Jordan wants some protection from Syria as Jordan becomes the southern front against Assad. So we'll leave air defense assets:
The United States said on Saturday it would keep F-16 fighters and Patriot missiles in Jordan at Amman's request, and Russia bristled at the possibility they could be used to enforce a no-fly zone inside Syria.
I still wonder if we will leave Marine Corps equipment in Jordan so we could quickly fly in Marines to create a ground force deterrent to keep Syria from lashing out at Jordan.
Sure, Jordan's army is pretty good--certainly better than even Assad's pre-revolution army--but I'm sure they'd like the idea of Americans on the ground, just in case. Assad might risk gassing Jordanian troops. But that would be suicidal to do to American troops.
And you never know if we'd need to move into Syria to secure a chemical weapons site.
So while we dangle the fancy air defense assets, I'll suspect the Marines in Jordan are there to provide the cover for unloading equipment for a brigade of Marines. Pure speculation on my part. But that's what I'd do, for what it's worth.
