By Anonymous:
I am writing to urge you to vote no on the President’s proposal to train and arm 5,000 Syrian soldiers to create a military ground force to oppose ISIS in Syria. I believe that to vote positive on that proposal is to declare war on Syria as well as ISIS with a plan to fight that war with a pea shooter soon to be developed. There is no way on earth that a 5,000 man force, even after recruitment and training, can be expected to win a war against ISIS, let alone against ISIS and Assad.
The authorization to create such a Syrian force will of necessity drag the United States into a protracted ground war against ISIS and Assad. Once we arm such a Syrian force we will be forced by political considerations to employ them in Syria, and once they are in Syria we will be unable for political as well as military imperatives to permit them to be decimated or destroyed. That will require an all out effort by the United States to prevail, including use of tens of thousands of ground troops as well as extensive air and naval support. And assuming that we should ultimately succeed in conquering Syria at an inestimable cost in human life and treasure, it will put us in a position akin to where we were after conquering IRAQ in 2002, with enemies on all sides in Syria and elsewhere in the Mideast and beyond, wondering what we should do next.
I fully support the other elements of the President’s overall strategy of providing air cover and power to aid the Iraqi government and the Kurds to reclaim the ISIS occupied territories in Iraq and the use of air power to strike and debilitate ISIS in Syria in the same manner as we do in Pakistan to support our forces as well as the government in Afghanistan. But that should be sufficient for now. Let Assad and ISIS fight it out on the ground in Syria for the time being. There will always be time later, if necessary, to declare war on Syria.
Thank you for your consideration of this message.
