We are being assured that these are not “boots on the ground” for use against ISIS or Al Qaeda in Syria the Khorasan Group. Because the government says so. AFP reports:

The US Marine Corps plans to deploy 2,300 troops to the Middle East for a new unit designed to quickly respond to crises in the volatile region, the Pentagon said Tuesday.

It will include several aircraft and be prepared to move rapidly in the case of "contingencies," Pentagon spokesman Rear Admiral John Kirby told reporters.

I wonder if any contingencies are possible in Syria or Iraq? Ya think?

But just like the warnings about ISIS to President Obama, these plans go back a year or two:

 The idea for the task force originated in 2013 -- before the current US air campaign against the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria -- and was not related "to the ongoing operations in Iraq," Kirby said.

It must be sheer coincidence that this move is being made in a way that pemrits American troops to be available for use, while enabling President Obama to maintain with a semi-straight face that he is not sending boots to touch the ground.

I suppose there will be some people who buy that story. Not me.