Analysis: Sending ground troops to Syria alongside US Special Forces is the right strategy (Arab News)

[TomSea]

Sending ground troops to Syria alongside US Special Forces is the right strategy
Oubai Shahbandar | Published — Thursday 23 February 2017

 The US should heed Saudi Foreign Minister Adel Al-Jubeir’s recent announcement that the Kingdom is “ready to send ground troops” to Syria to fight Daesh and prevent Iran-backed Shiite extremists from occupying territory liberated from Daesh. “The Kingdom and other Gulf countries are ready to allocate forces to fight” alongside US Special Forces that are already on the ground in eastern Syria, he said.

Why is this announcement important? Saudi Arabia had told the administration of former US President Barack Obama that it was ready to send its Special Forces into Syria as part of a comprehensive strategy to work with the anti-Daesh coalition and local partners on the ground.

However, Obama was overly concerned with the potential reaction by Iran, with which he had just signed a nuclear deal, and had little interest in expanding US commitment to the fight in Syria while the focus was primarily on fighting Daesh in Iraq.

The good news is that with the new administration of US President Donald Trump, there seems to be renewed bandwidth by Washington to explore new options in Syria in partnership with the Arab Coalition and Turkey.

Continued: http://www.arabnews.com/node/1058316

These are one heck of implications here if this were to come about, the Gulf Countries and Turkey sending troops into Syria.  I doubt if we will hear much about this though or that it will come about.  This would be about total war of the countries in that region and of course, Saudi Arabia sees us, in my own words, as being a sort of guardian-figure, big brother sort of.

[geronl]

We should not send ground forces

[TomSea]

In this instance, the author is not talking about US ground troops from what I see but about the Special Forces which, seem to already be there. It would still be one heckuva scenario. And McCain was just over there, put two and two together. This would definitely be a regional war then.

[TomSea]

But the bottom line, is even if we had a few advisors and such there or 3200 troops there as said the other day, fighting alongside UAE, KSA and whomever else, doesn't sound like a good idea, even if Jordan and Egypt sent troops.

[TomSea]

A larger number of US military personnel, alongside Saudi and Arab Coalition Special Forces, will be necessary to tip the scale against Daesh for good in eastern Syria. Without a special focus on the end game in Syria, tactical advances against Daesh will be of no strategic consequence.

Yeah, they are asking us to help fight their war, we won't. Not in this fashion.

[Frank Cannon]

The US should heed Saudi Foreign Minister Adel Al-Jubeir’s recent announcement that the Kingdom is “ready to send ground troops”....

So the Rag Heads want to send some of their night shirted warriors in to back us up in a war with Syria. Just GD swell.

BTW, who came up with this downright stupid idea? John McLame and his girl Lindsay? 

[TomSea]

No, we should not do this. We have 3200 troops, special forces in Syria, check the details.

These Gulf countries want someone to fall back on if things go to hell.

Also, we'd be dealing with things like Renegade soldiers from these troops shooting at us, trying to kill, suicide bomb us or things like that.

We lost 250 Marines in Beirut due to a suicide attack back in about '83.

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And the article couches it in terms, we should fight for land that ISIS lost and that the Shiites are going to control. Hell. Fighting for land that ISIS lost, Sunni land, maybe they deserve it but it's not for us to make it right.