Why were American soldiers in Jordan in the first place?
Why were American soldiers in Jordan in the first place?
Everyone is talking about the American soldiers killed in Jordan. But I don't know why they were there to begin with.
The King of Jordan has been a long standing US ally, and one of the most stable partners in the region.
The Jordanian military has quite a bit of U.S. military equipment like F-16's and Blackhawks.
They also have 3000 troops stationed. Mainly for support roles and cooperative efforts.
Jordan is a long term ally of the U.S. and honestly not a bad spot to visit if you have a chance. I've been there probably a dozen times on business.
I've always wanted to see Petra in person, definitely some beautiful and historical scenery there.
It's an amazing country to visit. Beautiful sights, amazing food, lovely people. Of course there are tourist traps and scams like everywhere else, but also some of the most generous and hospitable people I have ever met. I can't wait to go back honestly.
During Iraq / Afghanistan, Al Qaeda lost significant power in the terrorist-world. In its place, ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq / Syria) began to gain power. This destabilized Syria / Iraq / Jordan. USA put troops in Iraq / Jordan to help our allies (Kurds, Israel) and that's that.
Iran is also worried about the instability there, and they have their Shia-militia there.
There's a complicated set of politics between USA, Kurds, Iraq, Israel, Iran (and their militants), ISIS, and Syria (backed by Russia). Its a mess. The important thing is that Iran-backed militants attacked US troops in this region because of this whole Israeli flareup, but the region has been a mess for decades.
but the region has been a mess for decades.
A statement that you could go literally any point in the last 5000 years and say and it would STILL be the understatement of the century.
Islamic golden age and Ottoman rule was relatively stable actually. Sure there was a Crusade every century or so, but its not like the infighting we see today. From the Muslim perspective, it was the Crusader Kingdoms that were the source of that instability as well. But the Crusades were still relatively rare in the great scheme of Year 1 through Year 2000.
A big problem is that us Westerners (as a whole) don't realize how much these people crave the stability of the Ottomans. Literally centuries of peace, disrupted after WW1. And we ignore their culture and history, and wonder why they hate us... We have to remember the Muslim contributions to the world and the stability and peace that they once knew. Acknowledging that should go a long way towards peace IMO.
I'm not saying the Ottomans were necessarily a good kingdom or empire mind you. They were a middle-age Nobility that somehow survived into WW1 as a world power. But they did offer peace and stability to the regions they controlled, a peace and stability that has been ruined since the collapse of the Ottomans after WW1 treaties. The collapse arguably was going to happen anyway (Ottomans were definitely on their way out and is part of the reason why they lost WW1 so decisively). But I don't think this attitude of "they were always a mess" is historically correct, or useful in the scope of modern diplomatic discussions.
American soldiers are literally everywhere.
...watching me poop?
No, just the snake alien from Stephen Kings Dreamcatcher.
That's the NSA.
We're a global imperial power, so like all empires we maintain a military presence near resources, allies, sites of likely resistance, etc.
That's a generalization. What is our mission in Jordan? We don't just put people there. They have orders.
Because they were stationed at a US military base. I think its called "Tower 22."
The better question is why does the US have so many military bases scattered throughout the middle east in other countries.
I think the short answer is US policy is basically "because fuck Iran."
Meh, the short answer is power projection.
Post WW2, the United States still had their industry intact whereas everywhere else was destroyed so they were the wealthiest nation, which has continued to this day, and leaders at the time wanted to keep it that way.
Interesting article about the wealth: https://medium.com/the-worlds-economy-and-the-economys-world/a-short-history-of-americas-economy-since-world-war-ii-37293cdb640#:~:text=At the end of World,net exporter of petroleum products.
Bases around the world let the US respond to basically any small threat it wants to, which helped keep its “most powerful nation” position.
It hasn’t always been successful and US power hegemony seems to be on the decline, but they still have bases everywhere even if they’re extremely unpopular like Okinawa.
US has bases because we have powerful aircraft. And Jordan lets us have that base because they'd prefer it if our base were there also protecting them from such dangers.
We have a base there because ISIS is a real threat and deserved nearby air-power to counter it. Iran is there because ISIS is a real threat and Iran is rightfully setting up defenses. ISIS is there because Iraq / Syria destabilized (we are to blame for Iraq, but Syria is on its own for their troubles, we had nothing to do with that. ISIS took advantage of weakening Al Qaeda thereby absorbing local militants / former Al Qaeda and becoming a regional problem).
USA countering ISIS is to our benefit in Iraq, and Jordan and Saudi Arabia.
We don't really take power "just to take power". There's a reason behind all of our decisions. Arguably, our life could be so much easier if we just took power like the 1800s, but USA isn't about that today and our politics are way more complex. Unfortunately, its too complex to discuss in most circumstances and most people fail to understand the moves anymore.
This one is because "Fuck ISIS" and "Holy shit Syria is collapsing".
The world is a bit more complex than "fuck Iran". Iran themselves improved their position against ISIS and Syria as well, because that's a shitty situation. USA found itself within shooting distance of Syria (aka: Russia-backed), Iran, ISIS, and more. But we gotta protect our allies (aka: Kurds) who helped us out so much in Iraq, as well as Israel.
Its genocides all the way down. Shia want to genocide Sunni. Sunni want to genocide Shia. They both want to genocide Kurds. They all want to genocide Israel.
They were all assigned to the 718th Engineer Company,
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Moore
Tower 22 is near Al Tanf garrison, which is located across the border in Syria, and which houses a small number of U.S. troops. Tanf had been key in the fight against Islamic State and has assumed a role as part of a U.S. strategy to contain Iran's military build-up in eastern Syria.
Tower 22 is located close enough to U.S. troops at Tanf that it could potentially help support them, while also potentially countering Iran-backed militants in the area and allowing troops to keep an eye on remnants of Islamic State in the region.
i can't find where the 718th sits in Fort Moore, but I'm not trying very hard. It seems that Tower 22 is a position that is very far inside of a political border that has wanted intelligence and presence for the US military.
Keeping the peace and sprinkling freedom and democracy all around
Like a giant fairy spreading
bulletsmagic dust all over the place