Why use Special Ops in Syria?: Was it a botched kidnapping attempt?

[JCMach1]

Think about it. We are obviously not being given the full story about the Syrian operation on Sunday.

It was not standard operating procedure. In recent years, the main resource used against known terrorist targets inside neighboring countries was Predator Drones.

Why would you risk Special Ops forces inside of hostile territory? It seriously sounds like they were trying to seize a particular and significant target (think October Surprise). However, it seems to have gone wrong... i.e. they acted on bad intelligence.



US military helicopters attacked a farm in eastern Syria near the Iraq border yesterday, killing eight civilians, including five members of the same family, Syria has said. The Syrian foreign ministry summoned the US charge d'affaires in Damascus to protest over the raid. Syria's state news agency SANA said four helicopters had taken part in the raid on a building under construction in the Bou Kamal border area, in eastern Syria. Bou Kamal is the main crossing point into Iraq... http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/world/2008/1027/1224838874639.html

U.S. military helicopters launched an extremely rare attack Sunday on Syrian territory close to the border with Iraq, killing eight people in a strike the government in Damascus condemned as "serious aggression."

A U.S. military official said the raid by special forces targeted the network of al-Qaida-linked foreign fighters moving through Syria into Iraq. The Americans have been unable to shut the network down in the area because Syria was out of the military's reach.

"We are taking matters into our own hands," the official told The Associated Press in Washington, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the political sensitivity of cross-border raids.

The attack came just days after the commander of U.S. forces in western Iraq said American troops were redoubling efforts to secure the Syrian border, which he called an "uncontrolled" gateway for fighters entering Iraq.

A Syrian government statement said the helicopters attacked the Sukkariyeh Farm near the town of Abu Kamal, five miles inside the Syrian border. Four helicopters attacked a civilian building under construction shortly before sundown and fired on workers inside, the statement said.

The government said civilians were among the dead, including four children... http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5ianwYiLFrnJxFSAgjT1DqydYeinQD942FR780

[billyoc]

1. Eight rangers that thought they'd be safer with 20 less Syrians in the world.

Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.

[notadmblnd]

2. The administration has done much in its attempt to aid McCain.

However, all the measures the have taken seem to backfire in their faces. It's like their hearts aren't in it any more, and that makes me very happy.

[NNN0LHI]

3. Running out of Iraqis to kill in Iraq

[TornadoTN]

4. In my estimation, they are trying to get Syria and Iran to start saber-rattling

They (Bush, Neocons) want the Syrians and the Iranians getting upset about this and running their mouths threatening the USA. They want video images of outraged Syrians and Iranians played on the news media 24/7.

Why? Because the average low-info voter here in the United States won't look beyond a bunch of pissed-off Muslims and see the root cause, they'll only see pissed-off Muslims mad because "we were going after the terrorists to make us safer at home". It's a desperate gamble by the powers that be, but it does work on a base level with some voters.