As Syrian civil war stretches on, U.S. sends more troops

[rug]

March 18, 2017 at 6:10 PM EDT

HARI SREENIVASAN, PBS NEWSHOUR WEEKEND ANCHOR: Homs, Syria, is where the uprising against President Bashar al Assad began in 2011. Today, the first of thousands of opposition fighters and their families began evacuating the last rebel-held neighborhoods. They’re leaving as part of a deal brokered by Russia, which backs President Bashar al Assad.

As the Syrian civil war entered its seventh year this week, the American military presence is higher than ever before, with the Trump administration sending 400 more troops to join 500 already deployed.

For more perspective on what’s happening on the ground and the role of the U.S. military, I’m joined from Washington by Doug Ollivant of the New America Foundation.

Doug, half a million people dead, getting into seven years now, millions more displaced. Any end in sight?

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/syrian-civil-war-stretches-u-s-sends-troops/

[democratisphere]

1. Starting to look like Vietnam 2.0.

So many people suffering. What a horrible mess.

[rug]

3. With an idiot like trump in charge.

[pat_k]

2. 2,500 into Kuwait "ready to step up the fight in Syria and Iraq"

https://www.armytimes.com/articles/82nd-airborne-syria-iraq-kuwait-islamic-state

[rug]

4. A neat trick to keep the actual number of troops involved appear smaller than it is.

[pat_k]

6. Oh yeah. An end run around Congress.

i think the "cap" for Syria is about 500.

http://news.antiwar.com/2017/03/10/us-deploying-thousands-more-ground-troops-to-kuwait-to-fight-in-iraq-syria/

Early reports of this strategy emerged Wednesday, when officials said there were considerations of sending around 1,000 troops into Kuwait for this operation. Just two days later, the figure was up to at least 2,500, with signs that it is continuing to grow all the time.

While President Obama was micromanaging the escalations, particularly in Iraq, where every couple of weeks another hundred or two troops would be sent, the Trump Administration appears to be throwing the troops into a big pile and leaving the deployments up to the commanders.

This adds credence to the sense that President Trump is going to be a bit more hands-off on his escalations, giving the military commanders additional leeway on actions, and even on troop levels, which is likely to raise further questions about what those commanders intend to do in the war, if they no longer have to get permission first.

[nocalflea]

5. Mission creep ?

I wonder how many Americans are supportive of more boots on the ground . How many boots on the ground are we willing to support ?

[rug]

7. With trump's Addams Family Cabinet, there's no limit.

[Botany]

8. This will not end well

Right now ISIS no doubt is trying to figure out how to capture an American GI.

[democrank]

9. War's devastation and savagery never seems to matter

because it happens over and over and over.

~PEACE~