Bob Hart, Green Party Congressional candidate for twelfth district of Ohio came out in opposition to an expanded American military role in combating ISIS in Syria. The Press release read in part “President Obama and Congress have chosen to sacrifice additional U.S. troops, and further degrade our economy and constitution, by illegally broadening the ongoing wars in the Middle East to include Syria.”
Hart's statement referred to the recent announcement by President Obama that airstrikes targeting ISIS would be carried out in Syria. The President also has asked Congress to grant the military the authority to arm and train friendly militias inside Syria.
The friendly militias are on the short end of a three way struggle between themselves, ISIS and the Assad regime which is allied with Iran. Both Iran and the United States have special operations troops assisting Iraqi forces combating ISIS in Iraq.
It is not been announced how the militias of the Free Syrian Army will be armed nor where they will be given training. It is certainly possible that American special forces will be present within Syrian borders to advise the FSA forces and provide targeting assistance for the airstrikes. President Obama must personally sign off on any targeted strike within Syria.
Hart's statement makes clear he is opposed to this expansion of the role of American troops in the conflict “I’m unwilling to have more U.S. troops die in the deserts of the Middle East to satisfy the war cravings of a Congress bent on revenge wars for profit that benefit their corporate campaign donors in the military-industrial complex.”
The Obama administration claims that it will retaliate if Syrian air defenses target American war planes operating in the skies above Syria. Secretary of State John Kerry says that the US will communicate with Syria about the airstrikes. Neither the possibility of Syrian ground forces targeting American advisors to Free Syrian Army troops has been widely discussed and was nor directly addressed in Hart's statement.
Hart is running against Democrat David Tibbs for the seat of seven term incumbent Pat Tiberi. Tiberi has held the twelfth district seat since it was vacated by Governer Kasich when he left congress to work for the now bankrupt Lehman Brothers. Bob Hart retired from the Ohio Attorney General's office in 2010 where he worked in the Consumer Protection division.