Posted on 08/02/2015 3:17:31 PM PDT by MinorityRepublican
President Barack Obama has authorized the use of air power to defend a new U.S.-backed fighting force in Syria should it come under attack from Syrian government forces or other groups, officials said, in a move that could increase the risk of the U.S. coming into direct conflict with the Assad regime.
The decision ends a months’ long debate over the role the U.S. military should play in supporting its few allies on the battlefield and comes as the U.S. and Turkey discussed joint operations to clear a zone along the Turkish-Syrian border of Islamic State militants. Turkish officials wanted assurances from the U.S. that it would be serious about defending allied ground forces there.
Even though the new rules allow Pentagon strikes to defend the new force against the Assad regime, U.S. military officials played down the chances of a direct conflict between the governments, at least in the near term, since the newly-trained force has committed to fighting Islamic State, not the regime, and won’t be fielded in areas the regime controls.
The Pentagon has struggled to recruit and vet rebels for the new train-and-equip program, which it launched last year, in part because the U.S. is asking them to fight Islamic State instead of the Assad regime. Most rebels see the regime as their main enemy. Fewer than 60 rebels have completed the Pentagon training program and re-entered the fight so far, casting doubt on the effort.
(Excerpt) Read more at wsj.com ...
“...should it come under attack...” “Should” it???
...”attack?..”—what is the def. of SHOULD? what is def. of
..”attack”..?? what IS the definition of “Is”?..What IS the defintion of “Sex”??..oh! My Bad!...( sorry Monica..)
AGAIN!!! M.R.!-—Obama has been coached well...
The pilots, just the pilots.
This is the same thing the damn fool did in 2012!
He is not supposed to be able to commit assets this way!
Okay, now this is gettin’ bizzaro world. John McCain went to Syria to chill with the Syrian Rebels who were fighting Assad and now Obama’s gonna defend the Syrian Army? Here’s an idea. McCain and Obama can ARM WRESTLE. This is getting ridiculous.
Says it all right there.
As soon as Iranian nuclear facilities start exploding? I suspect.
Well is finally got his way, we are now allied with ISIS. Way to go. This should gain Trump another 5 or 10 poll points.
Don’t worry so much dude. We all know that the good guys win in the end. Christ will come back not to bring peace, but a sword. I almost feel bad for the other side.
uhmm...are we fighting on both sides of this one?
Hussein always is on the wrong side in the ME.
If you’d like to be on or off, please FR mail me.
..................
Everything relating to him MUST be stripped away, our flag, our brand, and ANYTHING referencing America!
Or Israel.
Yeah right. Just like we protected our people in Benghazi.
And ISIS is recruiting how many per day? The Pub candidates should be all over this...
According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), over 3 million have fled to Syria’s immediate neighbours Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan and Iraq. 6.5 million are internally displaced within Syria.
I saw some film footage of one of the Syria refugee camps in Lebanon.
There were many healthy young men walking around looking very content.
Courage..... a dying virtue?
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