“Tactics is the art of using troops in battle; strategy is the art of using battles to win the war.”
— Carl von Clausewitz

I started this article a couple of days ago, back before the Syrian bombing.  the New York Times had published U.S. War Footprint Grows in Middle East, With No Endgame in Sight, an article about how America keeps expanding our military involvement without having an articulated end goal.  We’re digging deeper into war they argue, without a clear vision for how to structure any peace that follows.

At that point, we were only planning on increasing the US military by 500 soldiers.  Now we’ve bombed the Syrian military.  And officials leak that there is no followup plan.

I think Trump instigated another US war at least partly for the distraction.  On reflection, that’s a dependably Republican act.  We have tactics without a strategy.

And the Perpetual War grinds on.