{"id":16492,"date":"2013-09-03T06:00:48","date_gmt":"2013-09-03T10:00:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/?p=16492"},"modified":"2013-09-02T20:26:44","modified_gmt":"2013-09-03T00:26:44","slug":"militarys-qualms-about-war-with-syria","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2013\/09\/militarys-qualms-about-war-with-syria\/","title":{"rendered":"Military’s qualms about war with Syria"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Our military leaders have some major qualms about attacking Syria.\u00a0 From Ernest Londono, U.S. military officers have deep doubts about impact, wisdom of a U.S. strike on Syria \u2013 The Washington Post<\/a>:<\/p>\n

The Obama administration\u2019s plan to launch a military strike against Syria is being received with serious reservations by many in the U.S. military, which is coping with the scars of two lengthy wars and a rapidly contracting budget, according to current and former officers.<\/p>\n

Having assumed for months that the United States was unlikely to intervene militarily in Syria, the Defense Department has been thrust onto a war footing that has made many in the armed services uneasy, according to interviews with more than a dozen military officers ranging from captains to a four-star general.<\/p>\n

\n

Former and current officers, many with the painful lessons of Iraq and Afghanistan on their minds, said the main reservations concern the potential unintended consequences of launching cruise missiles against Syria. .\u00a0 . .<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a broad naivete in the political class about America\u2019s obligations in foreign policy issues, and scary simplicity about the effects that employing American military power can achieve,\u201d said retired Lt. Gen. Gregory S. Newbold<\/a>, who served as director of operations for the Joint Chiefs of Staff during the run-up to the Iraq war, noting that many of his contemporaries are alarmed by the plan.<\/p>\n

Marine Lt. Col. Gordon Miller<\/a>, a fellow at the Center for a New American Security, warned this week of \u201cpotentially devastating consequences, including a fresh round of chemical weapons attacks and a military response by Israel.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIf President [Bashar al-Assad] were to absorb the strikes and use chemical weapons again, this would be a significant blow to the United States\u2019 credibility and it would be compelled to escalate the assault on Syria to achieve the original objectives,\u201d Miller wrote in a commentary<\/a> for the think tank.. . .<\/p>\n

\u201cI can\u2019t believe the president is even considering it,\u201d said [an unnamed]\u00a0 officer, who like most officers interviewed for this story agreed to speak only on the condition of anonymity because military personnel are reluctant to criticize policymakers while military campaigns are being planned. \u201cWe have been fighting the last 10 years a counterinsurgency war. Syria has modern weaponry. We would have to retrain for a conventional war.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gen. Martin Dempsey<\/a>, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, has warned in great detail about the risks and pitfalls of U.S. military intervention in Syria.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs we weigh our options, we should be able to conclude with some confidence that use of force will move us toward the intended outcome,\u201d Dempsey wrote last month<\/a> in a letter to the Senate Armed Services Committee. \u201cOnce we take action, we should be prepared for what comes next. Deeper involvement is hard to avoid.\u201d. . .<\/p>\n

\u201cIt has branded in me the idea that the use of military power must be part of an overall strategic solution that includes international partners and a whole of government,\u201d he said in the Aug. 4 interview. \u201cSimply the application of force rarely produces and, in fact, maybe never produces the outcome we seek.\u201d . . .<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat is the political end state we\u2019re trying to achieve?\u201d said a retired senior officer involved in Middle East operational planning who said his concerns are widely shared by active-duty military leaders. \u201cI don\u2019t know what it is. We say it\u2019s not regime change. If it\u2019s punishment, there are other ways to punish.\u201d<\/p>\n

This from the people who plan and fight our wars:\u00a0 \u201cBroad naivete.\u201d\u00a0 \u201cScary simplicity.\u201d\u00a0 \u201cWe would have to retrain for a conventional war.\u201d\u00a0 \u201cDeeper involvement is hard to avoid.\u201d\u00a0 \u201cWhat is the political end state we\u2019re trying to achieve?\u201d\u00a0 And, most starkly, \u201cSimply the application of force rarely produces and, in fact, maybe never produces the outcome we seek.\u201d<\/p><\/div>\n<\/blockquote><\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Our military leaders have some major qualms about attacking Syria.\u00a0 From Ernest Londono, U.S. military officers have deep doubts about impact, wisdom of a U.S. strike on Syria \u2013 The Washington Post: The Obama administration\u2019s plan to launch a military strike against Syria is being received with serious reservations by many in the U.S. military, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1281,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19,49],"tags":[1454,2659,2328],"class_list":["post-16492","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-government","category-war-2","tag-military","tag-syrian-civil-war","tag-war"],"yoast_head":"\nMilitary's qualms about war with Syria<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Our military leaders have some major qualms about attacking Syria.\u00a0 From Ernest Londono, U.S. military officers have deep 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