Last week, the Pentagon and the White House announced the U.S. would insert no more than 50 special forces troops into Syria to assist in the fight against the Islamic State.
It marked the first time that the United States publicized the deployment of marginal forces on the ground in Syria. While both the Department of Defense and the White House continually downplayed the significance of this deployment, and repeated that they would exist under a directive to only “advise and assist,” this force appears to represent a direct response to ongoing and ever increasing Russian influence and interference in the region. If this is indeed the case, the effort is wanting at best.
The world of foreign policy is often compared to the game of chess. While this comparison tends to be stretched to unfortunate extremes, in one area in particular it is warranted. In the game of chess, it is almost always wise to be on the offensive. The moment a player resolves to defend and react to their opponent’s moves, the game is all but lost. Over the last several years the Obama administration has been on their heels whenever dealing with Russia and their combative leader Vladimir Putin.
The administration has continually taken the worst possible position and merely reacted to every move that Moscow has made ever since the opening salvo in Ukraine. Now Russia has come to the Middle East, a region they have avoided as if it were the plague ever since their failed invasion of Afghanistan in the 1980s. Again, the Obama administration has waited for something to happen, and reacted.
Ever since President Obama first came to office, he made it clear that his foreign policy would be based on open communication with other nations. For a while it worked. For a while foreign policy experts praised Obama for his reasoned approach to international relations. But then Russia stopped talking. They filled the airwaves with white noise and made move after move without warning. With every passing move the Obama administration countered, and countered, and countered again, all the while continuing to be too trusting of the nonsense spewing out of the Russian PR machine. This reactionary stance has dumbfounded our allies who have become accustomed to brute American force.
If the United States wishes to reassert complete dominance in the Middle East, we must take a more proactive role in the region. If that means putting a substantial number of boots on the ground and strong-arming our allies into doing the same, then so be it. What cannot happen, what must not happen, is for America to become a spectator in the Middle East while we continue to demand respect from the powers of the region.
Yet, we must pause and decide as a nation whether such forceful action is warranted once again in the volatile Middle East. We must take no half-measures, and if we commit, we must commit wholly to the cause, with full knowledge that once again American blood will be spilled in a Middle Eastern desert. If the answer is yes, then we need to act now. We need to take the strong stance in 2015 that we should have taken in 2012 when all of this began and before Syria dissolved into chaos. Countless lives have been lost since then and continue to be lost while our president and our congress dither.