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U.S. commandos enter Syria, kill Islamic State commander in charge of oil fields

Heya Monte. Notice how Schiff doesn't consider this mission creep.



After Syria Raid, FBI Interrogates ISIS Wife and Yazidi Slave.....

It will take at least a week if not more to dig through the computers and other technical material seized in the raid at the lightly defended ISIS compound in Al Amr, in eastern Syria, U.S. officials said Sunday. The detainees taken from the raid—the target’s wife and a Yazidi slave—are being questioned by an elite FBI-led interagency team.

Both are being interrogated in Iraq by the FBI’s High-Value Detainee Interrogation Team, according to House Intelligence Committee ranking member Adam Schiff, D-Calif., and a senior administration official who spoke anonymously because he was not authorized to speak publicly. She may have had a possible “operational role,” he added. “If the wife played a role in organization, she’ll be subject to prosecution by us or by Iraqi authorities,” he said.

“But it demonstrates that our intelligence is getting better and better in Syria,” he added. “We couldn’t have done this a year ago.”.....snip~

After Syria Raid, FBI Interrogates ISIS Wife and Yazidi Slave - The Daily Beast

From your own link.

"Well, there certainly are American boots on the ground," Schiff responded............but the risks go up the more you conduct these kinds of operations, the more you see the potential of being pulled in. And the problem with being pulled into this messy civil war, this awful civil war in Syria is that then you take ownership.

Schiff retains his concerns about mission creep.
 
From your own link.

"Well, there certainly are American boots on the ground," Schiff responded............but the risks go up the more you conduct these kinds of operations, the more you see the potential of being pulled in. And the problem with being pulled into this messy civil war, this awful civil war in Syria is that then you take ownership.

Schiff retains his concerns about mission creep.
Of course this is a great deal more than just a 'messy civil war'. This effects the entire Middle East and will spread, with millions of lives at stake, refugees fleeing, religious killings, and so on. He is right about it being messy though. Mass murders usually are.
 
Of course this is a great deal more than just a 'messy civil war'. This effects the entire Middle East and will spread, with millions of lives at stake, refugees fleeing, religious killings, and so on. He is right about it being messy though. Mass murders usually are.

Well sure. But even MMC has acknowledged and linked to the fact that arms (pilfered from Gaddafi's army) were being smuggled to the Syrian rebels, out of Benghazi, years ago to Syrian rebels that were infested with al Nusra, AQ and MB. Had the US and certain Arab states not interfered in Syria early on, president Assad would have crushed the rebellion in its infancy and we wouldn't be talking about it today. But, though I wouldn't expect you to be aware of it, Syrian regime change has been a long term USFP ambition. China and Russia both pointed out several years ago that US interference in Syria would cause this crisis to spill out into the region. They remain right about that. And in fact, it was Western abuse of UN1973 in Libya that prompted Russia and China to tell the US NO, on its request for a UNSCR for the use of force in Syria. Consequences dude.
 
From your own link.

"Well, there certainly are American boots on the ground," Schiff responded............but the risks go up the more you conduct these kinds of operations, the more you see the potential of being pulled in. And the problem with being pulled into this messy civil war, this awful civil war in Syria is that then you take ownership.

Schiff retains his concerns about mission creep.



Well, he would be that way with any other country so that's not saying much. All one need do is bring up Yemen or Libya to him. Same deal with Boots on the ground. His concern if we go in and own it. Which clearly cant happen here with Assad controlling the Rest of Syria.

Clearly hit and run isn't it. Despite having the concern.
 
Someone getting captured strikes me as a fairly crazy scenario. Killed or wounded, maybe. But, er, I would not want to be the ISIL commander who suddenly discovered I was holding on to one of these guys. That strikes me as sort of like getting handed a grenade with the pin pulled. It's going to kill you, it's just a matter of when.

Agreed: I find it implausible, but not impossible, for a capture to occur. The US wouldn't even bother with a prison exchange if it were to happen, since ISIS proved itself to be completely untrustworthy in that regard when holding the Jordanian pilot.

On a side note, I do wonder what the experience was like for ISIS. They've fought Peshmerga, Iraqi special forces, and the Syrian Republican Guard, but American SOF is an entirely different ballgame.
 
Well sure. But even MMC has acknowledged and linked to the fact that arms (pilfered from Gaddafi's army) were being smuggled to the Syrian rebels, out of Benghazi, years ago to Syrian rebels that were infested with al Nusra, AQ and MB. Had the US and certain Arab states not interfered in Syria early on, president Assad would have crushed the rebellion in its infancy and we wouldn't be talking about it today. But, though I wouldn't expect you to be aware of it, Syrian regime change has been a long term USFP ambition. China and Russia both pointed out several years ago that US interference in Syria would cause this crisis to spill out into the region. They remain right about that. And in fact, it was Western abuse of UN1973 in Libya that prompted Russia and China to tell the US NO, on its request for a UNSCR for the use of force in Syria. Consequences dude.

You keep saying that outside interference is what kept the rebellion afloat. It's more logical to attribute that to massive defections from the SAA in the beginning of the civil war and to the regime's ongoing inability to keep their equipment out of rebel hands - IIRC, most rebel tech was taken from the SAA, who often just leave tanks unprotected and unmanned in fields and rarely destroy equipment when retreating.
 
You keep saying that outside interference is what kept the rebellion afloat. It's more logical to attribute that to massive defections from the SAA in the beginning of the civil war and to the regime's ongoing inability to keep their equipment out of rebel hands - IIRC, most rebel tech was taken from the SAA, who often just leave tanks unprotected and unmanned in fields and rarely destroy equipment when retreating.

It pretty much devolved into an Alawite + Other Shia + Lebanese Hezbollah v Lots Of Other Opposition Groups Which Eventually became Absorbed Into A Smaller Number of Opposition Groups.

On a side note, I do wonder what the experience was like for ISIS. They've fought Peshmerga, Iraqi special forces, and the Syrian Republican Guard, but American SOF is an entirely different ballgame.

:) I imagine they probably didn't spend a lot of time reflecting on it :D
 
Well, he would be that way with any other country so that's not saying much. All one need do is bring up Yemen or Libya to him. Same deal with Boots on the ground. His concern if we go in and own it. Which clearly cant happen here with Assad controlling the Rest of Syria.

Clearly hit and run isn't it. Despite having the concern.

Well, time will certainly tell won't it.
 
You keep saying that outside interference is what kept the rebellion afloat. It's more logical to attribute that to massive defections from the SAA in the beginning of the civil war and to the regime's ongoing inability to keep their equipment out of rebel hands - IIRC, most rebel tech was taken from the SAA, who often just leave tanks unprotected and unmanned in fields and rarely destroy equipment when retreating.

I think what I have said and all of that would be contributing.
 
It pretty much devolved into an Alawite + Other Shia + Lebanese Hezbollah v Lots Of Other Opposition Groups Which Eventually became Absorbed Into A Smaller Number of Opposition Groups.
Aside from the fact that much of the SAA is composed of Sunni conscripts, yes. My point was that it was the unpopularity and incompetence of the regime that kept the opposition alive, not some joint Saudi-US project.


:) I imagine they probably didn't spend a lot of time reflecting on it :D

Well...they probably have now. :lol: DEZ is pretty deep in ISIS territory. If we can kill a leader there, we can get one basically anywhere. I doubt that even the most hardened ISIS fighters will be able to protect their leaders from American special forces, so they're likely looking for ways to hide their whereabouts from US intelligence.
 
Aside from the fact that much of the SAA is composed of Sunni conscripts, yes. My point was that it was the unpopularity and incompetence of the regime that kept the opposition alive, not some joint Saudi-US project.

It had been coming for some time, which is why we didn't see it coming :). (I love this article)

What's the old joke about the British Intelligence officer who retired in 1950, saying that over a 40 year career he'd predicted peace on the continent every time, and only been wrong twice?

Well...they probably have now. :lol: DEZ is pretty deep in ISIS territory. If we can kill a leader there, we can get one basically anywhere. I doubt that even the most hardened ISIS fighters will be able to protect their leaders from American special forces, so they're likely looking for ways to hide their whereabouts from US intelligence.

It's a handy little bit of messaging alright. The deeper they go into cover, the less capable they are of exercising regular control over a spread-out empire/state.
 
Well...they probably have now. :lol: DEZ is pretty deep in ISIS territory. If we can kill a leader there, we can get one basically anywhere. I doubt that even the most hardened ISIS fighters will be able to protect their leaders from American special forces, so they're likely looking for ways to hide their whereabouts from US intelligence.
Canadian forces have been fighting ISIS for a while and of course, as with US Forces and all Allied Forces, we support them 100%. Canadian soldiers clash with ISIL in Iraq - Al Jazeera English
 
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