The Obama administration on Friday announced another shift in its strategy on Syria. Now the U.S. will deploy ground troops there. But just a small number of special forces, mind you. No need to worry.
Or is there? It was just two years ago, you may recall, that President Obama pledged in a prime-time speech, “I will not put American boots on the ground in Syria.”
Susan Rice, the president’s national security adviser, was even more emphatic. “There will be no American boots on the ground — period,” she said.
The White House knows that Americans are sick of wars in the Middle East that seem to have no satisfactory conclusion, so it was careful to downplay the importance of this latest change in policy. But let’s be clear: It’s a significant and ominous escalation.
Boots on the ground, indeed.
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