The U.S. Military: Proud Owners of One-Third of Syria
Danny Sjursen
How many American citizens even realize the U.S. military now occupies most of the eastern third of Syria?
He called it the "Pottery Barn" rule: you break it, you buy it! Former secretary of state Colin Powell was, of course, referring to Iraq back in 2003, warning President George W. Bush about the inherent risks of regime change. “What comes next?†he liked to ask. Though, admittedly, the United States was hardly responsible for most of the “breaking†in Syria—that ignominious honor belongs to Bashar al-Assad—Powell’s question remains relevant today.
Why? Because the risk-reward calculation in Syria is completely unbalanced, with a real danger of regional great power conflict. Just this week, as the U.S. military stares down a slew of adversaries along the Euphrates River, top Russian officials threatened retaliation if President Trump orders attacks on the Syrian regime which endanger Russian servicemen. Even more striking, last month U.S. airstrikes killed scores of assaulting Russian mercenaries. This is all deadly serious.
Read more at: http://nationalinterest.org/feature/the-us-military-proud-owners-one-third-syria-25306
2 page article, one may read. I didn't know we were in that much land but hey, that's really occupied by the troops we support, mainly the Kurd dominated SDF, Syrian Defense Forces. The author surely knows more than I do... but I'm not sure if he is correct. The situation is changing so fast, some of it, from that point of view, is out-of-date.
