Shouldn’t have been there in the first place.
I’m curious who Trump consulted on this. Do we really believe Turkey isn’t going into Syria with nefarious intentions?
Getting out of Syria and Afghanistan is quite foolish to the deep state. IKE warned of the military industrial complex. It has grown exponentially since then. Constant war is a great source of income for the military industrial deep state. CIA needs to protect their heron industry to keep big incomes. Lots of Americans have the patriotism of World War II which has been corrupted by the government to supply willing soldiers and mercenaries.
The day Trump is praised for an action, I’ll start to be concerned. As long as he is criticized, I am going to assume he’s correct.
Sure is strange how suddenly the Democrats are worried about our military.................
The UK supports our presence there. In Syria, the recognized government never approved our presence in their country and wants us out. Legally, we are violating their sovereignty. And Congress has never declared war against Syria despite the fact that we bombed the country almost daily for years. Time to go.
The Kurds are at risk, but there’s nothing new about that. We should base any assistance on our national interest, not on being Mr. Nice Guy to every put-upon tribe in the world.
I have some mixed feelings about that, as the Kurds in Iraqi Kurdistan actually thanked the US for removing Saddam.
Syria is a low rent, low intensity bush league ( no pun) conflict from a military standpoint but it’s positive resolution is absolutely huge in strategic terms
Right now, US policy is enabling status quo just perpetuates the violence while trying to keep it at minimal level. This is not working because the players are plotting and rearming for a larger escalation to try to take control of a very weakened Syria
President Trump is trying to kick the stool out from underneath the status quo and shock the world community into taking positive action for a change
Trump will adjust the strategy as necessary.
A spec ops unit with small arms, there for observing and advising, isn’t much of a story.
Some causes are noble in theory but impossible to succeed/win in fact. ME is a bucket of hurt, few good players with mostly very bad actors, a no win situation. Hate to walk out on the Kurds but even a full blown win would prove little benefit; give them the one shot choice of weapons or plane tickets, then leave.
We are not getting out of Syria. Look at this fuel requisition for our Iraqi bases:
Click on SPE605-19-R-0212
That requisition also happens to include 19 bases in Syria.......
Wise
Put them in Jordan and they can respond in 30 minutes if needed
If it’s just about finding the Kurds a homeland, give them San Francisco.
There are only 1000 troops there
....including capturing thousands of ISIS fighters, mostly from Europe. But Europe did not want them back, they said you keep them USA! I said “NO, we did you a great favor and now you want us to hold them in U.S. prisons at tremendous cost. They are yours for trials.” They.....
.....again said “NO,” thinking, as usual, that the U.S. is always the “sucker,” on NATO, on Trade, on everything. The Kurds fought with us, but were paid massive amounts of money and equipment to do so. They have been fighting Turkey for decades. I held off this fight for....
....almost 3 years, but it is time for us to get out of these ridiculous Endless Wars, many of them tribal, and bring our soldiers home. WE WILL FIGHT WHERE IT IS TO OUR BENEFIT, AND ONLY FIGHT TO WIN. Turkey, Europe, Syria, Iran, Iraq, Russia and the Kurds will now have to.....
...figure the situation out, and what they want to do with the captured ISIS fighters in their “neighborhood.” They all hate ISIS, have been enemies for years. We are 7000 miles away and will crush ISIS again if they come anywhere near us!
Donald J. Trump @realDonaldTrump
7:40 AM · Oct 7, 2019
Trump doesn’t think we should water the foul political fields of s’holes with our blood.
Do you have to be a libertarian to agree with that? Seems fairly common sensible to me.
And there are other approaches to problems posed by s’hole countries.
Based on the occupation of two tiny enclaves, I wonder how one could divine any meaningful level of influence 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 Second Generation?
However, the alternative should be a Russian/Iranian dominated Syria under Assad, and that could be unpleasant. Since our tiny presence would be unlikely to influence that outcome, why should we accept an indefinite mission to support one of the remaining factions?
. 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
The U.S. is in Great Britain and Germany because we had bases there for NATO during the Cold War. If the author questions our continued use, and I don’t necessarily disagree with them, then the solution is to withdraw entirely from NATO. Those troops and aircraft can be brought back to the states and the army and air force sizes reduced accordingly. Likewise Japan and South Korea. Bring them home, do away with the headcount, and realize the savings in reduced costs.
Interesting read. I don’t believe Trump trusts the Russians or the Turks ...