The only thing less popular than President Donald Trump’s war in Iran is the idea of sending in U.S. troops—turning the destabilizing bombing campaign into a ground war.
The body of Sgt. Declan Coady, who was killed in a drone strike in Kuwait after Trump launched his war on Iran, is returned to the United States on March 7.
GOP Rep. Pete Sessions of Texas struggled to defend the Trump administration’s announcement that it’s deploying 2,500 troops to the region, arguing that the Marines are only being sent to secure the Iranian oil hub on Kharg Island.
“The island is not, in my opinion, ‘boots on the ground’ in combat circles,” Sessions told CNN’s Kate Bolduan.
“How so?” Bolduan responded. “It is a territory—it is Iran.”
“Well, I'm not going to argue that point. As a matter of fact, you're right,” Sessions responded before tying himself into knots trying to explain why the operation doesn’t technically qualify as “boots on the ground.”
“Okay, but it is ‘boots on the ground,’” Bolduan said. “It's just not a large number of boots on the ground that you would oppose.”
“No, no.” Sessions said. “When we think ‘boots on the ground’ we think going back to Somalia, we think going back to Iraq, we think about going to Afghanistan—that is not what we’re talking about.”
“Okay, so now I will continue to seek what the definition of ‘boots on the ground’ is going forward,” Bolduan responded. “Because you know that others, when they're sending their loved ones overseas, they will think there are ‘boots on the ground,’ Congressman.”
Regardless of Sessions’ convoluted definition of “boots on the ground,” polling on Trump’s Iran war already looks pretty bleak, and the prospect of deploying U.S. troops has even less support.
