Trump Scores, Breaks Generals' 50-Year War Record

The American Conservative ^ | December 28, 2018 | Gareth Porter

[poconopundit]

His national security team had been trying to box him in like every other president. But Trump called their bluff. The story shows how Trump gained the upper hand on the strong military bureacracy and advisers who wanted to keep the status quo in Syria. Key points: Ever since Vietnam the generals have had the upper hand in decisions about war zone deployments. Trump signaled long ago he was opposed to a permanent deployment of troops in Syria and gave generals the order to destroy ISIS within six months. National security team purposely did their planning and presented the options to Trump as if withdrawal was not on the table. Trump is now as committed as ever to hiring national security people and generals who are friendly to his objectives. Story worth reading in its entirety. No click bait, nor is the story a disguised hit piece on Trump. It is very well-written and seems to be a credible explanation of the behind-the-scenes "battle" Trump fought with his advisers over the last several months.

[dforest]

.

[Guenevere]

Winning!

[PGR88]

Obama created ISIS, so Trump had to shut it down.

[Moonman62]

That’s a really nice summary.

[JonPreston]

Screwing General Flynn’s lights out kneecapped DJT right out of the box. Was it Pence who said he lied?

[poconopundit]

Thanks. Hat tip to Larry Schweikart (LS) for posting this story on his Twitter.

[Menehune56]

It appears our PDJT is not a proponent of Perpetual War. That’s a good thing.

[SanchoP]

A standing army is unconstitutional. The founders knew better.

[central_va]

What good is having a standing Army if it can’t( won’t ) defend, patrol and secure our own borders? Better to not have one at all...

[Grampa Dave]

This link discusses what else President Trump might consider:

https://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/after-syria-trump-should-clean-out-his-national-security-bureaucracy/

[plain talk]

What happened last week was that Trump followed up on the clear policy he had laid down in April.

Exactly what I had suspected. A previous report made it sound like Trump couldn't answer a question from Turkey as to why we are still in Syria and thus decided to withdraw. This has been going on for months.

[Doc91678]

Obama created and trained ISIL to continue the Arab Spring. Trump has done what Obama couldn’t do. He fixed ISIL in place and has pretty well destroyed them.
I totally agree with DJT’s decision to reduce the military in the ME and Afghanistan.
Nest on the list is Europe and a RIF there too.

[SanchoP]

Exactly. The founders knew the danger to the Republic of “nation building”. All the morons debating the term “well trained militia” in the 2nd Amendment have not one clue what it means.

[Spok]

President Eisenhower warned us about the military/industrial complex. President Trump must’ve been listening.

[Retain Mike]

I sent the below letter to the editor on the subject. Do look at the map. I would consider Afghanistan involvement differently, because there the terrorists have a substantial influence on Pakistan which has the A-bomb. But I like his statement about giving a deadline and telling them to “get it done”, and having it apply to Afghanistan.

From: Retain Mike Sent: Sunday, December 23, 2018 8:26 PM To: WSJ Letters (wsj.ltrs@wsj.com) Subject: James Mattis Resignation

James Mattis shares the dilution of the previous administration that sent U.S. ground forces into two tiny enclaves in Syria as a definitive statement of U.S. resolution. The U.S. Naval Institute article titled “Senators Quiz Military Leaders on U.S. Forces in Syria after ISIS” is interesting, because of the map presenting areas controlled by various armed factions. This colorful crazy quilt identifies Syrian Kurds and Aligned Forces, Syrian Government Forces, Islamic State Forces, Syrian Opposition Forces, Turkish Military Backed Forces, and some white areas for which evidently no one can hazard a guess. Remote from each other are two tiny circles labeled U.S./Coalition Military. The map does not account for Israeli airstrikes and threatened Turkish offensives into Syria against the Kurds. What an endless array of possible permutations for factions to fight each other with our handful of troops in the midst.

I wonder how one could have divined these few troops represented a meaningful involvement for confronting Russia and Iran in the face of such turmoil? A comprehensive ceasefire seems remote. Even if achieved, then where do you find the diplomatic skills needed to sort out the combatants into peaceful agrarian villages like you see on Star Trek?

When Mattis proclaims this feeble deployment is the bulwark invigorating an imperative for U.S. foreign policy, then we are well rid of him.

James Mattis resigns as defense secretary https://www.cbsnews.com/news/james-mattis-resigns-as-defense-secretary-today-12-20-2018/

Senators Quiz Military Leaders on U.S. Forces in Syria after ISIS https://news.usni.org/2018/03/13/senators-quiz-military-leaders-u-s-forces-syria-isis?utm_source=USNI+News&utm_campaign=4be94c77a1-USNI_NEWS_DAILY&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_0dd4a1450b-4be94c77a1-230377553&mc_cid=4be94c77a1&mc_eid=d1b7ba249a

[DesertRhino]

“opposed to a permanent deployment of troops in Syria and gave generals the order to destroy ISIS within six months.”

ISIS at it’s height was around 30,000 irregular militia. On Iwo Jima somewhere around 20,000 Japanese solders with an -immensely- higher discipline, skill, and weapons level were wiped out in about 6 weeks.

On Okinawa we faced around 75,000 more and destroyed them in less than three months. We landed in June of ‘44 at Normandy, kicked the hell out of the 380,000+ Germans in France and were up against the Siegfried line by August.

Any US General that needs more than 6 months to utterly OBLITERATE Isis needs to hang up his spurs and go accept a position on a corporate board of directors somewhere.

Yeah yeah I know collateral damage. But what is better, a month or maybe 6 weeks of decisive all out battle, or years of constant low level, failed concept COIN war?

[McGavin999]

Very good article and pretty much confirms what I thought happened.

[be-baw]

Excellent article. Thanks for posting.

“Trump is now well aware that it is virtually impossible to carry out the foreign policy that he wants without advisors who are committed to the same objective. That means that he must find people who have remained outside the system during the permanent war years while being highly critical of its whole ideology and culture.”

That sounds like an imposing task. Not sure if he can get it done in 8 years. The current modus operandi of the US Military has been building for at least 70 years. That’s a lot of momentum to overcome and reverse.

[StormEye]

"Was it Pence who said he lied?"

Yeah, I seem to remember it was Pence.