Posted on 10/13/2019 6:24:59 PM PDT by robowombat
Esper confirms Trump ordered larger withdrawal of U.S. forces from Syria BY ZACK BUDRYK - 10/13/19 11:59 AM EDT
Defense Secretary Mark Esper confirmed Sunday that President Trump has ordered a larger withdrawal of U.S. forces from northeastern Syria than was previously indicated.
During an appearance on CBS’s “Face the Nation,” Esper said the U.S. has withdrawn about 1,000 U.S. troops from northern Syria since an initial smaller withdrawal of troops.
Trump made the decision to increase the withdrawal amid reports that Turkey will expand its offensive “further south than originally planned and to the west,” Esper told CBS’s Margaret Brennan on Sunday.
Esper also referenced reports that the Syrian Democratic Forces, a Kurdish group allied with the U.S. in the battle against ISIS, are seeking an agreement with the Syrian and Russian governments.
“And so we find ourselves as we have American forces likely caught between two opposing advancing armies, and it's a very untenable situation,” Esper told Brennan.
“So I spoke with the president last night after discussions with the rest of the national security team, and he directed that we begin a deliberate withdrawal of forces from northern Syria,” he said.
Pressed by Brennan on whether Turkish forces would be advancing if U.S. forces remained, Esper said that in talks with other officials, “it became very clear to me that the Turks were fully committed to conducting this incursion” regardless of the U.S. presence.
Trump’s decision to withdraw U.S. troops from northeastern Syria and to turn over operations to Turkey has been met with sharp bipartisan criticism, with staunch Trump backers such as Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) accusing him of abandoning an ally and creating an opening for ISIS forces to return to their former strength.
You mean we are going to let the Syrians run Syria? How novel.
L
Revealing troop movements?
What’s this? I thought we had already pulled out and abandoned everything.
What a twisted ‘hit piece’.
We are withdrawing so the Syrians can come to the aid of the Kurds against Turkey.
Pelosi got on her high horse and reminded Trump that Congress is the only legal entity that can declare war (in regard to Iran). Therefor let Pelosi hold a a joint session of Congress and demand a formal declaration of war against ISIS.
It’ll cost Trump votes. Yada yada yada. Get our people outa there. We got Muslims killing muslims. Quiet Ethel I got the game on!
I agree, my point is that Pelosi wants Trump to take all the heat and blame no matter what he does. I see the ME as a giant prison. The inmates run the prison, the guards (THE US) only maintain the peace.
I think it’s time to pull our guards back. They’ll figure it out over there. If it’s an issue we still have our people. We can work it out then. We are just referring this crap and it’s costing us sons and daughters. Time to wait and then if need be go terminal.
The Turks just invaded a sovereign Syria with 15,000 +Turkish troops and tanks plus heavy military weapons. An F-16s for air support
The situation is destabilized and do we really want American troops to act as trip wires to invoke an American military response at a time we have nothing in the region to effectively respond with ?
Does this mean DOD disobeyed the direct order of POTUS? And I thought the published word was there were only 50 US troops in the affected area and they were not for combat. Now we hear a thousand or more must be moved. What is the truth?????
The assets we had there weren’t enough to stabilize Jack. Get them out and exert power from a different quadrant. Scrafice of our troops is not a tripwire, it’s a farce. They want to see hell on earth, I say show it to them. Kamakizing our forces just shows stupidity. You win wars by killing the hell out of the other guys and living to come home. IMO
“prevent a Turkish incursion.”
They were also there to allow Kurds to negotiate with Syria.
That’s been done. It’s over. Syria will prevent the Turk incursion now.
We have no valuable interests served by staying there. We are only providing our troops as targets. No more of this "tripwire" stuff.
If Erdogan really wants to fight a Russian proxy ... get out of the way!
No, they were just moved back away from the border, initially. But that changed when they learned of a more intense incursion planned by Turkey.
True. Bring our young patriots home. Walking, we’ve brought enough back in boxes over the years it’s time to stop. If it’s killing they want we can deliver it faster than FEDX, but getting our kids killed sucks.
*** What’s this? I thought we had already pulled out and abandoned everything. ***
Nope, and Nope. We still have troops in the US base at Al Tanf, and in the NE corner of Deir Ezzor, and another I forget right now.
Completely Out of Syria now, President Trump
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