President Barack Obama’s plan to send up to 50 Special Forces troops to Syria “to train, advise and assist” is a mistake.
President Barack Obama’s plan to send up to 50 Special Forces troops to Syria “to train, advise and assist” is a mistake.
First, it is the thin end of the wedge. Recent history should remind Americans that the Vietnam War — which claimed more than 58,000 U.S. lives, lasted more than a decade and divided the country — began with a few U.S. advisers on the ground.
Second, the Obama administration has no overall plan on how to address the five-year-old civil war. The idea of training and equipping so-called moderate forces to overthrow the Bashar Assad regime failed miserably. The rebel forces would not fight and much of their American-supplied equipment ended up in the hands of extremists — the Islamic State group and al-Qaida affiliates.
Allies such as the United Kingdom are unlikely to join the United States with forces in Syria. The government of British Prime Minister David Cameron will almost certainly not receive parliamentary approval for military involvement.
Perhaps the Obama administration feels under pressure to respond to Russia’s airstrikes in Syria on behalf of the Assad regime and to try to prevent the Russians from having a larger foothold in Middle East affairs. Yet Americans generally are not willing to see U.S. forces involved in Syria or put at risk in confronting the Russians over this dubious proposition.
In the meantime, a shaky but real negotiating effort appears to be underway. It involves 20 countries including Iran, an important and more acceptable player in Syria since conclusion of the nuclear-sanctions deal. If interested parties are trying to end this tragic war through negotiations, the United States should join their efforts, rather than pursue greater military involvement.
The fact that Obama is not seeking congressional approval for his decision to put U.S. troops in harm’s way is evidence of the weakness of his argument. This is a thoroughly bad move for the United States and the White House should reconsider.