I promise I won’t be overly political in my posts, but when it comes to the U.S. military, I get riled up easily…

…Like when we are promised No Boots On The Ground In Syria.

At first President Obama’s big push was Get Out Of Iraq. Iraq was not the “right” war. Iraq and Saddam Hussein had nothing to do with 9/11, so why attack them?

I know exactly why we invaded Iraq: Pres. G.W. Bush wanted to put 2,000 main battle tanks in the heart of the Middle East to send a message to the entire world: mess with us and this is what you’ll get: American armor sitting in your capital. Our problem in Iraq started when we decided to trust the majority Shiites and carve out the Sunnis. We thought we could have the Shiites join our bid to build a government in Iraq. We were hoodwinked. Turns out the Shiites were aligned more with Iran, and we got hammered. It wasn’t until the Sunni Uprising in 2009 that turned the tide in Iraq and defeated the insurgents…

…until Obama announced the end of combat operations in Iraq in 2010 and promised to remove all combat troops in 2011 while he campaigned for re-election. But after he won re-election the rise of ISIS caused a reversal of this decision, and of today we still have 3,000+ U.S. troops in Iraq. The power vacuum created in Iraq created the Islamic State, and it swept across the Middle East with ease. The Iraqi military created by Obama dropped their (U.S.-procured) weapons and fled.

The same in Afghanistan: Pres. Obama pledged to remove all combat troops by 2011 in a campaign speech. But that wasn’t going to guarantee the survival of the Afghan regime, and Obama couldn’t risk the Afghan regime collapsing on his watch, so he decided to leave 10,000 troops in Afghanistan until the end of 2016. But in October 2015, Obama announced that U.S. troops would stay in Afghanistan indefinitely.

Two complete reversals of important policy in the Middle East–yet no one seems to be calling the president out on this.

Guys, I would need to use all my fingers and toes, and then count the same on my favorite friend’s digits, to count the number of times Pres. Obama pledged never to send ground troops to Syria. Yet here today (announced on a weekend to avoid a lot of media coverage), Obama announced we are sending “no more than 50” special operations forces on the ground in Syria. The commander-in-chief  didn’t have the guts to make the announcement himself–he had his minions do it for him. He’s putting U.S. military men in danger, but he doesn’t have the nerve to announce the decision himself. Pitiful.

Again, these U.S. forces are there just to “train, assist, and advise”–they are not there to fight. Really? They carry weapons, yes? They are in contact with the enemy, yes? Sounds and smells like combat to me.

Guys, I am not opposed to sending troops into Iraq, Afghanistan, and even Syria. Here’s my beef:

1.  Stop bullshitting us, Mr. President. Stop playing politics with American lives. Do you want to stop ISIS or not? ISIS supposedly has 40,000 fighters. That means we need a minimum of 80,000 troops ON THE GROUND to defeat them. If that number scares you, sir, withdraw and DON’T SEND ANYBODY.
2. Those troops need to be prepared to be sent ANYWHERE–Iraq, Afghanistan, Jordan, and even Syria and Iran. If you’re not willing to send troops into Syria or Iran, Mr. President, don’t send anybody.
3. Commit the entire force. A few airstrikes in Iraq will not stop ISIS. Send all available air, naval, and ground forces to the forward area and attack.

Send a warning to the Russians: back off, or else. We are not working with you. Get away, or you become part of the problem.

I’m afraid we’re seeing the wussification of the United States under President Obama, and it has got to stop. Otherwise we’re going to pay for it.