(The man had 11 combat deployments. 11. Mind-blowing.)
I could complain about the administration being weasels about terms like "boots on the ground." But
A) That's like complaining that the sky is blue.
B) The administration's not about to admit that they restarted this war and made it even more of a jug-fuck than it was,
C) Fuck transparency. Sometimes we do need knives in the dark as much as shining swords on the battlefield. And,
D) To give the man credit, he is right that having some SF running around the place is not the equivalent of deploying conventional forces.
Hell, make it questions in the next presidential debates.
"Which dickhead with an AK and a gang do you want to see ruling Iraq and by extension a fifth of the world's known oil?"
"Which dickhead with an AK and a gang do you want to see ruling Syria?"
"Are you willing to recognize Kurdistan? If so, are you willing to tell Turkey to pound sand when they start bitching? If so, are you willing to back that up with AA placements the next time Turkey sends bombers to Kurdistan?"
"How hard are you willing to fuck with Russia and/or Iran to achieve any of this?"