“the “mission” was never primarily about ISIS; it was about eliminating the Assad regime.”
More than that, Russia’s mission was to establish their own mission and renew their bases and build new ones. Iran’s mission was to establish their own bases and attack and provoke Israel from Israel’s border with Syria. Turkey’s mission was to establish themselves as the rebirth of the Turkish Ottoman rulers of Syria and the Middle East. The US mission was to stop them all from achieving their objects and to get rid of Assad the butcher and establish their own puppet. Same old story - new chapter. In my opinion. As far as protecting Israel’s interest, that has always been horseshit. Israel will have to protect their own interest. It has always been the case. They can not trust America (or anyone else) to guarantee their security in a hostile world. The price of that guarantee would be too expensive, indeed. We have lost too many fine young men protecting other people’s interest on foreign lands. I applaud the President for having the guts to stand up to his military advisors. The best way that we can help Israel is to give them the green light to do what they have to do to defend themselves against all of their enemies, and resist them in the UN and on the World stage.
I think you meant this:
The best way that we can help Israel is to give them the green light to do what they have to do to defend themselves against all of their enemies, and assist them in the UN and on the World stage.
Doing so serves our interests and Israel’s too, maybe not K Street’s.
“More than that, Russia’s mission was to establish their own mission and renew their bases and build new ones.”
Russia showed zero interest in that until we made clear moves to depose their ally of 40+ years. Who would expect anything different on response.