Why do we still have troops in Syria? What is their purpose, other than to line the pockets of the military-industrial complex?
“American Contractor Killed in Drone Attack on Base in Syria,” by Eric Schmitt, New York Times, March 23, 2023:
WASHINGTON — A U.S. contractor was killed and another contractor and five U.S. service members were injured when a self-destructing drone struck a maintenance facility on a coalition base in northeast Syria on Thursday, the Pentagon said in a statement.
U.S. intelligence analysts concluded that the drone was of “Iranian origin,” according to the Pentagon statement, which said the attack took place near Hasaka at 1:38 p.m. local time.
In response, at President Biden’s direction, Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III said he ordered airstrikes against facilities in eastern Syria used by groups affiliated with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, or I.R.G.C.
“The airstrikes were conducted in response to today’s attack as well as a series of recent attacks against coalition forces in Syria by groups affiliated with the I.R.G.C.,” Mr. Austin said in a statement released late Thursday.
“These precision strikes are intended to protect and defend U.S. personnel,” the statement said. “The United States took proportionate and deliberate action intended to limit the risk of escalation and minimize casualties.”
United States Air Force F-15E fighter jets attacked a munition warehouse, a control building and an intelligence-collection site, two senior U.S. military officials said.
The U.S. airstrikes killed eight pro-Iran fighters in eastern Syria, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a group in Britain that tracks the conflict through contacts in Syria.
Rami Abdurrahman, its director, said on Friday that the strikes had targeted a weapons depot in the city of Deir Ezzor, killing six fighters, and that two other fighters had been killed by strikes in the desert of Mayadeen and near the town of Bukamal. A United States official confirmed the locations of the American retaliatory strikes, but not the casualty reports.
“As President Biden has made clear, we will take all necessary measures to defend our people and will always respond at a time and place of our choosing,” Mr. Austin said. “No group will strike our troops with impunity.”
The attacks are likely to stoke tensions with Iran, which Biden administration officials call the largest security threat in the Middle East.
“Iran’s vast and deeply resourced proxy forces spread instability throughout the region and threaten our regional partners,” Gen. Michael E. Kurilla, the head of the military’s Central Command, said in testimony to the House Armed Services Committee earlier on Thursday….
cornelius says
ROBERT: Why do we still have troops in Syria? What is their purpose, other than to line the pockets of the military-industrial complex?
ANSWER: Perhaps to prevent the reconstitution of the Islamic State Caliphate…..and to protect our allies, the Syrian Kurds, who fought so bravely and effectively as the boots on the ground in our campaign to defeat Isis.
࿗Infidel࿘ says
So Cornelius
How do you protect Syrian, or any other Kurds, from Turkey, which is a NATO ‘ally’ and where we still have military bases in Incirlik? Has anything been done in the West to prevent Turkey from doing to Syria and Iraq what Russia is doing to Ukraine?
Keith O says
I do wonder if the shares portfolio of our political masters includes the military industrial complex?
James Lincoln says
Keith O,
Members of Congress have access to the Thrift Savings Plan (TSP).
Mutual funds within the TSP include shares in the military-industrial complex companies.
tgusa says
I have a friend that I have known since childhood who is over there doing some work for the DOD. I keep asking him, what in the hell are you doing my friend?
࿗Infidel࿘ says
A good argument from him would be that he’s getting paid, and probably more than what he might be just sitting at home?
tgusa says
I believe he thought he could do some good.over there (I know…) He is a Patriot but has been living in Thailand for 15 or so years. It’s a long story but he hasn’t been just sitting around all his life. Yes I have told him, dying isn’t much of a living, my friend. Dying for nothing is much worse than dying for something. He is getting out real soon. Not going back and that was what he said before the recent drone attacks.
tgusa says
He also noted that it is ramadan and the natives there were getting restless.
OLD GUY says
What exactly is a US Contractor?
Are they Government or Corporation employees?
James Lincoln says
OLD GUY,
It’s not clear from the article.
Regardless, contractors are independent – and not employees.