Tuesday, August 26, 2014

Obama authorizes surveillance flights over Syria. Yahoo/AP

An ISIS member. Yahoo/Reuters

Obama has authorized surveillance flights over Syria in an effort to contain ISIS. Yahoo/AP. The move comes after the Obama administration mulls sending airstrikes to target ISIS militants. Surveillance would be needed to find targets and collect intelligence. The administration has not confirmed any airstrikes in Syria, but has said they will act if American lives were endangered. 

My Comment:
For any proposed airstrikes to be effective they are going to need more intelligence then these surveillance flights will provide. I know the NSA is involved as well but what they really need is human intelligence. For that they will probably have to work with Syria. Of course, that is what should happen, but I doubt it will. One of the major problems with this administration, and the past one, is far too much reliance on electronic surveillance. That isn't going to help much when targeting an army that blends in with the locals.

As for actually using airstrikes in Syria, I'm not completely opposed to it. ISIS deserves to get a few bombs dropped on them. But I want Obama to at least try and work with Syria. We don't need to get into a shooting war with them and if we were to lose a plane it would be nice to have a 2nd semi-friendly group in the area to help recover pilots. I seriously doubt he will do so. 

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