Dempsey: Syria Intervention Is ‘Act of War’ That Could Cost Billions Security Clearance Blogs
United States military involvement in Syria would likely cost billions of dollars and carry a range of risks for the forces involved, Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Martin Dempsey said in a letter released Monday.
“I know that the decision to use force is not one that any of us takes lightly,” Dempsey wrote in the letter to Sen. Carl Levin,D-Michigan, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee. “It is no less than an act of war.”
Dempsey’s letter was in response to a request by Levin and Sen. John McCain, R-Arizona, to provide his assessments of possible scenarios for future involvement in the Syrian civil war.
But it also came with a warning for a military now in a second decade at war.
“We have learned from the past 10 years, however, that it is not enough to simply alter the balance of military power without careful consideration of what is necessary in order to preserve a functioning state.”
Establishing a no-fly zone in Syria would cost $500 million initially, while “averaging as much as a billion dollars per month over the course of a year,” Dempsey said of an operation that would limit as much as possible the aerial bombing capabilities of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
Dempsey said establishing a no-fly zone could result in the loss of U.S. aircraft, which would require personnel recovery forces in Syria. “It may also fail to reduce the violence or shift the momentum because the regime relies overwhelmingly on surface fires - mortars, artillery, and missiles,” he wrote.
More: Dempsey: Syria Intervention Is ‘Act of War’ That Could Cost Billions Security Clearance Blogs