At Bloomberg View Eli Lake says the rules of engagement for U. S. forces in Syria amount to “don’t get shot”:
U.S. special operations forces in Syria do many things in the war against the Islamic State. They gather intelligence, build relationships with local communities, help spot targets for air strikes and train and advise local forces on the ground. One thing they cannot do, though, is enter into range of the enemy’s fire.
Four U.S. military officials told me that the 300 or so U.S. special operators in Syria are under very strict rules of engagement. Because such rules are highly classified, these sources have requested anonymity.
But the rules in place, known as “last cover and concealment,” are highly restrictive compared to special operations missions in the war on terror before 2014. Those rules of engagement allowed for U.S. special operators to fight alongside the local forces they trained. The rules of engagement for Syria, according to one military officer, amount to: “don’t get shot.”
In my opinion those are the wrong rules. Their first rule should be “don’t get captured”. A single captured U. S. special forces member could result in our invading Syria in force which, given the participation of Russia in the conflict, could escalate to nuclear war.
Is ousting Assad really worth destroying the world?
I’m amazed that in eight years time we’ve gone from only McCain wanting to get involved in a war with Russian to a point where only Trump DOESN’T want war with Russia.
It’s especially funny (in a Sick Sad World kind of way) that the Democrats who love-love-LOVED the Soviet Union, which had the clearly stated goal of completely destroying us, can’t wait to start a war with non-communist Russia.
They tell me every day that Trump is the crazy one, but given that everyone else wants to commit national suicide several different ways, you’ve got to wonder.
Our attitude with respect to Russia is really baffling to me. The Russians really don’t care much about us. Mostly they’re just mystified by why we seem to hate them so much.
Russia has persistent interests (“persistent” as in “they’ve had these interests longer than the U. S. has existed”). They pursue those interests. Their interests conflict very little with out interests. What’s the beef?
The Chinese on the other hand are pretty obsessed with us. Much of the military leadership seems to view war with the U. S. as inevitable.
Turkey shot down a Russian jet, and there was no nuclear war. Iran kidnaped the US sailors recently, and there was no nuclear war. Somebody shot down a passenger plane over Ukraine, and there has been no nuclear war. Unless the Russian homeland is threatened, it would be suicide for them to start a war – nuclear or otherwise.
Russia has limited offensive capability. On paper, they might have a military force capable of invading and occupying Poland. In reality, the Polish Boy Scouts could repel a Russian invasion. The paper assessments never account for the loss of homeland defense or the required logistic and rear echelon protection.
If your occupying force in Poland cannot get resupplied and the homeland is being invaded, you are in trouble with or without nuclear weapons.
The US is not going to start a nuclear war. It would take a few US cities being leveled with no apology before the US would anger Mother Earth with nuclear fallout.
(With Trump, it would be different. He is a madman. He eats babies for breakfast every morning, and his black coffee is made from real “blacks”. He might nuke anybody for any reason, or at least, I am informed by the smartest people in the whole wide world. I wish I was as smart as them, but I cannot hold my breath, make pouty faces, and stomp my feet at the same time.)
I would be more worried about N. Korea doing something. This is especially important if China’s financial sector finally collapses. What better way to distract attention and possibly make a few yuan selling military hardware or goods to rebuild cities.
TB, the problem is we keep poking the bear. At some point the bear is going to snap back, and with more ferocity than it has done so in Ukraine. The brinkmanship levels keep ratcheting up with leaders on both sides, and do you really trust the current lot to NEVER fuck up and screw the pooch? The current crop of US leaders (both parties) are as incompetent a lot as we’ve had in this country. How long do you think their luck will hold on this front?
“The US is not going to start a nuclear war. It would take a few US cities being leveled with no apology before the US would anger Mother Earth with nuclear fallout.”
We are the country that invaded Iraq for no apparent reason, so we can’t claim we don’t like war. Still, I think it is pretty well accepted by most in the US that nukes are not an offensive weapon, at least among those who have thought out the issue. If you have never thought it through and think it should be part of some deal, then I guess that could change.
I suspect Russia is just as afraid of nuclear war as are we.
Steve