Sending troops to Syria.

I am against it. Not trying for a resolution right now. I will research and post tomorrow. Want to see if we have a strong majority against it. then, maybe a vote, a statement, and possible actions.

Any and all US military involvement in Syria is a war crime and the soldiers that are sent are willingly committing war crimes. I won't buy the argument of 'following orders' or we must support the troops.
I support the right of people to defend their homeland from outside invaders and internal enemies that are directed by the outside.

against. That war is not our concern.

I am against this escalation of the war by Trump, which builds on earlier interventions and interference by the Obama-Clinton team, with the bi-partisan support of most of Congress. Here are a few points I would like to make:
1. The US already bears a heavy responsibility for the bloody civil war in Syria. From the beginning, Clinton and Obama supported regime change against Assad, and gave support, financial and weapons, to the rebels, who quickly were dominated by right-wing Islamicist forces, including ISIS.

1. We already have up to 500 troops on the ground in Syria. Without any declaration of war, this was quietly authorized by both parties, in Congress.This last move probably pushes our total over the legal limit,making it an even more lawless and unconstitutional war.

2. All these US interventions, into a war that has now gone on at least sixteen years, have produced nothing but death, misery, hatred of the US, and blow back. We need to remove US troops from the Middle East, from Afghanistan, to Iraq, to Syria, etc.

3. Because this latest intervention is aligning the US, temporarily, with the Kurds and with Russia, some Democrats may criticize it. Yet they supported earlier interventions, which were soon co-opted and used by right-wing Islamicist forces, in their effort to topple the brutal Assad regime. This is a Democratic and Republican war and disaster. Both parties are responsible, and the Green Party needs to stand as the party of peace and non-intervention.

4. Instead of causing more suffering, and solving nothing, through yet another escalation of our involvement, the US should be welcoming in many more of the refugees from the conflict that our government played such a major role in fomenting and escalating.

5. I would like to see our local and the MGP take a stand against this, issue a statement, and participate in any actions against it that might be organized. If this starts to pick up support in discussion on Loomio, I will make it as a proposal on Loomio.

I think the local and MGP should take a stand on all imperial foreign policy decisions.

@markmccolloch, do you still want to put out a statement on this?
We have created a rapid response team for statements that include @onedacangonji @paulhenderson @theresaalexander and @zacharyglantz

No, it is no longer timely. We can wait until the next escalation, and I don’t think there was yet a consensus either in our local or at the MGP.

Okay,
as a side note, I think we should get in the habit of emailing our membership about these "rapid" replies as well to make sure we get as much weigh in as possible.