“Constant Rebalancing” and US boots on the ground in Iraq

We all knew it would happen soon.  I just wonder when we’ll invade Afghanistan again.

Here is the article from ZeroHedge

The Latest US Invasion Of Iraq Begins: US Military Search And Rescue Teams Arrive In Northern Iraq

Tyler Durden's picture

Despite numerous explanations that no boots-on-the-ground will be on-the-ground in Iraq in the war against Islamic State, it appears, as CNN reports, that the US military has moved Search-and-Rescue (S&R) assets to Northern Iraq as part of a “constant rebalancing” depending on the evolving airstrike-only mission.
Of course, as the ‘unnamed source’ was so quick to explain, this was in no way a response to threats from The UAE to pull out of the coalition unless S&R assets were placed in Iraq since, cynically speaking, the UAE demands are only the result of US demands that it demand it anyway.
However, as Bloomberg notes – on the heels of selling 170 M-1 Abrams tanks to Iraq indirectly ‘stimulating’ the US economy (“middle-class economics” don’t forget) – US allies are now withholding military power in an effort to get Obama to do more in Syria (which once again cynically-speaking –gives the President further excuse to provide billions in fresh military contracts to General Dynamics & Northrop Grummond) all in the name of peace, prosperity and the American way of life.
U.S. allies in the fight against Islamic State extremists are withholding military capabilities as leverage on President Barack Obama to do more in Syria, according to Bloomberg.
At issue are calls from the U.A.E. for U.S. pilot-rescue teams to be positioned closer to the Syrian battleground, where they’d be primed for quicker action, and from Turkey to impose a protected safe zone in Syria. Their demands create problems for Obama, who officials have said is wary of drawing the U.S. more deeply into Syria’s turmoil.
Underlying that issue is disagreement over Obama’s decision to make fighting Islamic State the priority over efforts to remove the regime of President Bashar al-Assad.
In congressional testimony on Tuesday, Marine Lieutenant General Vincent Stewart, director of the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency, confirmed a trend that troubles regional allies Turkey and Arab states such as Saudi Arabia. As Bloomberg reports, he told the House Armed Services Committee, “we assess the conflict is trending in the Assad regime’s favor.”
The state department completes the puppetry:
Jordan, “the country that was most impacted” by the killing, “intends to intensify its efforts,” Psaki said.
And this needs our assistance with more military might (spending) and support… and boots on the ground in Iraq… it’s only fair.
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And so, as CNN reports, the U.S. military has moved some search and rescue assets into Northern Iraq, a U.S. official said on Wednesday.
The move was described as part of a constant rebalancing of search and rescue assets that are moved depending on the evolving airstrike mission. The source did not suggest it was a response to United Arab Emirates concerns about proximity of rescue assets and did not say when this latest rotation happened.
The reshuffling comes after news that UAE had suspended participation in coalition strikes out of concern that search and rescue assets were not placed close enough to ensure a timely effort to rescue, a claim disputed by U.S. military officials.
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Of course, if we were the cynical historians of the desperation of the military-industrial complex, we could see this whole facade as nothing but smoke and mirrors for economic stimulatory excuses and deficit expansion in the name of saving the world and… the UAE demands are only the result of US demands that it demand it anyway.
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