The propagandic wordsmithery is becoming pathetic as the Obama administration desperately avoids having to admit that it is sending more "boots on the ground" to strengthen its invasion of Syria. Having admitted to "greatly increasing" its operations in the war-torn nation earlier in the month, Defense Department spokesman Peter Cook today outlined why 250 additional Special Forces operatives will be put – in his words – "in harm's way" to "improve intelligence" carefully adding that "they will not be engaged in direct combat… though can defend themselves."

First President Obama explains…*OBAMA TELLS CBS SPECIAL FORCES TO TRAIN, ADVISE SYRIAN LOCALS

During a press conference with Merkel before the meeting, Obama acknowledged that the influx of migrants, the biggest since World War II, was politically challenging but said the German chancellor was on “the right side of history” for welcoming more than a million refugees into her country.

He also said he opposes proposals to impose a “safe zone” for refugees in Syria.

 

“As a practical matter, sadly, it is very difficult to see how it would operate short of us being willing to militarily take over a chunk of that country,” Obama said Sunday. “And that requires a big military commitment” to protect refugees from attacks.

And then tells CBS' Charlie Rose:

"It represents what I've said from the start, which is that us dismantling ISIL is a priority, and although we are not going to send ground troops in to fight, we are going to try to find out what works and then double down. And one of the things that has worked so far is us putting Special Forces in for training and advising local forces but also intelligence gathering.

 

One of the challenges of mounting the fight against a group like ISIL that embeds itself with civilian forces, they're not isolated. They're not out in remote areas where we can just hit them on their own. So, having people who develop relationships with local tribes, people who may be going in and out of places like Raqqa, us being able to distinguish between those who we can work with and those we can't – all of that – is really important."

To which The Pentagon adds:

  • *DEFENSE DEPT. SPOKESMAN PETER COOK BRIEFS REPORTERS AT PENTAGON
  • *COOK SAYS 250 INCLUDE SPECIAL FORCES AND SUPPORT PERSONNEL
  • *COOK SAYS 'THEY WILL NOT BE ENGAGED IN DIRECT COMBAT'
  • *COOK SAYS 'THEY WILL BE IN HARM'S WAY,' CAN DEFEND SELVES
  • *COOK SAYS A GOAL IS TO HELP EXPAND SYRIAN ARAB FORCES

“What we’ve seen is the small team that we put into Syria several months ago has been very effective in serving as a force multiplier because they are able to provide advice and support to the forces that are fighting against ISIL on the ground in Syria,” said Ben Rhodes, U.S. deputy national security adviser, using an acronym for the terror group. “We want to accelerate that progress.”

So to sum up, just as Russia had been hinting at de-escalation (while in reality it was building up a military presence), now it is the US' turn – sending 250 SpecOps warriors to "advise" Syrian locals… and to distinguish between those who we can work with and those we can't.

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