yustr

Here's a quote from The top US officer in the Middle East, General John Abizaid talking about terrorists meeting in Syria:

"It's very important that the Syrian Government do everything within its power to keep violence from migrating or being planned in Syria into Iraq," he said. "I do not think the Syrian Government is doing enough."

Full article here

Keep an eye out for other remarks all leading up to another effort to "bring democracy to the Middle-East".

ICFire

Our military is already spread too thin, just see the stories in the papers about the lack of retention or the down turn in recruitments and the every increasing speculation about reinstituting the draft.

Now throw in the debate about women in combat, nevermind that there are no safe jobs in Iraq, no front-line, not even a opponent you can readily identify from the civilian population.

Our military is in a world of hurt and it's only going to get worse as we go forward w/o something radical happening.

yustr

More sabre rattling:

I think that most countries would consider any military action against them an invasion even if it was "a long the border".

Don't worry. Mexico didn't attack the US. Heck, they only went as far as Los Angeles. yeah right...

elf

Haha I say we take canada next...but seriously I don't think we'll invade syria. That just seems to be taking it too far.

jgvernonco

I think it would be quite different from Iraq, in that the Syrian Army is well-equipped, well-trained, well-fed, and well-supplied. It is one of the larger armies in the world, and fairly modern.

Chevy

Actually, it's not nearly as bad as the press would have you believe. We had very similar reports during the Bosnian/Kosovo campaigns - alarmist reports with little substance.

Our military is based on the rules of 2.5 - able to handle 2 major conflicts and a peacekeeping operation at any time. Afganistan is becoming a peace keeping operation, our forces have been greatly reduced in Bosnia and Kosovo. And, due to geography, a campaign against Syria would be easier as it would be launched from Iraq.

ICFire

Uh, yes it is, my son-in-law, career military, is a recruiter. I work on a military base.

ebackhus

I'm surrounded by bases but you can't tell that we're hurting for troops. Nope, plenty of them are out there doing their own thing.

Chevy

And I spent 12 years in the service, reading the reports, seeing the falsity.

It's never as bad as the press will have you believe. While manning is tight, there are enough troops to get the job done.

Recruiters are salesmen, and marketing is key.

ICFire

Oh so that explains the arbitrary extensions and stop gap measures...cause we have enough troops to get the job done.

No we don't on a on-going basis.

That explains why we use NG units such as we never have before and the reserves.

Because we have enough troops.

I'll take what I know over your speculations.

Chevy

Arbritary extension and stop-gap -- Happened in 99, 91, and before.

Use of the Guard -- a great lesson we learned in 91. Guard units (both combat and support) performed as well as their active couterparts in Desert Storm. It changed (or started to change) the way the guard was viewed - less the weekend-warrior, more the professional on reduced hours.

And, I agree that we're working light. But, like I said, it's not as devastating or critical as the press would have you believe.

yustr

I think we’re missing a major point here. Iraq should have been a relatively minor effort as far as theater wars go. Not something that has nearly consumed any excess capacity that might have existed. And defeating Saddam was pretty much so. Now, because of shoddy planning and vastly underestimating the will of the Iraqis to our help*, we have the Army doing something they are not built to do. (* liberation ≠ occupation)

Remember too that there was no (true) reason we had to go in when we did.

Shock and Awe Sh*t

ICFire

1,200 Billion and counting in your kids tax dollars so far.

Enough to fix SS and have plenty left over...

yustr

Update:

Don Rumsfeld He's speaking of Abu Musab Zarqawi - a criminal beyond a doubt if even a fraction of the accusations are true.

Zarquawi's not the point of this thread. Expansion of the war is!

40sondacurb

We don't have the money for more war. The US can not continue to force lenders to loan us money, that tactic will only last so long. The national debt is a huge problem, it's the one that will sink us.

and n another note

The rest of the world knew about that grenade thrown at Bush way before we did, at least a week. Our news, even the so called liberal news, doesnt tell us any thing, their corn feed whatever they get.


And Afghanistan is not under U control, that's a myth. We control Kabul and maybe one or two other cities, and then we have bases at various places. The Taliban and other War Lords control the rest, some tolerate the US presence and some our boys don't go near.

yustr

From today's news:

"Obviously we're going to follow up on these troubling reports, and we expect the Syrian government to follow up on these troubling reports," Bush said. He's speaking about Syria's continued intelligence apparatus in Lebanon.

Syria, of course, called it “a smear campaign”.