The United States has been leading an air assault similar to that of past conflicts in Libya, and Yugoslavia, but this time, targeting the terror group the so-called Islamic State in Syria. It was recently disclosed the Pentagon has been discussing introducing conventional troops into Syria; this comes with some profound, inherent risks.
This new proposal would expand the war in Syria much further and also increase the potential for American casualties. These forces would obviously complement the American special operators already in Syria. The initial, limited aim of the operation would likely be the defeat of the Islamic State.
The Pentagon has two dreadful choices to make if it seeks to introduce conventional forces. The first option would be to withdraw after the terror group is defeated. In doing so, U.S. forces would simply relinquish control to Syrian President Bashir al-Assad, and his government. The Syrian government would likely further destabilize the region through its persecution of those opposed to its regime, only exacerbating the refugee crisis.
The Assad-led Syrian government has been making significant inroads through indiscriminate killing, chemical weapons, and torture; legitimate grievances now exist against this regime, especially if the U.S. is seen siding with Assad. This is something our enemies could capitalize on for propaganda purposes.
The second choice is even more concerning. More combat troops could expedite our victory over the so-called Islamic State, but as we’ve seen in Iraq, a conventional victory doesn’t necessarily translate into an end to the conflict. If the situation becomes even more tenuous, the United States faces the risk of being involved in a protracted war.
The fluidity of the situation may call for a longer commitment than planned; the military calls this mission creep, shifting from a short-term to long-term commitment because of uncertainty -- similar to that of insurgency during the Iraq War. This would come at the hefty expense of American lives, and money.
No easy solutions exist to defeat the so-called Islamic State, but even limited action has a price; the mounting death toll in Syria is evidence of that. Americans are at present ambivalent about another war. A recent NBC News and Survey Monkey poll found that 66% of Americans are worried about a war over the next four years—as they should be; another war may be on the horizon once again.
Matt Fecteau ([email protected]) of Pawtucket, Rhode Island was a Democratic candidate for office in 2014 and 2016. He is a former White House national security intern and Iraq war veteran. Follow him on Twitter @MatthewFecteau
Related Slideshow: Trump’s Win - What Does it Mean for Rhode Island?
"We don't really know what a Trump presidency means for the nation, never mind the smallest state. One of the unintended consequences of last night's results is that Sen. Jack Reed won't be chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee. Chalk that up as a loss for RI."
"Trump’s win means that his signature issue, illegal immigration, could have a big impact on RI, hopefully reversing our course as a sanctuary state and saving the state taxpayer millions of dollars. While we agree with his 'repeal and replace' Obamacare stance, we have no idea what that means to the RI debacle known as UHIP. It is not a stretch to believe that federal funding for this kind of system will be off the table so, will RI be stuck with this massively expensive system that still doesn’t work and that is expected to cost another $124 million to fix?
Trump's belief that there is significant fraud in the Food Stamp program and the policies that may come from that belief could have a negative impact on RI's local economy since there are businesses in certain cities that rely heavily on this program, fraud and all. On the upside, we may be able to ditch the UHIP program if there is significantly less need for processing welfare program requests (ie. Medicaid and food stamps) resulting from fewer illegal immigrants and less fraud. While we are ambivalent about his touted child care policies, if enacted, it may force our legislators to revisit the ever growing state cost of subsidies in this area and possibly reduce the fraud and abuse in this system."
"The RI congressional delegation just became even less powerful than it was. With unified government, Trump doesn’t need to quell Democrats’ concerns or acquiesce because he’s worried about a Democratically-controlled Senate.
His appointments will reflect that. His executive orders will affect that. And the conservative policy agenda he puts forward will affect that."
"Well there's a few things -- because there's not going to be gridlock, that's a big difference if it had been Hillary and a GOP Congress, in which nothing would got done. We'll at least get a half a billion in infrastructure that's going to pass which will have an impact.
I think you'll see there will be reduced reliance on government nationally -- and that's where we'll stick out like sore thumb. We've relied way too much on government -- and our government is highly inefficient and ineffective. Maybe, just maybe, in this who cycle of things we might be forced to be small and more efficient for once.
A couple of other things -- interest rates jumped. The one to follow is the ten year government bond rate -- which is tied to mortgages. It went from 1.7% to 2.05% in one day. The point is -- if the ten year stays high, mortgage rates will start going higher -- and in the short time people will run to re-finance.
That's the short term impact -- but then if rates stay hight, that will make mortgages more out of reach. And we just passed a bond issue to limit open space -- housing has limited upside here.
The next thing -- the Fed Reserve will go ahead with tightening next month. A strong dollar will hurt manufacturing. When the dollar is strong our exports become more expensive overseas.
Our goods production sector -- manufacturing and construction -- in the near term will do a little better, but as time goes on will be more limited. But something you won't hear, is there are lags in fiscal policy, of six months to year. So we won't really see the effects until the third our fourth quarter of 2017, going into 2018."
"As the unbelievable turned into reality this morning, it struck me that the presidential election was not really all about Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. It was about a fed-up people, revolting against a corrupt system - the "beast" - that relentlessly favors insiders. Hillary personified the beast, while Donald personified the slayer.
Sadly, based on election results in our state, Rhode Island's version of the beast lives on. I fear our political class has not learned the lessons from the Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump movements - and will continue with their government-centric, anti-family, anti-business status quo."
"A Trump Presidency means the validation of the ugliest part of America. In RI, as with the rest of the country, the hammer of his hatred will fall hardest on minority communities. Being a blue state doesn't make us immune from this danger.
Trump won over 35% (39.5) of the vote here! We need to look in the mirror, and not lie about what the reflection shows us. No more hiding underneath a blue blanket. I expect those who claim Democratic values to be true to those values. The gulf between words and actions have turned into fertile ground for Trump's message to grow here in RI. If you call yourself a Democrat, if you claim to stand in opposition to Trump, now is the time to prove it. Show up and fight back."
