About ten months ago, back in February, I posted a blog titled "Another Local Boy Set Up for a Fall." In that blog I described how Obama administration decided to appoint Major General Michael Nagata in charge of conducting our, almost non-existing, ground war in Syria. Nagata was charged with training and preparing "moderate" Syrian rebels to fight ISIS with a budget of $500 million. I predicted then that his endeavor will be for naught, that he was set up for failure. Despite much fanfare and large amount of money that was dedicated for this "project," it was clear from the beginning that it was not going to work. This brings up the subject of vetting Syrian refugees. Imagine how hard that would be if we were having so much trouble vetting those who were already in Syria! If we couldn't vet enough candidates to train, how in the world are we going to vet all those refugees who are outside of Syria? Something to think about!
In the earlier blog, I spent most of that blog talking about how another "local boy," General Eric Shinseki, was set up for failure when he butted heads with the civilian leadership in Pentagon and the White House over the conduct of the Iraq War. Shinseki was forced to retire and later put in an impossible situation as the head of our dysfunctional VA. He tried, but it wasn't enough and he was forced to resign over the VA hospital scandal in Phoenix, Arizona. Nagata's situation is a bit different. He was given the task of raising an opposition force, under the strict guidance to make sure that they were indeed "moderate" rather than possible ISIS infiltrators. The vetting process was extremely difficult, and the numbers that he ended up with were tiny! Despite what appeared to be sizable funding, it was impossible to vet enough "moderate" volunteers for training. The project was a dismal failure and it was abandoned without much ceremony recently.
Nagata has been quietly removed from his post and will assume a new post shortly. Fortunately for him, it appears that he was not used as a scapegoat for the failed project and he did not have to resign, so my prophecy of another "local boy" getting the axe over Washington's policy failure did not occur. Still, the project did fail! I am no seer, no Nostradamus by any stretch of imagination, but it was not difficult to see that it was doomed to failure!
Now, having failed in the earlier project and wasted $500 million of tax payers money, Pentagon announced that 50 Special Operations troops will be sent to Syria to help fight ISIS. That is 50, not 500 or 5,000, just 50 - less than an infantry company, more like a couple of platoons or four Special Forces A detachments! Who comes up with these plans? I'd like to know what that person or those people are smoking or drinking, or perhaps, what video games they are playing! Have you ever heard of a case in the entire history of the world when 50 soldiers turned the tide of the war? Perhaps they may affect a battle, but a war? Secretary of Defense Carter just said adamantly that we are at war with ISIS, then in the same breath says we will be sending 50 soldiers to Syria - to fight the war!
There are people in our government who disagree with this policy and think we should send more troops. Senator John McCain thinks we should send at least 20,000, but of course he is thought of as a hawk by some of his colleagues. But then again, even the liberal Senator Dianne Feinstein thinks we should send more troops as well. But apparently the White House disagrees.
This morning Pentagon announced that more Special Operations troops will be sent to Iraq. Apparently the situation there has taken a down turn, although it is hard to believe how it could be worse than it already is in that country! Whatever the case may be, I hope more than 50 soldiers will be sent to Iraq!
The problem with this "nickel and dime" troop deployment policy is that it doesn't get anything accomplished and eventually more troops will have to be deployed if we are to defeat ISIS! If the current administration is just trying to wait out until the next administration takes over, then it is indeed a very, very bad policy! Given how quickly ISIS has established itself as a very serious threat, it won't take long for them to become even a bigger threat unless they are stopped soon! I'd hate to think that it would take an ISIS sponsored terror attack in America for our government to take this war seriously! If an ISIS sponsored attack does occur in America and the government does not respond in force, I think even liberal American population will be upset, at least I thinks so.
ISIS/ISIL will not go away on its own. Despite Russia's entry into this war, Russia is not capable of stamping out ISIS on its own. Our European allies, as we should well know by now, are not capable of fighting ISIS on their own. The Arab coalition, such as it is, is even less likely to win against ISIS. Turkey is only interested in getting rid of Kurds, as Putin has accused them, they are to some extent in cahoots with ISIS. They are allowing ISIS oil trucks to enter Turkey because they need oil! So that leaves us, the only true super power left and capable of carrying out military action from afar. We can defeat ISIS if we fight an unrestricted war. But if we fight a war with restrictions and "conditions" as we did in Vietnam, and as we have done so far, we will end up as we did in Vietnam!
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