Comments on: Pentagon Completes Plans for Syria with or without White House Direction

By: RP

RP — Fri, 15 Jun 2012 20:32:30 +0000

Thank you slamfu. Then lets let them lead on this issue. Let Saudia Arabia and other gulf nations help militarily. Let the Germans and French send weapons.

Would this ever happen or is it just the USA that has to belly up the support?

By: slamfu

slamfu — Fri, 15 Jun 2012 20:26:31 +0000

“Where is the rest of the world when it comes to helping when times get bad?”

The rest of the world is lined up to help, but being hamstrung by the veto’s of Russia and China as they throw their support behind a fellow dictator.

By: davidpsummers

davidpsummers — Fri, 15 Jun 2012 20:03:41 +0000

My understanding is that the Pentagon tries to plan for everthing. They are expected to be as ready as possible for any eventuality and they know that planning makes a big difference (that, and logistics, probably sets the US military apart from other more than cool weapons). One thing you see (more often in the international press) is assertions about how the pentagon is planning this or that. The assumption is usually that this means the pentagon is getting ready because it is about to engage in such an action. In reality, they plan for hundreds of things that never came about, and never were likely to come about.

So I would take it as given that the pentagon is planning for Syria. There are mainly two things this tells you. One is trivial, it means that Obama hasn’t told the military “we will never be involved in Syria, don’t spend any time planning for it” (which would be silly enough thing to do). The more substantive one is the source and reason for the “reports” and news stories. The mostly likely situation is that they are trial balloons to see the reaction and one can say that at least a small number of people in the executive branch are in favor of intervention.

By: RP

RP — Fri, 15 Jun 2012 16:23:42 +0000

They may have plans, but they will not have the money when the new budget is activated.

And why are we the ones that are expected to protect civilians in Syria. Where is the rest of the world when it comes to helping when times get bad?

I know we ae the biggest and richest, but sometimes the rich uncle gets tired of supporting lazy relatives.

By: The_Ohioan

The_Ohioan — Fri, 15 Jun 2012 14:48:06 +0000

There’s no doubt there are contingency plans for all the scenarios listed and they were made years ago and continually updated. We probably have a contingency plan for re-invading Grenada. That’s why DOD has such a big budget.

This could be the military prodding for a decision on a very fluid situation. Or it could be the military tilting toward Romney – very unprofessional. In either case, it is unsettling because it indicates some in the military are chafing under the restraints their civilian authorities impose.