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"Boots on the Ground" in Iraq: Here We Go Again
Your Monday morning (PDT, anyway) Pitt-me-up. 
http://www.truth-out.org/opinion/item/35873-boots-on-the-ground-in-iraq-here-we-go-again
In September of 2014, President Obama went all the way around the block and back again trying to explain how the United States and its allies would destroy ISIS (also known as Daesh) without deploying soldiers. Airstrikes would do the trick. "No boots on the ground," he said....
Here we are just about two years later, and US soldiers wearing boots are on the ground in Iraq and Syria. The Green Zone in Baghdad has been stormed. The latest US deployments are small, but floods always start with a drip. About 217 US soldiers have been sent to Iraq to augment the more than 4,000 troops already there, along with an additional 250 sent to the urban death zone that is Syria. They're going to a place where hospitals are deliberately destroyed; a medical facility in Aleppo was recently obliterated in an airstrike, killing 14 people. The US blamed the Syrian government, the Syrians and Russians blamed the US, and the dead lie still.
"We see a continual escalation with the now 250 additional troops," said Rep. Barbara Lee. "Whenever you have troops in harm's way, unintended consequences could occur. I'm very worried that our troops, while advisers, are still in the middle of the war and without authorization from Congress." Sen. John McCain, in a rare moment of sense, said, "We used to call it 'mission creep.' I've seen this movie before. It's called Vietnam."...
If Hillary Clinton wins in November, we're in the same boat without all the shouting. She is not as frightening as her presumed opponent, but her judgment on matters of war and personal freedom have been shown to be sorely lacking. Clinton voted with the Bush administration on the Iraq war (which gave us ISIS) and the Patriot Act. Her recent hawkish speech at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee convention would have made Barry Goldwater hide under the bed with a daisy pressed between his palms. Should she enter that round room after inauguration come January, you can bet your last dime that our 25-year adventure in Iraq will continue, and expand, unabated.
Here we are just about two years later, and US soldiers wearing boots are on the ground in Iraq and Syria. The Green Zone in Baghdad has been stormed. The latest US deployments are small, but floods always start with a drip. About 217 US soldiers have been sent to Iraq to augment the more than 4,000 troops already there, along with an additional 250 sent to the urban death zone that is Syria. They're going to a place where hospitals are deliberately destroyed; a medical facility in Aleppo was recently obliterated in an airstrike, killing 14 people. The US blamed the Syrian government, the Syrians and Russians blamed the US, and the dead lie still.
"We see a continual escalation with the now 250 additional troops," said Rep. Barbara Lee. "Whenever you have troops in harm's way, unintended consequences could occur. I'm very worried that our troops, while advisers, are still in the middle of the war and without authorization from Congress." Sen. John McCain, in a rare moment of sense, said, "We used to call it 'mission creep.' I've seen this movie before. It's called Vietnam."...
If Hillary Clinton wins in November, we're in the same boat without all the shouting. She is not as frightening as her presumed opponent, but her judgment on matters of war and personal freedom have been shown to be sorely lacking. Clinton voted with the Bush administration on the Iraq war (which gave us ISIS) and the Patriot Act. Her recent hawkish speech at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee convention would have made Barry Goldwater hide under the bed with a daisy pressed between his palms. Should she enter that round room after inauguration come January, you can bet your last dime that our 25-year adventure in Iraq will continue, and expand, unabated.
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