Posted on 09/13/2017 9:33:58 PM PDT by Texas Fossil
KOBANI, Syria – Talking with American special operators as we walk in the summer heat through the sprawling training facilities of the Syrian Arab Coalition, one sentiment is immediately obvious: relief.
It is not that these elite American troops are relaxed about the mission; it is that they make clear they think it’s working and see that the end is achievable. And for those of us who have written about and covered the post-9/11 wars, that is indeed a shift.
“My military guidance is clear; what we are trying to do here in terms of the campaign against Daesh is clear; the direction that we receive from CENTCOM is clear,” said one senior U.S. commander, a leader of the mission to train and assist the Syrian Democratic Forces, of which the Syrian Arab Coalition are a part. “We help the SDF clear territory, we help the internal security force hold territory, and to the extent we can within our authorities, there is a bit of building going on.”
(Excerpt) Read more at defenseone.com ...
“It is a dream SF mission,” a second U.S. special operations forces commander in Syria said. He was referring to the Army’s Special Forces, the Green Berets who have trained foreign fighters for decades. “It is a textbook mission for special operations.” Why? Because, they say, of the forces they are backing are in the fight. Reliable. “They are more like us; they are just aggressive,” this commander said of the SDF and its Kurdish contingent, the YPG, to me. “A stable group of pragmatic people.”
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In the trenches trust and bonding. I usually hate CFR type articles. This is an exception and refreshing.
The term used to be called “gone Asiatic”. Its when old China hands, Marines or Soldiers stayed too long and began to identify too much with the foreign culture to the detriment of their own Americanism.
It came to be a synonym for insane.
Most of our military leaders have gone Asiatic. They are unreliable for anything more that battlefield tactical goals. They should NEVER be listened to when the government is forming national policy.
You can ask them to go sink the North Korean navy. Or what to expect in a war with them. That’s fine. But you should never ask these bozos IF the US should declare war on them.
It’s an important difference.
This we must do
US spec ops for Kurds > antifa bull sht
We differ too often. It makes me question what I’m missing.
I looked at the author’s bio
1. Contributor at CNN
2. She has reported on Afghanistan since 2005
3. Lemmon is a contributor to The Atlantic’s Defense One site
4. Is a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations
She is certainly not Antifa. She is far to the left of me.
These are red flags, but I do get real feedback about the high degree of cooperation and trust between the Kurds and our Special Ops.
The relationship is real enough that Bibi openly supported independence of Kurds in whatever form possible. In Iraq, it may well be total. In Syria, there is no evidence of that at this point.
“gone Asiatic”?
In SE Asia it was also called “gone native”.
I’ve heard about the effect. Never seen it first hand.
Al Hasakah province in far northeastern Syria should hold a plebiscite soon. It will surely join with Iraqi Kurdistan in the creation of a new, stable nation that will join with Israel as American allies in the Middle East.
I’m for it, if possible.
My closest Syrian Kurd friend tells me that Iraq and Syrian Kurds are too far apart right now.
I also detect some caution about a clear break with Syria. The Iranian card is still in play. And Turkey is just as bad a threat.
If as has been stated, Israel and SA both support it might fly. If the US is totally behind. The complication is Turkey again.
Guess we will see.
Erdogan could be threatened in Turkey. He has done some really stupid stuff. So far has gotten away with it.
Well, when a Warrior sees people who have a vested interest in their autonomy and freedom/future willing to fight and create their own liberty, even to the death ( sounds kinda like a few of our founding fathers), then those Warriors tend to support those folks wholeheartedly.
Having been involved in both IRQ and AFG internal force development operations, I saw men who only wanted a paycheck-then they would slip away often back to the other de, now with new talents and skill and intel. All too often, our forces would find themselves either rescuing cowardly indigenous forces in contact or abandoned by the same. ( with exceptions of course, a Spartan is a Spartan regales of when and were, even if far and few between).
The Kurds want in genral a nation of their own as they do not identify cultureally, ethnically or even socially with either the powers that be ( TUR and IRQ/IRN)
The end of WWII created the problem when the allies drew lones int eh samd w/o regard to these factors, and now there is a nationless population straddling three or even four “nation” ( that BTW cannot even find their proverbial a** with both hands and a mirror.
All said, would a free Kurdistan be as inclusive as one would like regarding faiths/ethnicity and such? Maybe, Maybe not. But they want freedom, they have assets (oil, minerals, ag, even manufacturing capability) in their territory to become financially stable, they seem to be much more civilized than the nations they find themselves occupied by/occupying, depending on how you look at them.
The idea that our SF Warriors are going native is rather silly. They see a light in the distance- they see those they work with wanting to run to the guns to obtain that light. Are they the same as we are? No, certainly not. BUt In my limited experience with tem, they are the most likely to succeed in forming a viable nation, unlike IRQ; Turkey, well that is disaster once again. .
Of course, IRQ, IRN and TUR will never cede geography to them- at least they have a good bit of autonomy in IRQ.
In the end, these Kurds will be left hanging in the breeze once the political winds shift. ANd they will find little solace in the fact that our SF Warriors on the ground thought they were worthy of dedicated support.
Our tactical/operational SF folks are not policy makers by any means, they are executing policy as they are directed. When it time to depart, they will.
Reminds me of an indigenous warrior people in SE Asia 50 years ago, now virtually wiped out by the “winners”.
Regarding trusting our military and naval leaders in advising whether to go to war or not, yo don’t ask a general if we should, you ask him how to do it. The civil authority always has the burden of decision in our framework, to suggest other wise is simply not the way it is.
When I read the Headline “I Want to Finish This”, it struck me as just someone who wanted their own sense of justification - their own satisfaction.
Once I read the article, I saw that it was really about doing the job right, so it would not need to be done again and again.
You have to differentiate between the Syria’s western and eastern Kurds. The former are too distant from the Kurd heartland and their territory has no contiguity with Kurdistan. Eastern Syria, Al Hasakah, (and perhaps portions of other eastern provinces),,is a sure bet to join Kurdistan if allowed.
I Don’t see a real obstacle. Even the Alevi around Efrin totally support unity in Rojava. With KRG? Totally different question. Secularism is a must in all of Northern Syria.
Yes
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