Posted on 09/26/2015 11:31:23 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
Donald Trump on Friday accused his GOP rivals of seeking to “start World War III over Syria” and suggested the U.S. let Russia take up the fight against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS)
"They want to start World War III over Syria. Give me a break," Trump said at the State Fairgrounds in Oklahoma City.
"You know Russia wants to get ISIS right. We want to get ISIS. Russia’s in Syria. Maybe we should let them do it?," he continued. "Let them do it. What the hell are we crazy?"
Trump's statements come as Russia builds up its forces in Syria to help embattled leader Bashar Assad take on ISIS. The U.S. is also leading a coalition against the terror group, but also opposes Assad's regime and has urged him to relinquish power.
President Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin will meet Monday at the UN General Assembly, with Syria a likely topic of discussion.
Foreign policy has appeared to be a stumbling block for GOP front-runner Trump at times.
In a radio interview with Hugh Hewitt earlier this month, Trump appeared to mix-up the names of top terrorists and confused the Kurds with the Iranian "Quds" force – a special military unit.
Trump initially slammed Hewitt for asking "gotcha" questions, but during the second GOP debate suggested he had just been confused by Hewitt's pronunciation of foreign names.
Trump has touted his foreign policy, noting that he was opposed to the Iraq war, pledging to do more for America's veterans and blasting President Obama's nuclear deal with Iran. He has said he would pick top experts for his administration and rely on their advice.
On Friday, he said that the U.S. had only empowered Iran by invading Iraq.
"I said don’t go into Iraq. I’m the most militant person here, the most militaristic person you’ll ever meet. I believe in the military strongly but I didn’t want to see us invade Iraq," he said.
"We spend $2 trillion dollars, thousands of lives, wounded warriors all over the place that I love by the way… we got nothing. We can’t even go over there."
Trump also said Iraq and Iran were growing closer.
"And right now as you are standing here, Iraq is negotiating with Iran . They’re going to merge and Iran is going to get the oil… and the one that gets the rest of it is going to be ISIS."
Hasn't American learned after its bumbling efforts in Libya and Egypt?
It may play into Obama’s interests...
which group is USA leading in Syria that oppose Assad? Oh that’s right ISIS
Obama’s interestes ALWAYS come into conflict with America’s interests.
RUSSIA has a strong presence in the mid-east..
With Iran and Syria.. no doubt Iraq and Turkey..
Starting to look very Armageddon-ish..
All it will take is a “SPARK”.. to get all “Sparkly”..
You know... Hair teeth and eyeballs all over the place..
Heads are already rolling.. rape.. abuses of all kinds..
Tick.. Tick.. Tick.. Tick.. Tick.. Tick..
I have no problem with Russia taking out ISIS.
But, they are also not allowing Israel to attack trucks loaded with weapons on Syrian soil. Israel must wait till they’re off Syrian land to attack.
We’re letting in hundreds of thousands of the muslim hordes, which is MUCH MORE dangerous than ISIS is as an army.
With a real president hundreds of sorties a day would make quick work of ISIS.
Doing Saudi’s bidding? We don’t need the Saudi oil...and if we did, we should just march in and take it. What could they do about it?
With a real president hundreds of sorties a day would make quick work of ISIS.
Snipe Hunt?... We don’t have a real President...
You should do that marching, and you should guard that oil while it’s stolen.
i know :(
If we survive the next 15 months, hopefully we will again.
1 b-52. 2 nuclear warheads. and ISIS could be solved in the span of about 12 hours.
No, Free Syrian Army... a group composed of Sunni, Shia [Alawites], Kurds, and Druze former Syrian military officers and soldiers who pledged to fight any group that harmed civilians. They are among several groups aligned with the Syriac Military Council, a Christian coalition to fight ISIS.
Unfortunately while help was most needed the administration was holding it back.
That’s one way :) Would American advisers in Iraq be affected from fallout?
American national interests are clearly threatened by Russia's occupation of Syria and their notorious conduct of military operations there. The Russians are expanding the Syrian Mediterranean port and will soon have a Mediterranean base for their fleet to complement their facilities at the north end of the Black Sea in newly acquired Crimea.
You will note that we will now be facing an axis running from Teheran in Iran through Baghdad in Iraq to Damascus in Syria. This axis will be armed with nuclear weapons wherever the Russians maintain bases and, thanks to Barack Obama, nuclear weapons will soon be in the hands of the Iranians. With nuclear weapons and with the open alliance of the Russians who have air, naval and land forces actually operating and fighting, the United States will be powerless to act militarily anywhere along this axis when the axis sponsors terrorism or when it aggresses against Saudi Arabia, Jordan or Israel.
All the oil coming from the region will be threatened because the United States will no longer command the seas but will face competition from the Russian Navy which cannot be negated because Russia (and soon Iran) will have the bomb. America has strong national interests in the free flow of oil around the world in order to maintain a worldwide free-market economic system.
The United States has a strong national interest in avoiding a nuclear arms race anywhere in the world but especially in the volatile and oil-rich middle east. Now that Iran has both the imprimatur of Barack Obama and that physical military support of Russia, all the rest of the Middle Eastern states must decide whether to desert America, risk staying with the loser (the USA), or go with their own nuclear weapons. It is difficult to say which of these options is worse.
Those are just a few of the national interests going down the drain.
But that is not to say that Donald Trump is wrong in the application of national policy to the Syria problem and to the immediacy of the Russian involvement there. Donald Trump was right about Iraq and I, for one, was wrong. But disengagement appears to be Trump's across-the-board policy. It has a certain appeal when the problem seems insoluble but it is inappropriate for the world's superpower to withdraw into a neo-isolationism. Under Obama we have muddled and dithered and sold out but under Trump we would simply cry, "a plague on both your houses" and abandon the field.
We need a policy not a slogan and certainly not a head in the sand refusal to deal with seemingly intractable problems. Trump is right, we should not and in fact we cannot engage militarily. Our options now are limited to diplomatic options. But that does not mean we can forget the need for a strategy. What is the strategy to protect American national interests which are being so profoundly threatened?
I can hear it now, Trump will come out with a great paper. We shall see.
It’s not the oil we care about.
Sometimes I agree with Trump...sometimes not.
In this instance...I agree.
Why send our military when Russia is willing to do it?
Will we be out in the cold if Russia wins? Probably. But we are any way.
I do Not want to send our guys and girls into this hellhole. These people have been fighting since the beginning of time and will be at the end of time.
Technically,WWIII started about 12 years ago..
To be honest, we don’t have the military to fight - obama has gutted it to pre-WW1 levels. We need to rebuild our military as Reagan did and yes, even GWB had to rebuilt our military after the Clinton years. Whether people like it or not - there will be WW3 - and it will be a nuclear war. Just read the Bible and it’s all spelled out there. I seriously doubt that Trump wouldn’t use our military if necessary, but for now - let Russia handle this mess in Syria. The US has made some horrible mistakes in the Middle East.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.