Pick your battles! (US forces come under in attack – in Syria???)

[as seen on tv]

Photo above - US "contractors" at el Omar, Syria on patrol
Not shown - the massive oil field at el Omar.
​

Ever heard of these places? “Homs”? “Der el Zour”? “El Omar”? You MUST have heard of el Omar. It's right next to that shopping center, just off highway 45. In Syria. Oh – and it's also a massive oil field. The shopping center may not be the only reason the US built a base there.

in fact , all three are US bases. Inside the Syrian Arab Republic. WTH!! I did not know this. Syria's head of state is a “war criminal” named Bashar Al Assad. The guy accused by the International Criminal Court of using chemical weapons to attack his own citizens. Presumably they issued an arrest warrant for Assad too, right?

So . . . we have actual US bases INSIDE Syria. This is never in the news. Now they're coming under attack by “Iranian proxies”.

WTH again. What's an “Iranian proxie”? I googled it. Turns out to have nothing to do with voting shares in the stock market. But it is an unfriendly takeover maneuver. “Iranian proxies” are trying to force the US to leave Afghanistan – er, I mean Syria (sorry! sorry!) so that a despotic regime can control that patch of desert without interference. Reminder this is Syria – NOT Afghanistan. We covered Afghanistan in class earlier this week, boys and girls.

Well, why NOT fire rockets American bases in Syria with impunity? We DID cut and ran last time, in Afghanistan, It's March Madness. A low seeded team will keep running the same play as long as they score with it, right? And now - they're killing “American contractors”.

Geesus . . . who is making this war (or is it a “special operation”?) so convoluted and secretive? Are “american contractors” the same as mercenaries? Like Russia's “Wagner Group”? The Wagner Group which has bases in . . . Ukraine? Near highways and shopping malls too?

So far, Team Biden and its supportive media outlets are serving up very little. Just enough to make us constantly go WTH!!!

We don't know the name of the corporation which employs the US contractors. Just that they are being attacked by “Iranian proxies”. I'm going to theorize that these guys are NOT actual Iranians. Because if they WERE, nobody would constantly be appending the suffix “proxies". These have to be some other guys. Who happen to be equipped with Iranian gear. Drones. Artillery. Rockets. Guns.

Turns out that US contractors in Syria have been under more or less continuous attacks by “Iranian Proxies” for almost a year. About one drone or rocket attack per week. Except this week there have been more than dozen, and now our “contractors” are being killed.

Wait – all this started nearly a year ago? You mean around the time the US fled Afghanistan? WTH! Why didn't we hear about any of this in the run-up to the 2022 midterm elections? Constant drone attacks aren't newsworthy? Unless an American mercenary actually gets hit by one? Or did the secrecy surrounding US bases in Syria have to do with the election timing itself?

Well, don't worry. We're apparently not going to flee to the closest Syrian airport and bail. At least not this week. Team Biden authorized retaliation against the “Iranian proxies”. This retaliation was delivered by . . . US F15 and F16 jet fighters! The same make and model which NATO won't use in Ukraine. WTH!! for like the tenth time . . .

Can SOMEONE from Team Biden please explain to me exactly what the rules are? When we can use our jets, and when we can't? Who we are getting mercenaries from, vs uniformed US military troops? What line item in the US budget this appears in?

And the biggie - why is Syria more important than Ukraine? Is the long term objective here to depose Bashar Al Assad, and set up a new Syrian government friendly to us? Or just 20 years of "peacekeeping"? We've had Syrian bases since 2015 – the Obama administration. Did Trump even know? Senate -convene a subcommittee to investigate Trump over this. See if charges are warranted against him for Obama basing troops in Syria.

Full disclosure – if Americans jets are going to fly into harms way, I'd rather it happen in Ukraine. The people of Ukraine are unlikely to bedevil America with perpetual of ISIS/Taleban/Al Qaeda terrorism if we succeed in repelling Putin. But let's not forget – Iran is just “weeks away” from testing a missile with a nuclear warhead. This tidbit was released by Team Biden yesterday too. We are making some powerful enemies, aren't we? This new world order thing may not be working out . . .

 

[Dawg]

When did Congress approve of War in Syria?
Now American soldiers are being shipped home in bags or with less body parts than they left with!

 

[middleview]

View attachment 74456

Photo above - US "contractors" at el Omar, Syria on patrol
Not shown - the massive oil field at el Omar.
​

Ever heard of these places? “Homs”? “Der el Zour”? “El Omar”? You MUST have heard of el Omar. It's right next to that shopping center, just off highway 45. In Syria. Oh – and it's also a massive oil field. The shopping center may not be the only reason the US built a base there.

in fact , all three are US bases. Inside the Syrian Arab Republic. WTH!! I did not know this. Syria's head of state is a “war criminal” named Bashar Al Assad. The guy accused by the International Criminal Court of using chemical weapons to attack his own citizens. Presumably they issued an arrest warrant for Assad too, right?

So . . . we have actual US bases INSIDE Syria. This is never in the news. Now they're coming under attack by “Iranian proxies”.

WTH again. What's an “Iranian proxie”? I googled it. Turns out to have nothing to do with voting shares in the stock market. But it is an unfriendly takeover maneuver. “Iranian proxies” are trying to force the US to leave Afghanistan – er, I mean Syria (sorry! sorry!) so that a despotic regime can control that patch of desert without interference. Reminder this is Syria – NOT Afghanistan. We covered Afghanistan in class earlier this week, boys and girls.

Well, why NOT fire rockets American bases in Syria with impunity? We DID cut and ran last time, in Afghanistan, It's March Madness. A low seeded team will keep running the same play as long as they score with it, right? And now - they're killing “American contractors”.

Geesus . . . who is making this war (or is it a “special operation”?) so convoluted and secretive? Are “american contractors” the same as mercenaries? Like Russia's “Wagner Group”? The Wagner Group which has bases in . . . Ukraine? Near highways and shopping malls too?

So far, Team Biden and its supportive media outlets are serving up very little. Just enough to make us constantly go WTH!!!

We don't know the name of the corporation which employs the US contractors. Just that they are being attacked by “Iranian proxies”. I'm going to theorize that these guys are NOT actual Iranians. Because if they WERE, nobody would constantly be appending the suffix “proxies". These have to be some other guys. Who happen to be equipped with Iranian gear. Drones. Artillery. Rockets. Guns.

Turns out that US contractors in Syria have been under more or less continuous attacks by “Iranian Proxies” for almost a year. About one drone or rocket attack per week. Except this week there have been more than dozen, and now our “contractors” are being killed.

Wait – all this started nearly a year ago? You mean around the time the US fled Afghanistan? WTH! Why didn't we hear about any of this in the run-up to the 2022 midterm elections? Constant drone attacks aren't newsworthy? Unless an American mercenary actually gets hit by one? Or did the secrecy surrounding US bases in Syria have to do with the election timing itself?

Well, don't worry. We're apparently not going to flee to the closest Syrian airport and bail. At least not this week. Team Biden authorized retaliation against the “Iranian proxies”. This retaliation was delivered by . . . US F15 and F16 jet fighters! The same make and model which NATO won't use in Ukraine. WTH!! for like the tenth time . . .

Can SOMEONE from Team Biden please explain to me exactly what the rules are? When we can use our jets, and when we can't? Who we are getting mercenaries from, vs uniformed US military troops? What line item in the US budget this appears in?

And the biggie - why is Syria more important than Ukraine? Is the long term objective here to depose Bashar Al Assad, and set up a new Syrian government friendly to us? Or just 20 years of "peacekeeping"? We've had Syrian bases since 2015 – the Obama administration. Did Trump even know? Senate -convene a subcommittee to investigate Trump over this. See if charges are warranted against him for Obama basing troops in Syria.

Full disclosure – if Americans jets are going to fly into harms way, I'd rather it happen in Ukraine. The people of Ukraine are unlikely to bedevil America with perpetual of ISIS/Taleban/Al Qaeda terrorism if we succeed in repelling Putin. But let's not forget – Iran is just “weeks away” from testing a missile with a nuclear warhead. This tidbit was released by Team Biden yesterday too. We are making some powerful enemies, aren't we? This new world order thing may not be working out . . .

Homs and Omar are both in Western Syria....they are not US bases. US troops are in Deir El Zur in Western Syria because they are fighting against attacks by ISIS on our ally in Iraq. It is closer to the Iraqi border than it is to Damascus.

Did Trump know we had troops there? Are you kidding? Trump withdrew a handful of troops from Kurdish villages in Northern Syria so that Erdogan didn't cut off his $3 million per year from the Istanbul Trump Towers.

While you want to criticize Biden for Afghanistan and troops in Syria..you ignore that Trump surrendered to the Taliban in Afghanistan and threw the Kurds under the bus by letting Turkey conduct attacks on villages in Northern Syrian.

 

[middleview]

When did Congress approve of War in Syria?
Now American soldiers are being shipped home in bags or with less body parts than they left with!

It was under the Congressional approval in the war on terror...did you forget?

 

[EatTheRich]

Bring home the troops!

 

[as seen on tv]

When did Congress approve of War in Syria?
Now American soldiers are being shipped home in bags or with less body parts than they left with!

I'm uncertain about this . . . but i don't believe congress was consulted - war powers act or otherwise, on ANY american troops/bases in the region. Syria, Libya, Egypt, Lebanon . .. well, Maybe Libya. We got a congressional vote to go in and and Saddam Hussein, and save the hash of Saudi Arabia - which just signed a friendship agreement with China this week.

 

[as seen on tv]

Bring home the troops!

They're not troops. They're "contractors". likely paid WAAAY more than actual enlisted personnel.

 

[as seen on tv]

Homs and Omar are both in Western Syria....they are not US bases. US troops are in Deir El Zur in Western Syria because they are fighting against attacks by ISIS on our ally in Iraq. It is closer to the Iraqi border than it is to Damascus.

Did Trump know we had troops there? Are you kidding? Trump withdrew a handful of troops from Kurdish villages in Northern Syria so that Erdogan didn't cut off his $3 million per year from the Istanbul Trump Towers.

While you want to criticize Biden for Afghanistan and troops in Syria..you ignore that Trump surrendered to the Taliban in Afghanistan and threw the Kurds under the bus by letting Turkey conduct attacks on villages in Northern Syrian.

once again, you mulishly refuse to read the links. is this kindergarten?

Homs is where the fatal drone attack occured 2 days ago.

Sheesh! try to keep up, okay?

 

[Dawg]

I'm uncertain about this . . . but i don't believe congress was consulted - war powers act or otherwise, on ANY american troops/bases in the region. Syria, Libya, Egypt, Lebanon . .. well, Maybe Libya. We got a congressional vote to go in and and Saddam Hussein, and save the hash of Saudi Arabia - which just signed a friendship agreement with China this week.

I am as well and have heard or read nothing of Congress voting for such.

 

[middleview]

once again, you mulishly refuse to read the links. is this kindergarten?

Homs is where the fatal drone attack occured 2 days ago.

Sheesh! try to keep up, okay?

The attack was on Hasakah..

U.S. contractor killed, five service members wounded in Syria drone strike

A day after the initial strike, there were two more attacks on coalition bases, officials said Friday.

www.nbcnews.com

 

[Dawg]

Media letting our enemies know our hardware is low

Going to war? Good news! The United States is 13 years behind in ammunition production, NYT reports (msn.com)

 

[middleview]

Media letting our enemies know our hardware is low

Going to war? Good news! The United States is 13 years behind in ammunition production, NYT reports (msn.com)

in fact it is probably a good idea to ramp up the production lines. While we had time to change our manufacturers in 1941, it cost us a lot....a huge number of troops surrendered in the Phillipines (76,000), the loss of Guam and Wake islands.

A war now would be a come as you are war with little time to ramp up.

 

[georgephillip]

Well, don't worry. We're apparently not going to flee to the closest Syrian airport and bail. At least not this week. Team Biden authorized retaliation against the “Iranian proxies”. This retaliation was delivered by . . . US F15 and F16 jet fighters! The same make and model which NATO won't use in Ukraine. WTH!! for like the tenth time .

Proxy wars come with unintended consequences:

"The backing of the mujahedeen in Afghanistan fighting the Soviets, which included arming groups such as those led by Osama bin Laden, gave rise to the Taliban and al-Qaeda.

"It also spread reactionary jihadism throughout the Muslim world, increased terrorist attacks against western targets which culminated in the attacks of 9/11 and fueled two decades of U.S.-led military fiascos in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Somalia, Libya and Yemen."

https://strategic-culture.org/news/2023/03/14/ukraine-death-by-proxy/

Betrayal is the closing act in nearly all proxy wars.
The time will come when Ukrainians will become expendable.
They will disappear from American consciousness just as the Kurds and Contras did.
Perhaps Americans will move on to the "heroic" people of Taiwan to maintain their position of full spectrum dominance?

 

[georgephillip]

in fact it is probably a good idea to ramp up the production lines. While we had time to change our manufacturers in 1941, it cost us a lot....a huge number of troops surrendered in the Phillipines (76,000), the loss of Guam and Wake islands.

A war now would be a come as you are war with little time to ramp up.

A war now could result in a global nuclear exchange, so perhaps it's long past time to reconsider US hegemony?

https://strategic-culture.org/news/2023/03/14/ukraine-death-by-proxy/

"Should Russia prevail in Ukraine, should Putin not be removed from power, the U.S. will have not only cemented into place a potent alliance between Russia and China, but ensured an antagonism with Russia that will come back to haunt us.

"The flood of billions of dollars of weapons into Ukraine, the use of U.S. intelligence to kill Russian generals and sink the battleship Moskva, the blowing up of the Nord Stream pipelines and the more than 2,500 U.S. sanctions targeting Russia, will not be forgotten by Moscow."

 

[middleview]

A war now could result in a global nuclear exchange, so perhaps it's long past time to reconsider US hegemony?

https://strategic-culture.org/news/2023/03/14/ukraine-death-by-proxy/

"Should Russia prevail in Ukraine, should Putin not be removed from power, the U.S. will have not only cemented into place a potent alliance between Russia and China, but ensured an antagonism with Russia that will come back to haunt us.

"The flood of billions of dollars of weapons into Ukraine, the use of U.S. intelligence to kill Russian generals and sink the battleship Moskva, the blowing up of the Nord Stream pipelines and the more than 2,500 U.S. sanctions targeting Russia, will not be forgotten by Moscow."

The brutal invasion of a peaceful nation, murders of thousands of Ukrainians, kidnapping children and threats of nuclear war should not be forgotten by Washington, Paris, London, Berlin or any other allied nation.

What about Russian imperialism? Why do you ignore that? Russia has gone to war in Georgia, Chechnya, and now Ukraine....why?

Now Finland and Sweden will join NATO. Poland has increased defense spending to over 4% of GDP.

Putin is losing ground. His army is far weaker now than it was a year ago. He continues have his former allies murdered and his opponents jailed. His efforts to keep the population of Russia in the dark and has been hiding the casualty numbers from them.
How much longer do you suppose his generals will put up with him?

 

[middleview]

Proxy wars come with unintended consequences:

"The backing of the mujahedeen in Afghanistan fighting the Soviets, which included arming groups such as those led by Osama bin Laden, gave rise to the Taliban and al-Qaeda.

"It also spread reactionary jihadism throughout the Muslim world, increased terrorist attacks against western targets which culminated in the attacks of 9/11 and fueled two decades of U.S.-led military fiascos in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Somalia, Libya and Yemen."

https://strategic-culture.org/news/2023/03/14/ukraine-death-by-proxy/

Betrayal is the closing act in nearly all proxy wars.
The time will come when Ukrainians will become expendable.
They will disappear from American consciousness just as the Kurds and Contras did.
Perhaps Americans will move on to the "heroic" people of Taiwan to maintain their position of full spectrum dominance?

It was Russian military intervention in Afghanistan that led to the Taliban going to war against the recognized government there.
It was US military intervention in Iraq that led to Al Qaeda in Iraq, then Islamic State in Iraq and then ISIL and their involvement in the civil war in Syria.
Corruption in Libya led to demonstrations against Gaddafi. He ordered his military to open fire on the demonstators...that led to a civil war in Libya.

While you'd like to blame the US instead of the actual culprits.

 

[georgephillip]

The brutal invasion of a peaceful nation, murders of thousands of Ukrainians, kidnapping children and threats of nuclear war should not be forgotten by Washington, Paris, London, Berlin or any other allied nation.

US foments and finances an illegal coup in 2014, instigating an 8 year-long civil war on Russian borders which NATO uses to maximize arm$ $ales in defense of freedom loving Nazis. Once again US meddling in the internal politics of a foreign state on the opposite side of the planet presents investment opportunities for those who profit from eternal war and endless debt.

 

[georgephillip]

What about Russian imperialism? Why do you ignore that? Russia has gone to war in Georgia, Chechnya, and now Ukraine....why?

For the same reasons the US invaded Iraq.
If you condemn the latter, how can you justify the former?

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-nato-bush-idUSL025084120080402

"BUCHAREST (Reuters) - President George W. Bush pressed reluctant west European allies on Wednesday to reward democratic revolutions in Georgia and Ukraine by setting both former Soviet republics on a path to NATO membership.

"'My country’s position is clear -- NATO should welcome Georgia and Ukraine into the Membership Action Plan,' Bush said in a keynote speech, hours before an expected clash on the issue at a summit of the 26-nation defense alliance"

 

[middleview]

For the same reasons the US invaded Iraq.
If you condemn the latter, how can you justify the former?

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-nato-bush-idUSL025084120080402

"BUCHAREST (Reuters) - President George W. Bush pressed reluctant west European allies on Wednesday to reward democratic revolutions in Georgia and Ukraine by setting both former Soviet republics on a path to NATO membership.

"'My country’s position is clear -- NATO should welcome Georgia and Ukraine into the Membership Action Plan,' Bush said in a keynote speech, hours before an expected clash on the issue at a summit of the 26-nation defense alliance"

I have consistently criticized the invasion of Iraq.

 

[middleview]

US foments and finances an illegal coup in 2014, instigating an 8 year-long civil war on Russian borders which NATO uses to maximize arm$ $ales in defense of freedom loving Nazis. Once again US meddling in the internal politics of a foreign state on the opposite side of the planet presents investment opportunities for those who profit from eternal war and endless debt.

The facts disagree with you.