Poll: Majority of Troops Oppose ‘Troops on the Ground’ in ISIS War

You know who really doesn’t want troops
on the ground in America’s new war? Troops.

The Military Times yesterday
released a poll of about 2,200 active-duty troops, just over 70
percent of whom don’t want the Obama administration to put American
soldiers in Iraq to fight the Islamic State (a.k.a. ISIS). Syria
wasn’t included, since the survey was conducted before military
action began there.

The Times suggests:

Opponents of an expanded mission fall into two camps. Some
troops think the U.S. should simply stay out of the conflagration
engulfing the Middle East. But others take a more nuanced view.

One Air Force lieutenant colonel said he supports taking the
fight to the Islamic State militants, even if that involves a large
number of U.S. combat troops. But he worries that the country’s
leadership will not completely see the mission through.

“If we do it halfheartedly, we shouldn’t do it at all,” he said,
adding that America should expand its military mission in Iraq
“only if we’re committed to complete victory.”

“I’m not hearing that now,” he said. “There’s political fear of
blowback for making such a declaration. War, as ugly as it is,
should be done in a very overwhelming and clear fashion.”

Wariness and weariness about war in the sandbox doesn’t seem to
be partisan. The survey also highlights the fact that “over the
past four years of the annual poll, the percentage of active-duty
troops who believe the first U.S. war in Iraq was a success has
declined significantly.” The number of those who believe it was
successful have more than halved to 25.5 percent. Meanwhile,
soldiers who say it “wasn’t successful at all” have more than
doubled to 31.2 percent. Another 28 percent say it “wasn’t very
successful.”

Although President Barack Obama has
assured he “will not involve American combat troops fighting on
foreign soil,” he’s also
pumped up his war rhetoric to Bush levels, saying that there’s
no room to “negotiate with this brand of evil.” That leaves few
options on how to deal with them.

Retired Gen. David Petraeus
stated last week that troops would be necessary. He said they
could be Iraqi troops, but acknowledged it would take “months and
years” for them to “deal with” ISIS. Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman
Gen. Martin Dempsey has
hinted that American troops might be the only thing that’ll do
the trick. One veteran of the last Iraq war writes in
Politico that “boots on the ground” rhetoric is
deliberately fuzzy, but for all intents and purposes they’re

already there.

It’s little wonder why, in spite of Obama’s promises, the
majority of America’s civilian population suspect
this will become a ground war.