The Patriot Post® · The BIG Lie: Syria Edition

By Publius ·
https://patriotpost.us/articles/38615-the-big-lie-syria-edition-2015-10-31

Read my lips: No boots on the ground! (Thanks to USA Today for the compilation.)

Aug. 30, 2013: “In no event are we considering any kind of military action that would involve boots on the ground, that would involve a long-term campaign. … I repeat, we’re not considering any open-ended commitment. We’re not considering any boots-on-the-ground approach.”

Aug. 31, 2013: “After careful deliberation, I have decided that the United States should take military action against Syrian regime targets. This would not be an open-ended intervention. We would not put boots on the ground.”

Sept. 3, 2013: “The military plan that has been developed by our Joint Chiefs — and that I believe is appropriate — is proportional. It is limited. It does not involve boots on the ground.”

Sept. 4, 2013: “I think America recognizes that, as difficult as it is to take any military action — even one as limited as we’re talking about, even one without boots on the ground — that’s a sober decision.”

Sept. 6, 2013: “I believe that when you have a limited, proportional strike like this — not Iraq, not putting boots on the ground; not some long, drawn-out affair; not without any risks, but with manageable risks — that we should be willing to bear that responsibility.”

Sept. 7, 2013: “What we’re not talking about is an open-ended intervention. This would not be another Iraq or Afghanistan. There would be no American boots on the ground.”

Sept. 9, 2013 (on PBS): “Tomorrow I’ll speak to the American people. I’ll explain this is not Iraq; this is not Afghanistan; this is not even Libya. We’re not talking about — not boots on the ground.”

Sept. 9, 2013 (on CBS): “What I’m going to try to propose is that we have a very specific objective, a very narrow military option, and one that will not lead into some large-scale invasion of Syria or involvement or boots on the ground; nothing like that.”

Sept. 10, 2013: “Many of you have asked, won’t this put us on a slippery slope to another war? One man wrote to me that we are ‘still recovering from our involvement in Iraq.’ A veteran put it more bluntly: ‘This nation is sick and tired of war.’ My answer is simple: I will not put American boots on the ground in Syria.”

Feb, 27, 2014: “I’ve looked at a whole lot of game plans, a whole lot of war plans, a whole bunch of scenarios, and nobody has been able to persuade me that us taking large-scale military action even absent boots on the ground, would actually solve the problem.”

Sept. 5, 2014: “With respect to the situation on the ground in Syria, we will not be placing U.S. ground troops to try to control the areas that are part of the conflict inside of Syria.”

Sept. 7, 2014: “[I]n Syria, the boots on the ground have to be Syrian. … The notion that the United States should be putting boots on the ground, I think would be a profound mistake. And I want to be very clear and very explicit about that.”

Sept. 10, 2014: “I want the American people to understand how this effort will be different from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. It will not involve American combat troops fighting on foreign soil.”

Feb. 11, 2015: “The resolution we’ve submitted today does not call for the deployment of U.S. ground combat forces to Iraq or Syria. It is not the authorization of another ground war, like Afghanistan or Iraq. … As I’ve said before, I’m convinced that the United States should not get dragged back into another prolonged ground war in the Middle East.

July 6, 2015: "There are no current plans to [put boots on the ground]. That’s not something that we currently discussed. … It is not enough for us to simply send in American troops to temporarily set back organizations like ISIL, but to then, as soon as we leave, see that void filled once again with extremists.”

In case you lost count, that’s 15 occurrences in which Obama told another BIG lie.