You
know the neocon agenda calls for the taking of Syria and Iran as well as Iraq.
Our recent efforts to "stop the flow of weapons and insurgents" at the Syrian border may be just what the military command says it is, or it may be something broader...
Marines Push Toward Iraq's Syrian Border
By ANTONIO CASTANEDA, Associated Press Writer
BAGHDAD, Iraq - Capitalizing on a lull in fighting Tuesday, hundreds of U.S. Marines pushed through a lawless region on the Syrian frontier after intense battles along the Euphrates River with well-armed militants fighting from basements, rooftops and sandbag bunkers.
After intense fighting with militants entrenched on the south bank of the Euphrates River early in the operation, Marines saw only light resistance Tuesday and advanced through sparsely populated settlements along a 12-mile stretch to the border with Syria, according to a Chicago Tribune reporter embedded with the assault, James Janega.
(more)
This effort includes heavy air support. But it begs the question... Is this the precursor to a move on Syria?
Granted, our troops are stretched thin, but why would the Marines be undertaking this effort so far from Baghdad without the troops necessary to hold the territory once they "flush it out?"
Residents in the area already know what's coming. They've seen this movie before:
Residents reached by telephone in the area reported some fighting Tuesday in Obeidi and the two nearby towns of Rommana and Karabilah. They said frightened residents were taking advantage of the relative lull to flee the Qaim area.
Adel Izzedine left on foot with his wife and three children, walking six miles through farm fields to reach a village where the family caught a taxi and drove 43 miles to Rawa, east of the fighting.
"There are gunmen in the city, but there are also a lot of innocent civilians," said Izzedine, who was looking for a mosque or a school in which to spend the night. "We are living the same misery that Fallujah lived some time ago."
Nice. Search and destroy. Mostly destroy.
Then what?
I don't know if we're preparing to threaten the Syrians (I know we're shorthanded), but the timing and location of this offensive are suspect.
Intelligence reports indicated insurgents were using the region, a known smuggling route, as a staging area where foreign fighters cross into Iraq from Syria and receive weapons and equipment for attacks in Baghdad, Ramadi, Fallujah, Mosul and other cities, Pool said.
Maybe, maybe not. We shall see...