But James Mattis and other failed analysts are still pushing their failed policies and demanding we stay there. My latest in FrontPage:
President Trump has ordered a rapid withdrawal of the 2,000 remaining U.S. troops in Syria, prompting the resignation of Defense Secretary James Mattis and arousing the ire of CNN – both excellent indications that the President is on the right track.
CNN, the 24/7 Hate Trump Network, headlined its story on the withdrawal “Trump orders rapid withdrawal from Syria in apparent reversal,” giving the impression that an erratic Trump was changing course, only to admit in the article itself that the President “has long signaled his desire to get out of Syria.”
Meanwhile, in his self-righteous and condescending resignation letter, which is being heralded by all the usual establishment suspects today as a positively Confucian outpouring of wisdom, even Mattis admits that he agrees with Trump on the salient issue at play in Syria: “Like you, I have said from the beginning that the armed forces of the United States should not be the policeman of the world.”
That’s why it’s time to bring the troops home from Syria, and why Trump is right to do so. Trump explained it himself: “We have defeated ISIS in Syria, my only reason for being there during the Trump Presidency.”
Yes. In Syria and Iraq, the Islamic State (ISIS) has been defeated, although it still has forces there and could experience a resurgence — in which case the situation would have to be reevaluated. Still, on January 19, 2017, the last day of the disastrous presidency of Barack Obama, it looked as if the Islamic State was going to be occupying a large portion of Syria for decades, if not generations, to come. Turkey was buying its oil. The Islamic State was beginning to follow the path of the Palestinian Liberation Organization, making the transformation from terrorist group to a respected member of the family of nations.
Now the caliphate dream is over, at least for the time being. When Trump became President, he set out to break the Islamic State, and he did. It lost its last city in Syria a couple of weeks ago. Many of those whom it terrorized have begun to return to their homes.
But CNN is worried: “Even though the US will continue to maintain troops in Iraq with the capability of launching strikes into Syria, a US withdrawal of ground forces would fulfill a major goal of Syria, Iran and Russia and risks diminishing US influence in the region.”
Ah yes, it’s all part of the vast Russian conspiracy. Back in the real world, however, the idea that influence can only be had by means of having troops on the ground is ridiculous on its face. The U.S. troops in Iraq will still be able to strike in Syria if the Islamic State does achieve a resurgence, but that doesn’t matter to the CNN analysts. They are so mad to destroy Trump and have chosen Russia as their all-purpose bogeyman, so if they can portray the withdrawal from Syria as a capitulation to Russia, they will twist the truth in any way possible in order to do so.
But the real issue is this: it is foolish in the extreme, and ultimately self-defeating, to keep troops anywhere indefinitely, with no end point, no plan for victory, no clear goal — that just saps the nation’s resources and produces no good result. Anytime we leave Syria or anywhere else, anti-American elements will do their best to capitalize on our absence. But if the answer to this is to keep troops everywhere, then they will never come home, and we will need to send them into many more countries than those they’re currently in.
That way lies madness. And destruction. What is needed instead is a massive reevaluation of the basic assumptions of U.S. foreign policy, so that our energies, and our armed forces, are directed much more efficiently than they are now to blunting the force of the global jihad. We can hope that with the departure of Mattis, an exponent of the multiply-failed idea that U.S. troops in Muslim countries can build American alliances and establish Western-style secular republics in the Middle East, that reevaluation is on the horizon.
D Austin says
Right on schedule for Gog and Magog…
Jim Hane says
Years ago in Afghanistan, our special forces did a splendid job. There was just a small group of US Special Forces on the ground.
Later, the conventional military moved in.
They didn’t achieve much.
The huge arms manufacturers and defence contractors like these wars. They greatly benefit financially from these wars.
It’s the American taxpayers who suffer. These wars are a hug drain on our economy.
WE just need to send a small number of well trained Special Forces soldiers to Afghanistan and into Syria to prevent ISIS from returning.
Anne Smith says
Why can’t we let these Middle East tribes settle their own differences? We should stay out of it and let them kill/fight/murder/war/peace whatever, with each other as they wish.
They have 14 centuries of mayhem to catch up on – let them get on with it by themselves.
Byron Mullet says
Islam cannot be reformed, changed or excused. The Quran says what the Quran says, in spite of interfaith efforts and George w bush lying after 9/11 and saying we’re not at war with Islam. The sad fact is Islam is at war with itself and the world. It is an institutionalized ideological human rights violating disaster, an ideological International crime against humanity. If it was an experiment by Muhammad to create a religion, after 1400 years of failing to get one person to heaven for killing fellow human beings, it should be abandoned as a bad idea.
Carolyne says
I agree with you Jim Hane. These Muslim countries are not civilized, were never civilized, and will never be civilized, with the exception of Syria. Syria’s government did not persecute other religions and was a beautiful, prosperous country until Islamists started a civil war. We should have helped the Syrian government defeat the rebels and remain as it was although yes, with a dictator as it’s head. We have supported dictators before i.e. Saddam Hussein. We cannot make barbarians not want to be barbarians. As long as Islam exists, they will remain bloodthirsty, inhumane animals. (My apologise to animals.)
freedom says
Too Late for apologies.
My dog was looking over my shoulder while I was reading your post, then I heard an angry bark and the front door slamming.
He’s on his way,
And he’s not happy.
Eva says
100% True.
Gary Fouse says
We created democratic and decent nations out of defeated Germany and Japan but the Middle East is another ball of wax. The difference is Islam. The only country in the ME worth defending is Israel. The Arab world is not worth one more American life.
Terry Gain says
No serious person is suggesting that America has 2200 troops in Syria “in order to create a decent and Democratic Syria”.
They were sent to defeat ISIS. The job is largely done but keeping a small contingent there to ensure that they do not regenerate is wise. I do not know how many ISIS terrorists remain in Syria but I have read that it is as much as 15,000. In that case it may be more accurate to say that ISIS has been decimated rather than defeated.
Irmgard Schmidt says
I think most of ISIS is now in Getmany. Sure looked that way on the train home last night!
thebigW says
How is fighting against Assad fighting against ISIS when ISIS and ISIS-related mujahideen are trying to topple Assad?
Hogdude says
Any plan to defeat ISIS is somewhat akin to “Whack-a-Mole”. Defeat in one location means it pops up in another. Evil men who are apparently defeated will meet in basements, abandoned buildings or behind sand dunes in order to keep ideas like Islam alive until the time is ripe for its revival. So, freedom must be on guard at all times to send soldiers to quash its growth when it exposes itself. It’s like National Socialism or Islam or any “join or kill” mechanism; it has to be watched for and controlled. It’s truly a test for freedom everywhere.
2jacks says
You are so absolutely correct!
Ole Pederson says
Germany and Japan had a history of civilized societies before. The occasional tyrant notwithstanding.
But nowadays, when US politicians or military say “we bring democracy” the word just means “free market system”.
Kepha says
Germany also had an unsung hero of the federal idea in Johannes Althusius (_De Politica_, 1613), and the liberal nationalists of 1848; many of whom emigrated to the USA and settled all over the Midwest. There is far, far more to that “land of poets and thinkers” than Hitler and the Nazi movement.
Kepha says
Germany also had an unsung hero of the federal idea in Johannes Althusius (_De Politica_, 1613), and the liberal nationalists of 1848; many of whom emigrated to the USA and settled all over the Midwest. There is far, far more to that “land of poets and thinkers” than Hitler and the Nazi movement.
gravenimage says
True, Ole and Kepha.
Islam has no such civilized legacy.
Ada Taiber says
Sadly, to my (and many other knowledgeable people) mind, It is a very wrong decision (specially for Israel and the Curds)!!! It opens the already half open door to Iranian forces to take control…..
Terry Gain says
I disagree. 2200 hundred troops is a very small number. So far this number has kept Turkey, which is an enemy notwithstanding its membership in NATO from attacking the Kurds. The Kurds played a vital role in defeating ISIS and it is unprincipled and unwise to abandon them.
Kenneth Mathews says
Well said!
Joe says
You have to give the Turks a chance to look bad. If they are dumb enough to take it, they will be sorry. Trump is not abandoning the Kurds.
Terry Gain says
He just did.
yohanan says
A relatively small force of US soldiers restrained Turkey’s, Iran’s and Russia’s goals in Syria and was a symbolic shield for the Kurds who are doing the heavy lifting against ISIS. Erdogan made a bluebird phone sale. Trump got chumped. Mattis exposed the Twitter In Chief as hollow reed. Each to own?
https://www.memri.org/tv/syrian-democratic-forces-mustafa-bali-american-withdrawal-shock-void-isis-turkey
jihad3tracker says
Robert as usual explains foreign policy reality with simple lucidity and wisdom. I am certain he would never be offered a job in the Administration — and that is truly a loss for every American!
gravenimage says
Robert Spencer in FrontPage: Trump is Right to Withdraw from Syria
…………………..
I’m glad we are not trying to “nation build” in another Muslim country.
christianblood says
I don’t think the “Deep State” Trotskyite neocons that run America will allow Trump to withdraw from Syria!
gravenimage says
t this point, christianblood is claiming that the Americans are “Trotskyites”, and that the Soviets were not really Communist. Just bizarre.
christianblood says
gravenimage
The founders of the neocons “deep staters” that run America today were Trotskyites! Look it up!
gravenimage says
This is a reference to Irving Kristol having been a Trotskyite in his youth.
Implying that this means that Conservatism is actually Communism is as absurd as claiming that being against Jihad is Communist because there are a couple of Anti-Jihadists who flirted with radical Leftism in college.
Terry Gain says
Graven Image
Your comment surprises me. Those 2200 troops were never in Syria to nation build. Russia has sent over 60,000 troops to Syria and nation building in Muslim countries is an exercise in futility
The 2200 America troops were there to defeat ISIS. They also served the purpose of keeping Turkey out of northern Syria. This move has very little upside and serious downsides. I believe it will become known as a blunder.
christianblood says
Terry Gain posted
(…The 2200 America troops were there to defeat ISIS…)
Really?
gravenimage says
True, Terry.We will see if pulling out now is wise or too premature.
And I see that christianblood is again sneering at America for defeating ISIS. What a creep.
christianblood says
gravenimage
America didn’t defeat ISIS America along with Turkey, France, UK, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Israel and others armed and funded hundreds of thousands international and local jihadist mercenaries in order to overthrow the secular government of Syria, to create religious genocide in Syria and replace Assad with jihadist puppets and America had to leave now because it has lost its satanic, pro-jihadist regime-change war in Syria!
gravenimage says
Uh…right. ISIS just left on their own–y’know, ‘cuz they felt like it…sarc/off
vlparker says
Here is all you need to know about Mattis.
http://dianawest.net/Home/tabid/36/EntryId/3447/This-Is-What-COIN-Looks-Like.aspx
In my opinion he should be in Leavenworth along with Petraeus, McChrystal and all of the other fools involved in COIN.
Bezelel says
As I see it, Syria was the last on the list of arab spring failures. obamud and hilary proudly claimed responsibility for that destruction. And I’ve read where the same two were responsible for creating and funding ISIS. Remember Benghazi ? Remember what our ambassador was doing there and who he had met shortly before the attack ? Trump said during his campaign, let Russia fight ISIS. We’ve done enough to clean up after the absolute worst president in our history by downsizing ISIS to near extinction. Russia is willing to take it on their own, good, let them. Trump also said, No regime change efforts for ASSAD, good. So now that Thousands of lives have been lost and the country is scarred beyond recognition, millions of refugees in Europe. Yada yada yada, Please lets do GTFO before the sunni turks and iranian shiites remember they hate each other.
christianblood says
Bezelel
You are very right!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mlz3-OzcExI
Bezelel says
She’s cold blooded all right. If she had made it to president WW3 would be on us right now.
christianblood says
+1
Harold Armitage says
Remember Afghanistan where the USA kicked off this whole business by funding the Mujahadeen?
christianblood says
Harold Armitage
Exactly!
Former NSA once addressed Taliban/Al-Qaeda jihadists in Pakistan encouraging them to wage holy jihad in the path of Allah saying “..Your cause is right and Allah is on your side..” More below:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A9RCFZnWGE0
gravenimage says
Yeah–ignore that 1400 years of Jihad, filthy Infidels–Jihad was actually started by the Americans under Reagan…or something…
Terry Gain says
The claim that the United States created ISIS is a lie. The organization is the successor of the organization created in 1999 by Jordanian Salafist Musab Al- Zarqawi under the name al-Tawhid_wal-Jihad
Zarqawi, who aligned his organization with Al Qaeda played a prominent part in the Iraq war turning south before he was killed in 2006. The inept, communications-challenged Bush administration never explained the role that al-Tawhid_wal-Jihad and al Qaeda played in the Iraq war.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jama%27at_al-Tawhid_wal-Jihad
christianblood says
Terry Gain
USA armed, trained and supported islamic jihadists like the Taliban and Al-Qaeda long before the ISIS version come out of Iraq which was resulted from America’s illegal invasion of that country. Osama Bin-Laden was actually America’s hero before he turned its most wanted! More below:
http://theduran.com/osama-a-hero-turned-most-wanted/
christianblood says
Terry Gain
President Reagan even hosted Taliban and Al-Qaeda delegations in the White House! More below:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H86B-7fbqD0
gravenimage says
True, Terry.
christianblood’s constant claims that it was the United States that created Jihad is ludicrous.
Anonymous says
>> christianblood’s constant claims that it was the United States that created Jihad is ludicrous.
But that isn’t what christianblood appears to be claiming. The concept of jihad long predates the creation of the United States.
It is however indisputably true that the US has sided with, encouraged, armed and supported certain jihadist factions when it thought that may serve its purpose.
And maybe that ploy worked in some instances too.
Bezelel says
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iQj8C3krY-c
This is very telling about obamud and hilary funding alqaida/ISIS.
https://theconservativetreehouse.com/2018/12/25/the-fbi-and-doj-were-working-to-protect-hillary-clinton-a-lot-longer-than-generally-discussed/#more-158158
CogitoErgoSum says
That why we love the British so much over here, Eddie. You folks have such a unique sense of humor.
Gene says
It is wrong to withdraw our troops if we do not provide the Kurds, surviving Christians, and other religous minorities with a means to defend themselves against the likes of ISIS, Iran, and Turkey/Erdogan. Further, we should give them sufficient supplies to survive any Democrat administration that might choose to cut them off as they did South Viet Nam. We have watched as radical Islamists committed mass murder against and other atrocities against Christians, Yazidis, and others. Abandoning those who fought with us and failing to ensure they are able to defend themselves would guarantee renewed attacks and make us complicit in the crimes.
Bezelel says
Did you know that Assad has Christians serving in his military and although he’s less than perfect the Kurds and Yazidi and Assyrians and all else were better off before the civil war broke out. ISIS is who was the worst at killing civilians and the Turks were buying oil from them. The only thing the US had legitimate business doing in Syria was killing obamud and hilary’s ISIS. Not that I wish any harm to them, but we really are not welcome there.
Terry Gain says
Bezelel
As despicable as Hillary is, she did not create ISIS. That honour goes to Musab al- Zarqawi. Read my comment and link posted above at 10:59 am.
gravenimage says
+
Bezelel says
https://theconservativetreehouse.com/2018/12/25/the-fbi-and-doj-were-working-to-protect-hillary-clinton-a-lot-longer-than-generally-discussed/#more-158158
hilary funded them for sure and worse.
gravenimage says
Again, the claim that Americans created ISIS is simply ludicrous.
But yes–Assad is marginally less bad than are most Muslims leaders re Christians and other religious minorities. I reluctantly support him against the even worse Muslim factions in the region.
Kepha says
The Islamic ferment convinces me that the USA needs a new foreign policy attuned to multiple foci of power and multiple sources of both stability and instability. In short, we need to recognize that history happens, and exclusive focus on one threat is short-sighted.
Bezelel says
Merry Christmas
infidel says
Once again TRUMP HAS A METHOD IN HIS APPARENT MADNESS and he has done the right thing. Tell me what is the use of having these dhimmi allies from the EU, who have mostly (with few exceptions) capitulated to Islam at their own backyards and betrayed their own people. How ironic and moronic that these Eu nations pretend to fight ISIS (read Islam) in Syria and the rest of ME but have capitulated to the same cancer back in their homes in Eu and left their population to the little mercies of their home grown Islamists (read Muslims)… THIS IS INDEED THEIR HYPOCRISY… SHAMELESS CHARACTERS. HOW DISGUSTING TO HAVE LEADERS LIKE MAY, MAD MAAMA, AND MACRON DO THE DOUBLE TALK WHILE THEY BETRAY THEIR OWN!! WHOM ARE THEY FOOLING!!!
Harold Armitage says
Errr. I see you have Moslems in your own government now.
Terry Gain says
I am happy to see that not only do VDH and I agree that Trump is wrong but for the same reasons as I expressed from the outset.
https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2018/12/victor-davis-hanson-on-the-syria-pullout.php
Ibrahim itace muhammed says
I disagree with you, Mr spencer. The main reason why savage mad devil Trump has decided to withdraw from Syria is that the influence of the evil United States is now curtailed due to many blunders under mad devil Trump like moving the embassy of the evil United States to Jerusalem and stupidities of American agents idiot saudi monarchs/UAE/Sisi of genocide in Yemen, blockage of Qatar and recently gruesome murder of khashoggi. you are also wrong to say it was evil United States who defeated deadly Isis,it was decimated by combined gallant Russian, Iranian, Hesbullah and Iraqi forces.
Charles says
What an idiot!
Bezelel says
What an inbred idiot.
gravenimage says
*Of course* Ibrahim itace muhammed is enraged that we wiped out the “Caliphate”.
And here he is lauding the Russians, but he has said before that they are just Infidels, and ultimately deserve to be murdered when Muslims no longer need them.
Relic says
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=od0pV8n9vNQ
CogitoErgoSum says
If our objective was to defeat ISIS and they have been defeated we have won and should bring our troops home. If ISIS has not been defeated, then our current strategy is not working and we should try something else — which is what Trump is proposing to do. I’d say one of the lessons to learn here is always to have a clear objective so you can measure your success or failure. Otherwise, you are just fighting for the hell of it. Damn, I still don’t know what our official objective was (or is) in Syria. Can anybody tell me?
Harold Armitage says
Syrian strategy was for US arms manufacturers to make a lot of money.
Carolyne says
+1
gravenimage says
What a tool “Harold Armitage” is. I suppose he’d be thrilled if the Islamic State were still extant, using Christian and Yezidi girls as sex slaves and crucifying kids who snack during Ramadan. *Ugh*.
Bezelel says
CogitoErgoSum, The best any of us can do is form an opinion. Some are obviously biased, some are sarcastic, some go way off in the weeds with hearsay details of current events. Hindsight is usually 20/20. Usually not always anymore because the information gets tainted. Agenda driven info has become a force to reckon with. Merry Christmas
gravenimage says
CogitoErgoSum, my understanding is that ISIS has indeed been defeated territorially in Iraq and Syria–but may well be poised to come back in the case of a power vacuum. Certainly, ISIS is still waging Jihad terror against us.
So it becomes a subjective assessment as to whether the territory is secure enough now or not.
Harold Armitage says
Well,lets see.
Saudi Arabians, following a Saudi Arabian cult attack world trade centre.
Brain dead Yanks then attack Iraq, citing non-existent WMDs, leading to massive middle East instability, spreading worldwide. (Entirely predictable).
Now having effed the place up, they want to go home. Nice one!
You’d think they’d have learned after Vietnam.
Meturaf says
Speaking of Brain Dead. Try to keep up.
https://townhall.com/columnists/johnhawkins/2016/02/21/show-this-column-to-anyone-who-claims-bush-lied-about-wmds-in-iraq-n2122278
Terry Gain says
The article itself does not prove that Saddam had WMD in March 2003 but that was certainly the logical conclusion from all of the evidence. It seems that Saddam did destroy his stockpiles and perhaps sent some to Syria before the war. I have not seen any explanation of what those convoys of Russian trucks were carrying.
I have no hesitation in saying that I believe that Saddam would have reconstituted his WMD programs, including the development of nuclear weapons, as soon as sanctions ended. McGrory and Bhattia’s book Saddam’s Bomb is very convincing on this question.
I also accept that anyone who thinks Bush lied about WMD is an idiot. The truth was bound to come out so why would he deliberately lie? I completely agree with this excerpt from John Hawkins article.
……..
There are many legitimate criticisms of the way the Bush Administration conducted the war in Iraq and even more of the way Obama threw away all the blood and treasure we spent there for the sake of politics, but you have to be malicious or just an imbecile at this point to accuse Bush of lying about WMDs.”
……………
Unfortunately, among those who qualify as imbeciles is Donald Trump who imposes too many intellectual burdens on his supporters. It’s a calamity that there is no one else capable of leading the country at this time.
Terry Gain says
The Middle East has been existing under a tyrannical ideology for 1400 years.
Theo Prinse says
Donald Trump made the demagogic promise to his voters in his 2016 election campaign to end “nation building” and instead “respect” the reprehensible abuses against the oppressed population by Islamic regimes.
His argument was that after the disruption of Iraq of the Iraqi sunni minority of Sadam Hussein and Shia majority society by President Bush and his diplomat Paul Bremer who put the sunni army top out of office … the fundamentalist terror erupted.
Trump was also supported with the betrayal of President Hussein Obama in his speech in Cairo on 4 June 2009 with the forbidden muslim brotherhood of Morsi present in the university in which Obama gave the signal to oust President Mubarak as well as in Yemen, Libya, Syria, etc. .
President Trump, however, danced with one of the Arab decapitation swords from the flag of Saudi Arabia, opportunistically with the saudies in Ryaad in exchange for a 100 billion + US arms deal.
At the Ryaad summit 2017 leaders of 55 Islamic countries were present except Iran and Syria and Trump called with Saudi Arabia to fight their terrorism.
In Syria, the involvement of Putin’s Russian Federation with Syria led to a recovery of Assad, but left Iran undisturbed in arms deliveries to Hezbollah in Lebanon against Israel.
In North-West Syria, Al Qaeda affiliates such as Al Nusra, still occupy a large area of Idlib around large populated cities.
Russia on behalf of Assad in exchange to leave that area untouched made a deal with Turkey for the Russian gas pipeline and gave Erdogana murderous hunting game against the Kurds in northern Syria.
Erdogan threatened Trump to buy the Russian S-400 rockets and now seems to buy a 3.5 billion rocket system from Trump
In north-east Syria, the Kurdish YPG fighters with many ethnic groups including Christians, Yezidis, Arabs, Assyrians have liberated an even larger area of Rojava, and that area is fighting in the south-east on the Syrian East border with western Iraq. tens of thousands of foreign IS or Daesh fighters who want to fight to the death. In support of thise high number of jihadis he Kurds spoke of the release of 3,500 IS jihadists taken by the Kurds alone if Trump abandons them cowardly.
This is also the reason why General James Mattis submitted his resignation letter to Trump because of Trumps demagogic promise to his constituents.
Frank Thiboutot says
Erik Prince, the founder of Blackwater, was wrongly vilified by the “usual establishment suspects”, has an alternative strategy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aHICAXzQ474
lorensacho says
Robert Spencer neglected to consider that the withdrawal from Syria will open the door to Turkey to invade and destroy the Kurds who Turkey sees as a terrorist group. The Kurds were the most effective ally of America in fighting ISIS, but could not have been effective without U.S. air and intelligence support. Without the U.S. protecting them, they are sitting ducks. It might be remembered that George H.W. Bush’s invasion of Kuwait emboldened opposition parties in Iraq to get rid of Saddam Hussein. When the U.S. stopped short of entering Iraq, the opposition, without U.S. protection was wiped out by Saddam. Is it America’s policy to attack and supply opposition groups and then abandon them after the mission is complete? if so, forget about looking for allies in the future.
CogitoErgoSum says
This is what I would like to know. What was the mission when U.S. troops were first sent to Syria? Has that mission been accomplished so that now we have a new mission? Is the mission to help the Kurds establish their own independent state? If so, we will have to be prepared to do battle with the Turks. But aren’t the Turks our allies or are they not? They won’t be our allies if they attack our other allies the Kurds whom we have pledged to protect. Did we ever make such a pledge? Somebody needs to define and explain the mission and that job belongs to President Trump and if the mission involves U.S. troops the approval to use them belongs to Congress.
Terry Gain says
Instead of abandoning the Kurds to Turkey, Trump should have reached out to Russia to put pressure on Turkey not to invade Syria and northern Iraq. I have supported Trump but I think this is a big mistake. Trump is mercurial and thinks he knows more than everyone else about everything. He is a hard man to work for.
There is very little upside to withdrawing 2200 troops and a huge downside.There are many other areas of the world where significantly greater numbers of troops can be brought home without serious risk of adverse consequences.
I am amazed at the number of commenters who think the tiny number of 2200 troops were in Syria to nation build.
CogitoErgoSum says
So it seems that no matter what we do in this situation we are going to end up offending one of our allies (if Turkey can be considered an ally). Help the Kurds and offend the Turks. Don’t help the Kurds and the Kurds feel betrayed. It’s a no-win situation for the U.S. that will only end up draining our resources. I think Trump is right to get our troops out of Syria and to let the Turks and the Kurds solve their own problems. If the people of the U.S. want to fight a war with Turkey, let Congress pass a declaration of war. But even then, it would be up to the President, as Commander in Chief, to actually send our troops to fight … which, if he decided not to, would lead to his impeachment and removal from office for replacement with a Commander in Chief who would carry out the will of the people. I currently see no will of the American people to wage war for or against anyone. Wars should not be fought without a declaration of war and wars should not be considered over without the signing of a treaty of peace (which would also have to be approved by Congress).
Bezelel says
https://www.breitbart.com/national-security/2018/12/21/kurds-turn-russia-assad-counter-potential-turkish-attack/
Hopefully the whole situation can make some progress for what is right for them. Whatever that is. I dont live there and not planning to, not even visit.
Bezelel says
https://theconservativetreehouse.com/2018/12/21/checkmate-saudi-crown-prince-mbs-sends-replacement-troops-to-defend-kurds-in-syria/#more-158042
Terry Gain says
Bezelel
The article does not say how many troops will be sent by KSA and UAE and it specifically states that “they will be stationed with U.S Forces”. ( who are leaving)
So it is brain dead. It is morononic to place one’s trust in a blogger who chooses to be anonymous.
Bezelel says
https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20181122-saudi-arabia-uae-send-troops-to-support-kurds-in-syria/
The article is a month old. Erdogan has been critical of Saudi’s for the killing of the journalist, Already a grudge match and they’re already there. The article was posted Nov 22. You may have overshot your caffeine limit.
November 22, 2018 at 10:48 am
Saudi Arabia and the UAE have sent military forces to areas controlled by the Kurdish YPG group in north-east Syria, Turkey’s Yenisafak newspaper reported.
The paper said the forces will be stationed with US-led coalition troops and will support its tasks with huge military enforcements as well as heavy and light weapons.
Note the bottom line (huge military enforcements) I know it’s not specific but it is from a Turkish newspaper.
Bezelel says
https://www.debka.com/the-us-will-still-maintain-a-presence-after-troop-pullout-from-ne-syria/
Terry Gain says
Here is an interesting article on Trump’s unfortunate decision from an Israel perspective. It is alleged that Erdogan played a role in a Trump’s decision. Erdogan’s ambition is to establish an Islamic Caliphate. Hopefully he will send Donald Trump a Christmas card.
https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2018/12/us_pullout_from_syria_a_complete_disaster.html
Bezelel says
The report makes no mention of the Saudi/ UAE forces. You might consider that Turkey is a NATO allie. That complicates what would happen if the US had to engage with Turkey in a firefight. Saudi is in a much better position. It also made no mention of the US repositioning in Iraq. We were faced with risking 2200 troops in an illegitimate conflict or making a massive build up in an illegitimate conflict or what we have now which is pull the Saudi/UAE forces and reposition in Iraq, which is well within range. You realize that Trump has been second guessed and hindered on all sides and his planning is still succeeding. Erdogan is the one who better watch his step and Trump is already sick and tired of Iran.