War Hawk Petraeus Comes Out Of Retirement to Recommend Pouring Fuel on Syria's Fire

http://www.commondreams.org/news/2015/09/23/war-hawk-petraeus-comes-out-retirement-recommend-pouring-fuel-syrias-fire

Speaking to the Senate Armed Services Committee, David Petraeus called for the U.S. and allies to use their air forces to create a "safe haven" in Syria for "moderate" rebels. Going further, he urged the U.S. to use military force to stop the air-launching of barrel bombs by the Assad regime, while simultaneously increasing attacks on ISIS.

"It is frequently said that there is no military solution to Syria or the other conflicts roiling the Middle East," said Petraeus. "This may be true, but it is also misleading. For, in every case, if there is to be any hope of a political settlement, a certain military and security context is required, and that context will not materialize on its own. We and our partners need to facilitate it—and over the past four years, we have not done so."

But expert critics note that the "military context" that Petraeus advocates for amounts to a dramatic and long-term escalation.

The so-called safe zones would require no-fly zones, and "there’s never been a no-fly zone in modern history that hasn’t led to an actual war, given it usually requires destroying the air force of the country it’s set up in," Trevor Timm pointed out in the Guardian Wednesday.

"Even if we were to avoid going to active war against Assad’s forces (against all odds), everyone seems to ignore the fact that a 'no-fly zone' will reportedly require 70,000 US troops. And that number is not an exaggeration—it comes from the Joint Chiefs of Staff and has been cited in the past as the number needed to secure the entire country’s skies," Timm continued.

"This is not the first time Petraeus has urged significant escalation of failing U.S. wars," noted Phyllis Bennis, senior fellow at the Institute for Policy Studies, in an interview with Common Dreams. "In this case, what he's proposing amounts to full U.S. engagement by air and very likely with ground troops inside Syria in a direct campaign of military regime change."