Pic Of The Moment: Report: Trump May Put U.S. Troops Into Syria

[EarlG]

The Pentagon mulls troops on the ground in Syria

This "simple" chart of the war in Syria shows it's actually mind-bogglingly complicated

Follow @demunderground

[lapfog_1]

1. For Trump, the answer is simple

We will fight on the side that Putin tells him to.

[NCjack]

27. #45 will torn. He will also want to fight on

the side that SAYS nice things about him.

[ck4829]

2. People sneered at me at another forum when I said Trump would have troops be human shields for Putin

Sometimes I hate it when I'm right.

[Liberalagogo]

11. So do The Simpsons

[2naSalit]

3. K&R

[Initech]

4. Our troops will be walking into a trap. This is not good at all.

[gordianot]

5. Simple who ever made the best deal for Trump businesses.

But now just who that is depends on our Russian overlords.

[Ilsa]

6. For now, Mattis sayz No.

This thread offers a report on why Mattis or anyone might back away from 45's order:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10028658861

[yuiyoshida]

7. What is it about Republican Presidents that Just love to send young guys to WAR

They gotta be tough or something, but its not their life on the line, and soon the caskets come back with American Flags draped across them, and they are so fucking proud...

[alfredo]

8. He probably thinks it will help his poll numbers

[yuiyoshida]

12. Sure , another wanna be "WAR PRESIDENT" ...remember that?

geeze louise!!

[alfredo]

16. Sure do. Hated it.

[Dark n Stormy Knight]

23. It probably will.

[alfredo]

24. A terrorist attack might help him act presidential.

Of course he will make it about him.

[Dark n Stormy Knight]

25. He can't act and he's not nor will he ever be presidential.

Not least because, as you say, he makes everything about him.

[alfredo]

30. I don't think he will last the year.

[Dark n Stormy Knight]

38. Then we get Pence. If he goes, then a string of other RWers. There is no easy cure for all the ills

visited and to be visited upon us by the idiotic election of this moron.

[alfredo]

39. If Pence was part of the coverup, he should go too.

The FBI has said they aren't going to prosecute Flynn. That could mean he is cooperating, or it could mean they aren't prosecuting.

[Dark n Stormy Knight]

40. Right. Time will tell.

Hopefully, time will tell all. Unlikely, but I can hope!

[alfredo]

41. Sessions will stonewall any investigation.

[FairWinds]

9. That is actually a pretty good chart, with one major omission . .

which is the 600 pound gorilla in the room.

The Syrian civil war is in large part a project of Saudi Arabia, and
ISIS could not persist without their support.

Among the US foreign policy elite with respect to the Syrian civil war,
Saudi Arabia is known only half jokingly as "the country whose name
must not be mentioned," which of course is a huge problem for anyone
really interested in defeating ISIS.

Further, the ISIS supply lines go through Turkey, which has tried to use
ISIS as a club against the Kurds. We'll see if that changes - I have my
doubts.

[klook]

10. Incredibly bad idea.

Last edited Thu Feb 16, 2017, 04:46 PM - Edit history (1)

Therefore, President Bannon will be behind it 100%. And Trump will be able to get more compliments from his mancrush Putin.

[keithbvadu2]

13. I ask the right wingers who we should be fighting for. They run like the wind to not answer.

[ProudProgressiveNow]

14. K&R nt

[wordpix]

15. the minute "may" becomes "we will/are," start demanding a DRAFT

of EVERYONE, including the Richie Rich sons and daughters.

I do not want war at all but if this so-called pres. thinks he can rely on poor young recruits as cannon fodder while his rich billionaire friends skate, he should get an earful.

And apparently the armed forces are spending a LOT of our $$$ on recruiting so getting poor young recruits is not so easy.

[wordpix]

17. forgot to say the draft during Vietnam woke up the entire nation

and "brought the war home." THIS is why the war ended---it outraged many people, including the fact that deferments were given to the likes of Trump and Cheney, while poor kids were drafted.

[alfredo]

18. A bad economy helps recruitment. The only way T45 can up recruitment is to push us into a recession

[Averagegrunt]

29. Slightly

Under the current structure of recruitment we get more recruits out of middleclass to upper middle class households then any where else. In fact it is far harder to recruit in economically downtrodden areas then it is in middle class suburba.

[alfredo]

32. The downtrodden don't feel they have a stake in our society.

[Averagegrunt]

35. Well

If you mean that's why they don't join the service then you mistaken. Most aren't even qualified to join. The biggest issue is they have a twisted preconceived notion of what the military is and are so set in that belief that no one or anything can convince them other wise.

[alfredo]

36. Technology has outpaced their education

[Averagegrunt]

28. So many

So many insulting statements in this response I'm not sure where to start.

[SwissTony]

19. I know memory is often a little tricky...

but I seem to recall reading a post from a couple of years ago which stated that the US Army was supporting one group of rebels who were fighting against another group of rebels who were being supported by The Pentagon.

No link, of course, just a somewhat vague memory...

[keithbvadu2]

20. Republican Syria solutions

When the Syria/ISIS situation became hot in the news a while back, there were several republican 'solutions'.

Some wanted to support the rebels (ISIS).
Some wanted to support the gov't.
Some blamed Obama for not acting forcefully.
Some sat on their butts, refusing to come in off vacation to discuss it.

No matter what Obama does, he is following republican policy.

(written before 20 Jan 2017)

[Mars and Minerva]

21. Get your friends and family out of the Military now!

If I had college aged kids I would consider sending them to the beautiful University of Toronto https://www.utoronto.ca/

[bora13]

22. to late

i have a nephew that graduated basic Dec. 1. And his mom voted for t-rump. nice, eh?

[DFW]

26. In my hour with Obama in 2012, we discussed exactly this dilemma

It was off the record then, but he is no longer in office, and it was 5 years ago, so I think this is OK to divulge now.

When Syria came up, he said he had asked Putin 2 years before (i.e. in 2010)if he wanted to find a joint solution. Putin told him, essentially, to fuck off. Obama said he thought it senseless to commit US troops to the ground in Syria because it by then (2012) it had devolved into an ugly civil war with at least five major factions, all of whom hated each other, and all of whom hated us.

I have to assume he told Trump the same thing, but Trump was probably about as interested in hearing that as Cheneybush was interested in listening in 2000/2001 when the outgoing Clinton National Security team told them the number one threat to America was not Saddam Hussein, but Al Qaeda.

[Averagegrunt]

33. Accurate

Most people don't understand how complex the Syrian issue actually is. So many different factions to consider and they change sides enough to make anyone's head spin. Putin wanted to back the Syrian government (he currently is) and we wanted to back rebel organizations that oppose both ISIS (Daesh) and the Syrian government. Issue is a lot of the rebel groups adhere to the enemy of my enemy is my friend so they will fight alsongside any group directly attacking whoever they deem is the worst enemy. Which makes the war a little messy (a lot of bit).

The AQ have always been a fluid organization. The AQI (Al Qaeda Iraq) was one of the most active groups while I was in Iraq and they remain very active in Africa to this day.

[DFW]

34. Obama was able to grasp complexities like that

Trump is able to grasp that he isn't doing brilliantly and that he feels the need to lie about it.

That's about as complex as he gets.

[Averagegrunt]

37. Because Trump was and still is ignorant

His ignorant to the entire situation. There is no easy fix. Boots on the ground? That would treat the symptoms but not the illness.

[BainsBane]

31. Russia's, of course.

which means Assad.