Trump faces growing GOP revolt on Syria

TheHill.com ^ | 10/09/19 06:00 AM EDT | ALEXANDER BOLTON

[rdcbn]

President Trump is doing the right thing here on many levels.

The Kurdish situation is very complex and there are many Kurdish factions that are communist and or terrorists backed by Iran

Here at home, the Presidents opposition is desperate to intervene in behalf of the Kurds which seems strange. Could it be that the Kurds know exactly what the Obama Administration was doing in its support of ISIS and why they were doing it. The Kurds are also capable of exposing that ISIS is just another name for al Qaeda, something that many in Washington would like keep quiet

Bottom line, the entire Obama Arab Spring was one of the dirtiest and most destructive acts of the Obama era and their support of ISIS is de facto providing aid and comfort to al Qaeda.

The Kurds are able to connect the dots on this

Intervening in military action by a fellow NATO member is serious business and American troops would inevitably come into conflict with those from Turkey. American troops engaged in acts of war with Turkey would be a huge problem

The American troops are in Syria as much to stabilize a very unstable situation and as a trip wire to deter Turkish military invasion of Syria. If the Turks invade and come into conflict with our troops we would be forced to intervene by circumstance beyond our control and on the terms of the opposition

This is critical to understand - America is in no position to engage Turkey in a serious military adventure on Turkey’s home court because we simply do not have the assets to do so in the region. To try would be a military disaster in the short term and by the time we mobilized Turkey would be dug in in Syria much the same way Saddam was in Kuwait in 1990.

President Trump has responded brilliantly and has not taken the bait offered by those who wish to American troops involved in another insane operation in the Middle East.

Instead he has kicked the stool out from under the status quo of a grinding and festering stalemate of constant low intensity conflict and is in a commanding position to put together and lead an international coalition to stabilize the situation and help rebuild the war devastated region and put it on a path to peace and recovery . None of which is going to happen in the current status quo

[allwrong57]

We don’t have an ally in the middle east, other than Israel, which most of the Democrats want to eliminate from existence.

[piasa]

https://www.breitbart.com/national-security/2015/09/25/world-view-suspicions-grow-that-pkk-doing-russias-bidding-in-bombing-turkey-pipelines/

[nathanbedford]

In forming an opinion about the president withdrawing the troops from Syria, there are several reflexes which seem to give rise to opinions:

1. Cheeto Jesus can do no wrong.

2. Orange Man bad can do no right.

3. American involvement in foreign conflicts is per se wrong and must always be opposed.

4. America has a moral duty to be policeman of the world.

5. Whatever harms Israel should be supported.

6. Whatever helps Israel should be supported.

Judging from other threads, the majority here will choose reflex position 1 and cite a version of 2 in support.

I am not convinced either way but I will observe that the record seems clear that the president simply did not cultivate support within his own party and even among Democrats before announcing. Not necessarily the most prudent move when facing a probable impeachment and entirely unnecessary.

[nathanbedford]

Correction: many will cite a version of 3 in support.

[jmaroneps37]

Is “Alexander” John Bolton’s real first name or his pen name?

[Flick Lives]

Tell Congress to put up or shut up. Vote a declaration of war on Turkey. That’s the responsibility of Congress. But, no. They have abdicated responsibility for most everything including passing budgets. The bastards all want power without accountability.

[mjp]

big problems get worse if you ignore them or run away from them

[Pearls Before Swine]

Thanks. I missed this in my search.

Some other articles showed up from within the past few months—definitely this year—repeating the old status of 50 to 70 B61s at Incirlik, and mentioning the policy of “shared access” to nukes with NATO partners. (Whatever “shared” means in this context.)

[Sacajaweau]

Or Korea...

IIRC, we only have a couple hundred troops in Syria. I'd pull them out, too.

Both Turkey and the Kurds have massive armies and IMO, this is more like a civil war.

[Logical me]

Trump was wrong.

[wiseprince]

So Trump is allowed to enter any country any time but is not allowed to leave? Who is in control of the armed forces? It doesn’t seems like it’s the elected leader. If Congress wants to be in the war then vote to authorize Trump to fight the war and then don’t undermine him when you think he’s too tough

[Mariner]

Eff ‘em.

All of ‘em.

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

Smells like a set up. A Deep State/CIA setup.

[RitchieAprile]

seriously doubt official DoD would comment on location of *any* special weapons.

[wiseprince]

It’s frustrating that Trump isn’t trying to make the argument that Congress needs to vote for this war if they want him to stay. They just tell and scream and never take any actual responsibility. I want to see who is willing to vote for this war.

[wiseprince]

I wish Trump would point that out. He’s giving them the field on this one

[Pearls Before Swine]

Re DoD no comment: That would be a hoped-for and sensible policy. But, someone commented about the location of those B61’s at Incirlik in the past. Of course, there was an 8-year Obama presidency during which security concerns were seemingly disregarded on many occasions.

[MNJohnnie]

No surprise the Lobby for Perpetual War is in hysterics that Trump is taking steps to return US National Policy to it proper form and ending the 30 year mistake in Bushy Globalism pushed by the last 4 US Presidents.

[rrrod]

Yes Turkey is attacking. Not sure how this will work out but Trump inviting Erogan to the WH is a mistake IMO. We’ll see.