.S. officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the discussions are still ongoing. It's unclear how many additional troops would be required to implement the changes being considered by the president, but the number for now is likely to be relatively small, these officials said.

? "The number for now…"?

Those are two words—"for now"—that could be full of blood. There could be hundreds of American kids interred in those two words—"for now"—along with god knows how many Syrians and Iraqis. Once, we allegedly learned the folly of involving ourselves in a distant civil war. Now, we seem primed to involve ourselves in two of them. Our role seems to have been designed in a funhouse mirror.

The biggest problem facing Carter, and Obama, is that the increase in American military commitment would be unlikely to produce any major changes to the political situations in Iraq and Syria that have given rise to the Islamic State. In Iraq, the United States is fighting the Islamic State alongside Shiite militias—some of which are backed by Iran. Just across the border in Syria, Iran-backed Shiite militias are fighting in support of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, who is barrel-bombing civilians and battling the moderate rebel groups that the United States is supporting. Obama has said that Assad, who depends on Iranian and Russian military backing for his regime's survival, must go for there to be any hope of peace.

[Katashi_itto]

1. K&R!

[newfie11]

2. A HUGE K&R!!!!!!

[Paper Roses]

3. Vietnam in the Middle East. Will our war nightmare ever end? n/t

[dixiegrrrrl]

4. Saw that coming the minute they said military is "assisting"

rebels /insurgents/ anti-Al-Quada/ anti-ISIS/ anti Taliban...flavor of the week "other guys".
IOW.."advisors".

Anyone who was sentient in the Viet Nam days knows the playbook.
It was a quagmire there, it is quicksand now.

[McKim]

5. Smells Like Vietnam

Yes. It's the same old story. Our government can't stand back while the adults take over. We have to strut our stuff as a world bully.
We just can't spend enough money on this while our people go hungry and undereducated! My brother in law died in Vietnam and I smell a rat, my friends.

[Darb]

6. Doubt it.

But when it doesn't play out like Pierce hopes, or dreads, nobody will be there to point out how wrong he was.

I say this Russian excursion pushes things to a point of cease fire and it will slowly play itself out. Middle east type Viet Nam? Doubt it.

[eridani]

9. Found a reference that agrees with you

A Glimmer of Hope for Syria

http://www.commondreams.org/views/2015/10/29/glimmer-hope-syria

Despite all the ranting from armchair-warriors across Official Washington – urging attacks on the Syrian military and even Russian warplanes inside Syria – cooler heads may have finally prevailed with Secretary of State John Kerry agreeing to a formula that will let Iran participate in Syrian peace talks set to begin Friday in Geneva.

The point here is that Iran and Russia, as allies of the Syrian government, are in a strong position to urge concessions from Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, much as Russian President Vladimir Putin did in 2013 when he pressured Assad to surrender Syria’s chemical weapons arsenal. Also, in late 2013, Putin helped wrest concessions from Iran over its nuclear program.

Assuming Kerry shows corresponding flexibility by relenting on the U.S. demand that “Assad must go” as a precondition to negotiations – and puts pressure on the U.S.-backed Syrian opposition to accept some compromise with Assad – perhaps this humanitarian catastrophe can be brought under some measure of control.

It is way past time for sanity and realism to replace the endless “tough guy/gal” posturing that has consumed Official Washington since 2011 as a quarter million Syrians have been killed and millions have fled as refugees across the Mideast and into Europe.

The only narrative that’s been allowed in the mainstream U.S. press is that Assad is responsible for nearly every bad thing that’s happened, ignoring the support that Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and even Israel have provided to jihadist fighters, including Al Qaeda’s Nusra Front and Al Qaeda’s spinoff, the Islamic State (also known as ISIS, ISIL or Daesh).

[Caretha]

7. So who in the hell

gave the US or the Obama administration permission/approval to support/finance/train these so called "moderate rebel groups"?

Congress? The American people? Syria?

Is the military using my gawd damn hard earned tax dollars? Why I do declare, I believe they are.

We are so not a democracy - it's all a sham...this administration is no better than the previous one, and I thought that we'd voted the fucking crazy warmongers (Cheney, Bush, Rumsfeld et al) out. Silly me.

[Skittles]

8. since Obama never held Bush Inc. accountable for poking a stick into the hornet's nest

he will shoulder the blame for said clusterf***