It was the first time the USA has openly sent forces into Syria, expanding the geographic reach of Obama’s military efforts in the Middle East.
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Asked by anchor Lester Holt whether he had broken a promise not to put “boots on the ground” in Syria, Mr. Obama replied, “We have run special ops already”.
The surge in violence came after more than a dozen countries, including the US and Russian Federation, agreed during talks in Vienna on Friday to pursue a new peace effort involving Syria’s government and opposition groups.
Lt. Col. Robert Maginnis (USA-Ret.) doesn’t think the small force of less than 50 advisors will make much of a difference. He said that his militia rescued a few 70 YPG fighters, many of them seriously wounded, after the attack.
Amid Obama’s reluctance to become enmeshed in another Middle East war, the US-backed opposition – a uneasy mix of Kurds, Shia and Sunni Arabs – has been reluctant to fight IS rather than President Bashar al-Assad.
“[It’s] the same thing that [President John F.] Kennedy did in the early 1960s in Vietnam”, Maginnis tells OneNewsNow.
This is the context in which to interpret the latest, surprise move by Obama to send Special Forces into Syria.
“This announcement shows once again, President Obama’s inept ability to effectively deal in foreign policy and with the terrorist group ISIS”, Yoho added.
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump led the GOP onslaught against Obama, saying he thinks “we have a president who just doesn’t know what he’s doing”, calling the strategy a half-measure that just wouldn’t work, CNN also reported on Saturday.
But both men said the cease-fire would not apply to the conflict with the Islamic State forces that have now commandeered parts of Syria. But this week, Obama did try to make the case that Americans should not see this deployment as anything like the United States engagements in Iraq and Afghanistan, where USA soldiers fought and died on the front lines.
The addition of up to 50 USA troops alone may not be enough to fundamentally change Syria’s increasingly messy civil conflict.
In Syria, the group fighting hard against IS, the Kurdish YPD, is short of munitions in large measure because of Turkey’s objections to more meaningful USA military aid, he said.
Then there were threats from Saudi Arabia and Qatar that they would launch direct military action in Syria to protect the populace from the joint firepower of Assad and Putin.
Obamas decision to send Special Forces into Syria is being widely viewed as a USA military escalation in the country.
Coming after Congress voted for “fast track”, i.e., to surrender its constitutional right to amend trade treaties, the capitulations of 2015 rank as milestones in the long decline into irrelevance of the U.S. Congress. Yet in the Constitution, Congress is still the first branch of the US government. Jack Reed, D-R.I., Senate Armed Services Committee ranking member said on MSNBC Friday, adding it was “appropriate” for Obama to continue operating under the 2001 AUMF.
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“It certainly will get the attention of IS leadership as perhaps leading to even more forward leaning USA action, but IS will not anticipate a major shift on the battlefield”, he said. “ISIL is not going to be intimidated by this move”, Graham said.
