Reply #37: This could possibly be a deliberate attempt to...

[TheMadMonk]

get the US so deeply emeshed in foreign adventures that nobody (eg. Fitz. and Earl) dare upset the internal applecart.

Possibly also to provoke sufficient conflict, that they are "forced by circumstances" to introduce the draft.

A third possibility would be to stir up so much turmoil as possible in the region that any US pullout would result in total collapse or destabilisation of the global oil market. Which of course would mean that they could never be so "irresponsible" as to even contemplate such a move.


Do we actually have anything on the nature of the incursion?

Were the actually Syrians caught being naughty (ie transporting people or contraband into Iraq)?

Was it a pre-emptive strike based on credible intelligence. While I don't accept the legitimacy of the US presence in Iraq, I do believe that this is a legitimate response given their presence.

Or was it (as speculated) an attempt to provoke a sufficiently large response on the part of the Syrians, to justify a formal response?


Lack of noise and backpatting at the top, would seem to eliminate the first entirely, and the second also, unless they are still "putting" that credible intelligenge in place. Oops. Straight to #3 anyway.