US military incredulous about war with Syria

Many in the military, even top generals, are advising against a military strike against Syria. They can hardly believe we would even consider such a plan while still engaged in Afghanistan and also without clear objectives or even an exit strategy.

While the President has tried to assure the American public that this would be a quick, small strike, and not designed to result in "regime change," Senator McCain has insisted on a much larger war to "punish" Syria's president Assad with more than a "pin prick." It is almost as if he has no understanding how even a "pin prick" might cause an all-out regional war.

Unless, of course, someone in high places is deliberately trying to start World War III. In such a case, one would expect to hear all the usual lies about a short, sweet war that are used to lead us into every war we have ever fought.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/us-military-officers-have-deep-doubts-about-impact-wisdom-of-a-us-strike-on-syria/2013/08/29/825dd5d4-10ee-11e3-b4cb-fd7ce041d814_story.html

The Obama administration’s 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.

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....

“There’s a broad naivete in the political class about America’s obligations in foreign policy issues, and scary simplicity about the effects that employing American military power can achieve,” said retired Lt. Gen. Gregory S. Newbold, 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....

“If President [Bashar al-Assad] were to absorb the strikes and use chemical weapons again, this would be a significant blow to the United States’ credibility and it would be compelled to escalate the assault on Syria to achieve the original objectives,” Miller wrote in a commentary for the think tank....