Were most ABC News viewers under the impression that the U.S. had tens of thousands of troops in Syria and Iraq?
ABC News reports, “there are now more U.S. troops deployed to Los Angeles than in Iraq and Syria. There are 4,800 activated Guard and Marine personnel in L.A., compared to the 2,500 troops in Iraq and 1,500 in Syria.”
I’m not quite sure what we’re supposed to do with this factoid. Is the contention that there aren’t enough U.S. troops in Syria? Judging from the testimony of Gen. Michael Kurilla, commander of US Central Command, at the US House Armed Services Committee on Tuesday, things in Syria are going pretty well. (Scratch that, considering recent history, they’re going exceptionally well.) Despite some grumbling from some factions of the Iraqis, the U.S.-led coalition’s operations against ISIS aren’t scheduled to end until September, and “a provision in the agreement allows for continued military operations in Syria from an undetermined location until September 2026, as well as another provision that calls for ‘bilateral security partnerships in a manner that supports Iraqi forces and maintains pressure on ISIS.’”
Were most ABC News viewers under the impression that the U.S. had tens of thousands of troops in Syria and Iraq? We’ve got almost three times as many troops in Poland or Italy as we do in Los Angeles.
I suppose that factoid is supposed to make the number of activated Guard and Marine personnel in Los Angeles seem like a lot. But there are seven federal government-owned and- operated buildings in Los Angeles, including four courthouses and the Los Angeles branch of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco. (Some courthouse buildings house more than courts; the Spring Street courthouse includes the offices of the National Labor Relations Board, Small Business Administration and General Services Administration.)
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is located in the Roybal Federal Building. That building is a one-minute drive or eight-minute walk from the Los Angeles Police Department Headquarters, but it reportedly took more than two hours for the LAPD to respond to requests for assistance when protesters surrounded the building.
Considering how the LAPD has already proven itself either incapable or unwilling to protect a federal building just down the street from its headquarters, deploying an extra 700 or so troops per federal building doesn’t seem quite so outlandish or unreasonable.
The seven hundred Marines assigned to Los Angeles are from the 2nd Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, based at the Marine Air-Ground Combat Training Center at Twentynine Palms, California.
“All Marines are trained in crowd control, embassy reinforcement, etc., so this is part of their training, sir,” said General Eric M. Smith, commandant of the Marine Corps, told the the Senate Armed Services Committee. “The standard Marine expeditionary unit — before they deploy — is trained, and this battalion is ready for that.”