Sixteen times President Obama promised that the U.S. military would not be sent to Syria; however, we now have 50 special operation troops there as of a few weeks ago. No doubt the CIA and others have been there for years. It used to be an act of war to send unwanted troops into a sovereign nation. Is that no longer true? Why is Syria an exception?

The Secretary of Defense revealed last week that 200 special operation troops would be sent into Iraq and would participate in raids into Syria. Wait a minute, I thought the Iraqi war was over, or at least we had quit; however, we did leave 3,500 troops there. On Nov. 4 Obama said, “But you know I say what I mean and I mean what I say. I said I’d end the war in Iraq. I ended the war in Iraq.” But more troops will be sent!

Senators Graham and McCain want Obama to raise the total U.S. forces in Iraq to 10,000 and send an equal number to Syria! If Obama does that, I suggest that Graham and McCain cease beating the war drums and actually lead the first incursion. Old men make wars and young men (and women) die in them.

What will these new troops in Syria and Iraq do? Will they defend themselves? What are their limitations? What will happen in a confrontation with Russian troops? In early November the BBC reported that 10,000 Russian troops were in Syria and after the Paris attack, Putin authorized 150,000 more troops! If American troops are captured, will we send troops to rescue them?

On Nov. 24, the Turks shot down a Russian plane on the Syria-Turkey border and a Russian helicopter was shot down by the U.S.-backed Syrian rebels — the Free Syrian Army — with what is thought to be an American-supplied TOW missile. It gets worse, as Russia’s Vladimir Putin ordered the country’s best missile defense system sent to the Russian airbase in Syria in retaliation. Some U.S. experts are preaching, predicting — maybe promoting — World War III.

Syria is a maniacal, murderous, malodorous mess that should alarm the U.S. but not activate us. It calls for our attention but not action.

Just to remind younger readers of another mistake we made: Following WWII, Vietnam was divided into the Communist North and the Democratic South. In July of 1950, American military involvement in Vietnam began as Democrat President Harry Truman authorized $15 million in military aid to the French in its struggle with Communists in the North. A few advisors were authorized, followed by tanks, planes, artillery, and other supplies to prosecute the war.

In January of 1955, Republican President Dwight Eisenhower sent military aid and offered to train the South Vietnamese Army. We were now on a slippery slope and it finally ended with a divided America. 47,244 Americans were killed and over 334,000 were wounded; 922 U.S. airplanes shot down; hundreds of villages leveled; and a high of 543,000 American troops in Vietnam. More than 2,400 POWs/MIAs were unaccounted for as of 1973. It was America’s longest war (15 years of combat) and our first defeat ending in 1973. Our government never had any intention of winning the war. Sadly, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, and Thailand are still controlled by tyrants today!

Nixon campaigned for president on “peace with honor,” but there was no honor. American troops fled Saigon as Communist troops entered the city. U.S. helicopters lifted American Marines, embassy personnel, and South Vietnamese civilian workers (who were on the commies’ death list) from the roof of the American embassy. Film footage of desperate civilians hanging onto departing helicopters is the last shameful scene in a tragic war that started with a few advisors and trainers.

Now we have advisors and trainers in Syria. We’ve seen that movie before with Vietnamese subtitles. This time subtitles are in Arabic!

Syria is a snake pit with a bunch of snakes killing each other, and the U.S. should stay out. The BBC News reported that “[t]here are believed to be as many as 1,000 armed opposition groups in Syria, commanding an estimated 100,000 fighters.” It is a tangled mess that has no reasonable solution.

Syria’s dictator Bashar Assad is a Muslim hypocrite (as was his daddy), supported by Shi'ites, an efficient killer especially when cornered, and supported by Russia fighter jets, Iran, and the terrorist group Hezbollah. However, Assad has governed the nation and provided stability and protection to Christian churches.

Assad’s opponents in the civil war are a ragtag assortment of Islamic fanatics including the Jabbat al-Nusra terrorists, who will cut the throats of their co-belligerents as soon as the Assad regime falls or is pushed over. There are Iranian, Russian, and Syrian armies already fighting ISIS on the ground (thereby helping Assad) and French, Russian, and American jets fighting from the air. American jets are pounding Assad’s conglomerate army and Russian jets are fighting Assad’s enemies. So, America is hurting Assad while Russia is helping Assad! Added to this crazy mix, the Israeli air force is also flying sorties from time to time.   

Assad’s enemies like to be known as ISIL, meaning the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. This refers to a region stretching from southern Turkey to Egypt that includes Lebanon, Syria, Israel, the Palestinian territories, Cyprus, and Jordan. The group’s stated goal is to restore an Islamic state, or caliphate, in this entire area. ISIL is the term used by the UN and the Obama administration using it gives the terrorists more credibility, as if they actually represent all those living in the Levant — from Turkey to Egypt. The use of the term also takes attention away from Obama’s failure in Iraq. In Obama’s commencement speech at West Point on June 19, he used ISIL 16 times, thereby warning the mainstream media to go along with the farcical nomenclature.

The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) claims to be a caliphate with religious, political, and military authority over all Muslims worldwide. It controls territory with 10 million people in Syria and Iraq and has changed its name to IS or Islamic State. Obama insists on using ISIL instead of ISIS when discussing the area. There is no difference whether ISIL, ISIS, or IS; they are the same — Muslim butchers.

The free world and the UN still haven’t received the message: There is no way to beat Islamists. We can blast a nation into the Stone Age, but that won’t win the war. Fact is, there will be perpetual conflict as long as there are Koranic Muslims down at the local mosque — any local mosque. We will be at war and living with terror to the end of the age. The next war could very well bury Western Civilization forever as well as the barbarians living on the Arabian Desert.

Furthermore, there is the issue of national sovereignty. Who gave America the authority to invade another nation? Do we believe in national sovereignty or not? At least Russia was invited into Syria and Israel can build a good case for their attacks. Do we believe in sovereignty for us but not for “them”? No one has even tried to justify this inconsistency.

Syria: Too little, too late, or too much too soon? Neither. The U.S. should not have troops there. Let Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Turkey, Egypt, Iran, etc., clean up their own mess. As I wrote in 2013, the U.S. should stay out of Syria since it is a bridge into hell. All factions in Syria are thugs, thieves, tyrants, or terrorists, and they all pray toward Mecca.

The U.S. Air Force secretary has admitted that “ground forces” are a must in order to “occupy” and “govern” parts of Syria, but the U.S. should not be interested in occupying or governing any other nation. We have no more right to be there than Mexico has a right to occupy and govern San Diego, Tucson, Las Cruces or Brownsville. We have no right to be there unless we declare war.

All the Muslim states in the area are enemies of Syria and Iran, so I suggest that the Saudis, the Egyptians, the Jordanians, the Turks, etc., get together a massive army (Turkey has 500,000 troops in the barracks) and clean out their Muslim “brothers.” They can easily finance the operation with their oil money. They can show how ecumenical they are by rebuilding the homes of the Kurds and Christians. The U.S. can share intelligence and strategy with the “good” guys, but it is a Muslim fight.

Syria is a mess, but it is not worth another American life or limb. The U.S. has left enough American blood and limbs in that desert wasteland. The Muslims made the mess, now let them clean it up.

(Boys’ new book, The God Haters, was recently published by Barbwire Books. To get your copy, click here. An eBook edition is also available. Boys is a former member of the Indiana House of Representatives and wrote for USA Today for eight years.) Visit his blog here.