Quote Originally Posted by Bill Moore View Post
I hear you, and this is understandable. You need to understand that America rode in on their white horse with their white hats on with the best intentions for Iraq and Afghanistan, and have little to show for our effort. In some ways we're a wounded country and hesitant to throw our hat in the ring again unless we can anticipate a better outcome for our sacrifice, and we did sacrifice.
We're turning in circles now: it has already been said that Afghanistan was justified, but only 'curing the effects of disease', while Iraq was simply stupid.

Doesn't mean that 'Syria' would be 'wrong'.

Crowbat, I attempt to project a possibly hidden logic in Obama's strategy. That doesn't mean that logic actually exists, but I simply offer it as an alternative view. Maybe he thinking this or that. Frankly, I have no longer have any idea what our national goals are now in Syria, Iraq, or Afghanistan. I hear one thing, yet the visible strategy doesn't support the what I hear, so I hope as a citizen that there is an invisible part that I don't see that makes sense. That is a real possibility, but my confidence level is much lower than it has been in the recent past.
One of latest statements regarding 'goals' in Syria was something like 'need to respect Iranian interests in upholding the Assad regime'.

Nobody in the DC, and especially not in the DOS cared about respecting Iranian interests - and that since 35 years. On the contrary. But now, when the regime in Syria is de-facto run by an Iranian terrorist organization (or two, if we add Hezbollah to the IRGC), there is a need to respect these?

So, if you're searching for an 'invisible' part, here one idea: either the Iranians have operational nukes - or this is simply making no sense, i.e. it's so absurd, that it's mindlessly idiotic.

Based on comments above, I think the U.S. is temporarily out of the regime change game. However, if the people rise up against their oppressive government, a U.S. State Department rep will get on twitter and tell them that America supports them. Hope they don't take that too seriously and actually start a war in hopes we will actually help.
Well, the problem is that they do (take that seriously), and thus any such action is stupid too.

No surprise, the Syrian Army now only protects the regime and the Alawite minority....
...and is looting Moarek as we're talking: the BPM's 'Tiger Force' (a 'reinforced-regiment'-sized special forces outfit led by Col Sohail Hassan) has captured this 'southern Gate to Idlib Province' yesterday.

Interestingly: Moarek resisted four months of NDF's and Hezbollah's armoured onslaughts, earlier this year (that's where Hazm has knocked out most of those 200+ MBTs and IFVs using TOWs), while this success was achieved with help of a nocturnal heliborne operation - precisely the way taught by the IRGC-QF.