Although the Syrian army, with its ally Russia, has made significant gains against ISIS over the past week or so, the Washington Post is reporting tonight that President Trump has for the first time sent regular US military personnel into that country in combat positions. This is an unprecedented escalation of US involvement in the Syrian war and it comes without Congressional authorization, without UN authorization, and without the authorization of the government of Syria. In short it is three ways illegal.
According to the Post, US Marines have departed their ships in the Mediterranean and have established an outpost on Syrian soil from where they will fire artillery toward the ISIS “headquarters” of Raqqa. The Post continues:
The Marines on the ground include part of an artillery battery that can fire powerful 155-millimeter shells from M777 Howitzers, two officials said, speaking on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the deployment. The expeditionary unit’s ground force, Battalion Landing Team 1st Battalion, 4th Marines, will man the guns and deliver fire support for U.S.-backed local forces who are preparing an assault on the city. Additional infantrymen from the unit are likely to provide security.
On March 5th, RT ran footage of a US military convoy entering Syria near Manbij. The US mainstream media initially blacked out the story, but the Post today confirmed that the troops were from the Army’s 75th Ranger Regiment in Stryker vehicles.
What is important to understand about this sudden escalation of US involvement is that if this “race to Raqqa” is won by the US military rather than by Syrian government forces, the chance that the US will hand the territory back to the Assad government is virtually nil. In other words, this is an operation far less about wiping ISIS out from eastern Syria and much more about the United States carving out eastern Syria as a permanent outpost from where it can, for example, continue the original neocon/Israeli/Saudi plan for “regime change” in Syria.
The United States is making a military bid for a very large chunk of sovereign Syrian territory. Something even Obama with his extraordinarily reckless Middle East policy would not dare to do.
How will the Russians react to this development? How will the Russians react if increased US military activity on the ground in Syria begins to threaten Russian military forces operating in Syria (with the consent of that country’s legal government)? With President Trump’s “get along with Russia” policy lying in the tatters of a Nikki Haley at the UN and a Fiona Hill at NSC Staff, how differently might the Russians see US actions in Syria than they might have only a month or so ago?
Make no mistake: this is big news. And very bad news.
Daniel McAdams is director of the The Ron Paul Institute for Peace & Prosperity. Reprinted from The Ron Paul Institute for Peace & Prosperity.
Told you. Trump has filled the swamp up.
It reads more like “no sudden change of policy” to me. The context of this action would be wholly dictated by events stemming from before the US elections. It’s not even clear if the Russians would oppose it, or even welcome it to some extent.
What’s then left is speculation. The only thing made clear, like with the Yemen raid, is that Trump is not going to put suddenly the hand-break on when it comes to ongoing military projects. If he even has a plan how to become less interventionist, it will certainly not contain too many sudden, destabilizing actions, if the generals involved would have anything to say about it.
It’s therefore way too soon to tell.
Trump is now the commander in chief of the US armed forces. Even if the Obama regime PLANNED to put artillery, infantry and logistic elements of a Marine Expeditionary Unit in Syria, the decision as to whether or not to go through with it was entirely up to Trump and he owns 100% of that decision.
Welll, sort of, because you are still suggesting that Obama planned it. There’s something Trump’s friends on this site can get their teeth into. So make it 99%.
President Trump is doing many very good things, but his policy in the Middle East can very easily be his Achilles’ heel, and it will not end well for our country. The interests of the neocons and Israel are NOT the interests of the United States. What we are doing now in Syria is very dangerous for our country, and we need to get out and stay out.
Nor of Obama’s bombing campaign in Syria, as well as reportedly special operations troops inside Syria. Sending Marines is merely an escalation of our activities on Syrian territory, not the start. Obama claimed that the 2001 authorization of force permitted the raid against Libya, and the attacks against ISIS on Syrian (and other) territory. Trump will simply claim the same. I imagine that 2001 authorization will be used in this manner well beyond the Trump administration.
How convenient, eh? All of these illegal actions make me sick. They kill, maim, and displace millions without impunity. And our press gave Obama a pass on it. Since they hate Trump as they did Bush, I expect a daily body count to begin any day now. I wish they would have done the same under Obama… We need a groundswell to put a stop to this. We will reap the whirlwind!!
And Trump has also refused to negotiate with China over N.Korea activity being stopped in tradeoff for US sabre rattling in China’s sandbox.
Shame on all the fuc-ing crazies who thought that Trump ever represented something good on foreign policy. And especially, shame on Raimondo with his credentials and knowledge to continue to be sucked in by the faking psychopath you people made your president..
Like “illegal” means anything?
Is it not time to stop trying to Regime Change these Nations Is Libya and Iraq not enough Chaos
Trump is a Zionist with 2 kids married to Jews. Anti Christ Jews control Trump.
We’re invading everywhere. Syria is just a bump along the way as Trump moves on the goal every president is assigned: engage in more wars, invasions, occupations than the preceding president. Caveat: make sure the countries subject to the mandate cannot defend themselves.