When Obama says there will be no "boots on the ground"....?

[kentuck]

...do you believe him?

The President's critics say he is making a mistake by telling the ISIS rebels his strategy?

But, is he?

Truth is the first victim of war.

Perhaps what the President is saying is that there will be as many boots on the ground as necessary but if the rebels wish to believe the President will not send more troops to accomplish the mission, then let them. I think it is a safe bet that the President is not going to tell the enemy exactly what he plans to do?

And do you believe he is actually going to give weapons to the "Free Syrian Army", the "moderates" that are opposing Assad? Is it possible that these "moderates" are going to be used for a different purpose?

After all, it wasn't Obama that armed the Iraqi Army that deserted or joined the ISIS invasion forces. Is it possible that all this "strategy" being discussed is only part of the propagnda war against the rebel forces?

I refuse to believe that Obama is as stupid as John McCain and Lindsey Graham. They are the ones most likely to telgraph their strategy.

[TheNutcracker]

1. Then the Army Chief says something else!

see DU thread....
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1014899580

Army chief of staff says U.S. may need more troops in Iraq

Source: Washington Post

By Craig Whitlock September 19 at 12:55 PM

Gen. Ray Odierno, the Army chief of staff, said Friday it might be necessary to deploy more U.S. forces to Iraq beyond the 1,600 troops already there, warning that the fight against the Islamic State will intensify and could go on for years. Odierno, who served as the top U.S. military commander during the last war in Iraq, also said he would not rule out the need to send small numbers of U.S. ground troops into combat as tactical airstrike spotters or as front-line advisers embedded with Iraq forces. In a breakfast interview with the Defense Writers Group, Odierno said that “1,600 is a good start” and that “I don’t think there’s a rush, a rush to have lots of people in there now.” But he predicated that as operations accelerate against jihadist fighters from the Islamic State, military commanders will revisit U.S. troop levels. “Based on that assessment, we’ll make further decisions,” he said.

**************
so I guess it's not up to Obama?

[TwilightGardener]

7. Read the full article--anything that Odierno wants to do has to be sent

up the chain of command to the Sec Def first, and if he approves it gets sent to Obama to sign off. Odierno's just saying what he thinks will be necessary as time goes on.

[rug]

2. No.

I don't believe in dumb wars.

[Electric Monk]

3. No *American* boots on the ground

(because the boots were made in China) - Stephen Colbert

[enough]

4. What difference does it make? Whatever it is that drones drop

will be on the ground.

[Cleita]

5. You think too much,

but all those advisors and trainers are pretty much on the ground already.

[TwilightGardener]

6. Meaning Obama doesn't want a big ground invasion/operation.

So, US special forces directing Iraqi/Kurd/Syrian rebel ground fighting supported with air power, whatever form that takes. That's how I read it. The FSA exists to topple Assad--the deal is that we will help them if they agree to also help us fight ISIS, so we have friendlies on the ground in Syria.

[Sopkoviak]

8. I suppose that depends on what the meaning of "boots" is.

I figure I've been lied to by every president in my life time, and I'm closer to 70 than 60, so I have no reason to believe this one all the time either.

[840high]

9. No.

[cwydro]

10. Nope. nt

[morningfog]

11. The pentagon said that one of the three purposes for training the moderates was fight Assad.

There is no secret that an objective (perhaps even the primary objective) of this war is to take out Assad.

I don't believe Obama when he says no ground troops. There are already 1,600+ ground troops. There are already statements about increasing that number and embedding them with some Iraqi Army ground combat troops. Although Obama would argue otherwise, that would be combat troops on the ground. In my opinion, trainers are boots on the ground, and pilots are flying combat missions. It is semantics already.

The generals have also told us how and why we will end up with undeniable ground combat troops.

I think Obama knows where it's going. He is going to make an effort to delay ground combat as long as possible. But, I think we will see a point where he feels his hands and will do it. Or, the next president will make that call.