II MEF and Syria

[King_of_Hindsight]

So, with all the yap coming up on Syria's need for attitude adjustment, does anyone know the whereabouts of the II Marine Expeditionary Force, with up to 45,000 troops reported to be floating somewhere in the Northwest Iraqi desert regions...doing...??????

[King_of_Hindsight]

Just kinda wonderin'

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[Dog Gone]

There is no way Bush is going into Syria without another congressional authorization of force.

A missile strike? Perhaps. Special Ops? Probably underway now.

But no actual invasion.

[King_of_Hindsight]

So II MEF was just a giant, expensive insurance policy on Iraq?

[x1stcav]

This is one of the more intriguing questions. Where did they go. For that matter, wasm't part of the 1st Armored supposed to be airlifted to the north? And why haven't we heard much of the 24th MEF? They landed in Kuwait, and then I don't remember anything more being mentioned.

[King_of_Hindsight]

An excellent plan by Bush/Rummy...We have undealt cards! And yes, 1st Armored and 24th MEF are in some undisclosed location...

[Dog Gone]

I'm not sure, of course. But there was a big, western desert to cover to prevent scuds from firing.

[John123]

How about the 4th infantry division that we have been hearing so much about? Where are they?

[Spruce]

To answer a question with a question. "Where are all the Republican Guard/Iraqi Resistance?"

[King_of_Hindsight]

I know they were headed north from Kuwait to relieve units or bypass and go north, but silence for two days or so.

[King_of_Hindsight]

Republican Guard? Happy hour at Moe's, sitting the rest of the work week out.

[sheik yerbouty]

"One never knows, do one?"

[dinok]

No way we are doing anything with Syria this soon...

Syria would have to do something stupid like fire Scuds in to Baghdad, or invade Iraq.

[dinok]

"Where are all the Republican Guard/Iraqi Resistance?"

They went home in civies...saddam had grown not to trust them...which is why he placed them outside Baghdad to be bombed to hell.

But we need to watch it...

[King_of_Hindsight]

How about proving they have harbored Iraqi wanted persons?

[blam]

"But no actual invasion."

Lawerence Eagleburger on H & C, just said that we should already be using B-52's to bomb the Bekka Valley.

[King_of_Hindsight]

Amen...B-52s in the Valley of Terrorism

[dinok]

"How about proving they have harbored Iraqi wanted persons? "

Even if we proved it...its not enough to attack them. Trust me, as far as I'm concerned they deserve it. I was in the Army in '83 when the Syrians killed 250 of our men by using their surrogates to attack us.

[Herodotus]

The II MEF contains the 2nd Marine Division and related elements. The largest part of the 2nd Marine Division currently makes up Task Force Tarawa, which operated in the south of Iraq in tandem with the I MEF (and it is possible that for command and control purposes the Task Force Tarawa was 'part' of I MEF but I'd defer to someone actually there on that). There are other units that are part of the 2nd Marine Division in the theater but it isn't clear where they are. Let me be clear: the bulk of what would be the ground combat element of II MEF is already in Iraq as part of Task Force Tarawa.

GlobalSecurity people put out this wild notion that the 'rest' of II MEF was 'missing' and probably in Jordan or elsewhere awaiting being deployed into the north. The arrival of General Osman in the north, who is commander of II MEF, fueled this speculation until it became clear that he was not the overall operational commander of the northern front (that continues to rest, it appears, with the commander of the 173rd Airborne Brigade) but that Osman's role was as a high-level liaison with the Kurdish forces.

[King_of_Hindsight]

Times have changed somewhat...diplomacy has been tempered with our survival...and our survival is focused on trerrorism, which brought war to our shores for the first time in a very long time. I don't know if diplomacy will keep us from knocking down doors any longer.