Free Republic

There are new reports about U.S. special forces operators who are doing “operational prep of the battlefield” in Ukraine.Seth Harp, an investigative reporter and contributing editor to Rolling Stone, revealed the JSOC operations on Sunday. “US special operators are currently on the ground in Ukraine doing ‘operational prep of the battlefield,’ according to a well informed source,” Harp reported citing a ‘well informed’ source. “The military unit is JSOC’s Advance Force Operations, including members of Delta Force and SEAL Team 6.” The developments are concerning to Americans who want to avoid entanglement in a foreign war, but Harp cautioned readers...

It appears President Obama, not wanting to provide every alternative-media site with a perfect 'compare and contrast' from September 2014's "putting U.S. troops on the ground would be a profound mistake," has handed the responsibility for announcing American "boots on the ground" in Syria to his Press Secretary. "If you like your boots on the ground, well, you can keep them.. in Syria."

It also calls for building 17 treatment centres with 100 beds each; placing U.S. Public Health Service personnel in new field hospitals in Liberia; training thousands of healthcare workers for six months or longer; and creating an "air bridge" to get health workers and medical supplies into West Africa more quickly. Obama said that if the outbreak is not stopped now, hundreds of thousands of people may become infected, "with profound political and economic and security implications for all of us." "This is an epidemic that is not just a threat to regional security. It’s a potential threat to global...

Despite pledges from the White House that no American ground troops will be sent to fight the Islamic State (ISIS), Gen. Michael Hayden, former head of the CIA and NSA, thinks that up to 5,000 Americans will be on the ground by the end of the year. "It might be through covert action rather than more overt activity," Hayden said on "Fox News Sunday." Hayden said those won't be regular combat troops, but intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance, logistics, advice, command and control assistance and tactical air control parties. He said that even if America is successful, it can expect a three-...

This might sound strange to regular NewsBusters readers, but what Chris Matthews said tonight makes sense. His critique of President Obama's ISIS strategy was simple . . . and devastating. Yes, we can bomb from the air. But since President Obama has ruled out American boots on the ground, we'll have to rely on foreign partners on to hold territory. And there's no way we can rely on the dismantled likes of the Free Syrian Army or other non-existent forces. And so, admitted Matthews, he's a "skeptic" about the potential for success of President Obama's plan. View the video here.

What happened, Ed? Just one month ago, citing a variety of concerns, Schultz declared [video] that there should be "no military intervention at all" in Iraq. Suddenly, it seems, Schultz has gone superhawk. On his MSNBC show this evening, just hours before President Obama lays out his anti-ISIS plan, Schultz said that we should not rule out boots on the ground, and should not outsource the fighting to other countries. View the video here.

Kerry opens door to 'boots on ground' in Syria, then slams it shut By Patricia Zengerle and Susan Cornwell WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Secretary of State John Kerry briefly opened the door on Tuesday to authorizing U.S. ground troops in Syria, but quickly slammed it shut and told Congress that any resolution approving military force would prohibit "boots on the ground." The exchange during the first public hearing in Congress on possible military action in Syria highlighted the worries of many lawmakers about authorizing U.S. military strikes to punish the Syrian government for using chemical weapons on civilians. Kerry initially told...

Statement by Gov. Rick Perry on Obama Administration’s Decision to Slash Number of National Guard troops at U.S.-Mexico Border Gov. Rick Perry today issued the following statement regarding the Obama Administration's decision to cut the number of National Guard troops at the U.S.-Mexico border: "President Obama's decision to slash the number of National Guard troops patrolling and securing our southern border is proof that this administration has no intention to truly secure the border or listen to the American citizens, communities and law enforcement who care about border security and public safety. "After spending billions on failed federal stimulus and...

WASHINGTON - A barrage of U.S.-led airstrikes opened the door for Libyan rebels to retake the eastern city of Ajdabiya Saturday, handing President Barack Obama a tangible example of progress as he defends the military action to war-weary Americans. The administration has been under pressure to better explain why the U.S. was embroiling itself in another Muslim conflict and to clarify what America's continuing role will be as it begins to turn control of the week-old operation over to NATO. Obama cited "significant success" in the war Saturday, and he and others defended the U.S. intervention as lawful and critical...

...Through the Web and various veterans groups, The New York Times contacted more than a dozen soldiers, all of whom had been on active duty in Iraq and have since returned. They had a variety of opinions on the war they served in, but were almost universally negative about the show that attempts to depict it.... When Steven Bochco's "Over There" began last month, many military blogs immediately began pumping round after round of ack-ack into it, suggesting that it is both opportunistic and clueless.... "There are a few bad war movies and TV shows, but this one takes the...