Daniel Lazare — US Hawks Advance a War Agenda in Syria

The U.S. government, having illegally sent American troops into Syria [embedded with insurgents], is now threatening to attack the Syrian military if it endangers those troops [by defending Syrian sovereignty], an Orwellian twist that marks a dangerous escalation, explains Daniel Lazare.…

“As we’ve said in the past,” he added, “the Syrian regime would be well-advised not to interfere with coalition forces or our partners.”

Such statements are little less than Orwellian since the United States has essentially invaded Syria by inserting military forces without Syrian government permission in violation of international law. What Davis was saying, therefore, is that the U.S. will prevent Syria from protecting its own forces on its own soil, which was rather like the Wehrmacht condemning Poland for daring to defend its own territory in September 1939.…

Obama has opposed a no-fly zone because it would draw the U.S. into a direct conflict with the Assad government and likely its Russian and Iranian backers as well. But now with the U.S. promising to continue patrolling the skies over Hasakah, he finds himself backing into a no-fly zone regardless.
The confrontation begs the question of who is really calling the shots with regard to Syria, the President or well-placed hawks whose specialty is maneuvering the White House into doing their bidding.

It also raises the question of the role of the Clinton presidential campaign. The White House is obviously coordinating closely with Clinton’s campaign headquarters, and with prospects of a landslide victory that will give Democrats control of both houses of Congress plus the presidency, the stakes couldn’t be higher. But since a quick and easy victory over Assad and his Russian and Iranian allies would vindicate the neocon position, the issue is whether pro-Hillary forces are pulling strings to make events in Syria go her way as well.…

Obama’s aggressive actions in Hasakah may help Clinton against Trump but they could all too easily blow up in the administration’s face. War, indeed, packs just as many surprises as politics.

As I suggested some time ago was likely to happen. I don't see this happening in spire of the president but because of the president. It shows how rogue the US has gone.

The neocons, liberal interventionists, and war hawks are all on board, the only opposition being from foreign policy realists and anti-war activists. Donald Trump is foreign policy realist while Hillary Clinton is a liberal inteventionist with ties to neocons and war hawks, in particular Scoop Jackson Democrats aka Cold War liberals, generally with ties to the military-intelligence-industrial-congressional complex.

Consortium News
US Hawks Advance a War Agenda in Syria
Daniel Lazare