Who elected this clown? Who gave him the authority to determine United States policy toward Syria? In Rating America’s Presidents, I discuss how Trump has been obstructed at every turn by a coterie of unelected, unaccountable bureaucrats who have arrogated power to themselves and represent the political, military, and media establishment. This oligarchy has decided to ignore the will of the people and rule the United States as its personal fiefdom, with a steady erosion of our constitutional freedoms. In the 2020 presidential election, it appears at this point that they have beaten back the challenge to their hegemony that Trump represented.
“Outgoing Syria Envoy Admits Hiding US Troop Numbers; Praises Trump’s Mideast Record,” by Katie Bo Williams, DefenseOne, November 12, 2020:
Four years after signing the now-infamous “Never Trump” letter condemning then-presidential candidate Donald Trump as a danger to America, retiring diplomat Jim Jeffrey is recommending that the incoming Biden administration stick with Trump’s foreign policy in the Middle East.
But even as he praises the president’s support of what he describes as a successful “realpolitik” approach to the region, he acknowledges that his team routinely misled senior leaders about troop levels in Syria.
“We were always playing shell games to not make clear to our leadership how many troops we had there,” Jeffrey said in an interview. The actual number of troops in northeast Syria is “a lot more than” the roughly two hundred troops Trump initially agreed to leave there in 2019.
Trump’s abruptly-announced withdrawal of U.S. troops from Syria remains perhaps the single-most controversial foreign policy move during his first years in office, and for Jeffrey, “the most controversial thing in my fifty years in government.” The order, first handed down in December 2018, led to the resignation of former Defense Secretary Jim Mattis. It catapulted Jeffrey, then Trump’s special envoy for Syria, into the role of special envoy in the counter-ISIS fight when it sparked the protest resignation of his predecessor, Brett McGurk.
For Jeffrey, the incident was far less cut-and-dry — but it is ultimately a success story that ended with U.S. troops still operating in Syria, denying Russian and Syrian territorial gains and preventing ISIS remnants from reconstituting.
In 2018 and again in October of 2019, when Trump repeated the withdrawal order, the president boasted that ISIS was “defeated.” But each time, the president was convinced to leave a residual force in Syria and the fight continued.
“What Syria withdrawal? There was never a Syria withdrawal,” Jeffrey said. “When the situation in northeast Syria had been fairly stable after we defeated ISIS, [Trump] was inclined to pull out. In each case, we then decided to come up with five better arguments for why we needed to stay. And we succeeded both times. That’s the story.”
Officially, Trump last year agreed to keep several hundred U.S. troops — somewhere between 200 and 400, according to varying reports at the time — stationed in northeast Syria to “secure” oil fields held by the United States’ Kurdish allies in the fight against ISIS. It is generally accepted that the actual number is now higher than that — anonymous officials put the number at about 900 today — but the precise figure is classified and remains unknown even, it appears, to members of Trump’s administration keen to end the so-called “forever wars.”…
The Syria withdrawal announcement was roundly condemned even by members of Trump’s own administration as an abandonment of the SDF, which did the bulk of the on-the-ground fighting against ISIS. It is often held up by critics as the ultimate object lesson of the chaos — and even cruelty — of the Trump administration.
Jeffrey disputes the charge that the United States “abandoned” its Kurdish allies to a Turkish onslaught. Although the United States gave the Kurds a military guarantee against Russian mercenaries operating in Syria, the Syrian government and ISIS, “nobody in Washington ever gave the Kurds a military guarantee against Turkey,” Jeffrey said. “I cannot put my finger on it, [but] every Kurdish leader I know thinks that he or she was given such a guarantee by people in the field, and that had an impact on how they behaved including how they behaved vis-a-vis the Turks. So it was a very complicated political mess.”…
“If [U.S. allies in the Middle East] had to pick somebody else to come, it would be Joe Biden,” Jeffrey said. “I can’t predict how Joe Biden would act [but] of all of his decisions that I was involved in, and there were many, he is more of a transactional guy by his nature….
Asked how he would advise the Biden administration when it takes over his portfolio, Jeffrey said he would urge the President-elect to stay the course laid out by Trump’s team. Some things the Biden team may want to undo — like the dismantling of the Iran nuclear deal — he suggests may now be impossible. But above all, don’t attempt “transformation.” Don’t try to “turn Syria into Denmark.” Stalemate is stability….
don vito says
I guess as in politics, diplomacy’s bottom line is making the observer observe a fraud, believing what is observed is reality, when in fact the observed is fantasy.
mortimer says
Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, and other MiddleEast countries should be occupied by NATO troops to enforce the peace and provide stability.
The cheapest way to stop the instability is to convince large numbers of Muslims that the Koran is of human origin.
Infidel says
Turkey – which all Arab countries now (except Qatar, Yemen, Somalia and Hamas) have a problem w/, is a part of NATO and probably the only country that can spare troops. You think that these countries like Syria, Iraq, Lebanon would acquiesce to having Turkish troops in their territory, when they can see what Ankara is doing in Syria, Iraq and Libya?
Let the Arab League handle the unrest in Syria and Iraq and work out a compromise in Libya, and let NATO focus on containing Chinese influence in Europe, Africa and Middle East. The US will have its hands full in the Indo-Pacific and the Americas
Keith O says
Yeah, right, that will work! about as well as it would work to try and convince Born again Christians of the fact that the bible was written, edited and compiled by men!
Mortimer, there is no easy, one stop solution to the problems of this region.
Nancy says
Your comment is unnecessarily insulting to Christians of any kind.
gravenimage says
Mortimer, neither Nato nor any other Infidels can civilize these countries.
Giacomo Latta says
NATO should have its hands full in giving Turkey the bum’s rush. The UN is at least the appropriate interventionist by name. It has the advantage of allowing bleeding heart countries to bleed to their heart’s content.
Infidel says
The president is finally doing the right thing by having Gen Doug McGregor – one of the few generals who’s actively advocated the pullouts – oversee that, and make sure that it’s complete by December for Afghanistan. If he wins his legal challenges to the chicanery in Pennsylvania and elsewhere, then he should start by a widespread purge of the top brass of the military, who have a vested interest in troops remaining in those countries b’cos they’re also often on the boards of Defense companies like Lockheed Martin, Boeing, et al.
In fact, he should also pull out of NATO – which now wants to fight climate change – and focus our military assets in the Indo-Pacific region. QUAD has emerged as a better model for an alliance than NATO: each member – Australia, India and Japan have been pulling their weight. Compare that to the presiden’t teeth-pulling exercises in getting NATO members to pay their share of 2% of their GDP. The only ones doing that are countries that feel under threat – Greece from Turkey, and Estonia from Russia. Otoh, China is really flexing its geopolitical muscles, and India and Japan have been doing what they can to counter it, including working w/ countries like Taiwan, Vietnam, the US and so on. Don’t worry, generals, you’ll have your hands full enough in the Indo-Pacific w/o having to have our troops stuck in the extended Middle East
Fred van de Bunt says
I can remember looking at a documentary about Obama, who stated that the US should better stay out of that quagmire of backstabbers. Trump did just follow the democrat policy. I, not an American, would say the same. Let the Muslims kill Muslims, and let the Muslims ask everybody to help them as victims, and let everybody help them with Christian prayers, Buddhist and Hinduist compassion, and confusion knowledge. That will help the Muslims find their way, and find truth through Allah.
livingengine says
CAIR and the Chicken Express Hijab Crisis
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=txCNpbYB_e0
gravenimage says
More “lawfare”…
Phil Copson says
“…Let the Muslims kill Muslims, and let the Muslims ask everybody to help them as victims, and let everybody help them with Christian prayers, Buddhist and Hinduist compassion, and confusion knowledge….”
———————————————————————————————————
I guess you mean “Confucian” knowledge – but you’ve “put your finger on it”, all the same – “confusion knowledge” – or believing in, and acting upon, a pack of lies – is what that part of the world has suffered from for 1400 years.
Kepha says
Maybe one reason the world is such a mess is because all the troublemakers know that if they whine enough, Uncle Sam will pony up. It might be better if a few of these countries that love civil war were allowed to remain in the dumps until their young men learn that working at something useful will be better for their families than roaming the hills and alleys with an AK.
Infidel says
At least w/ Trump, that stopped, but now, if Biden gets in, then look to a resumption of the globalist interventionist foreign policy that will have us shoring up the Chad navy (despite that country being landlocked) and other similarly stupid things
Larry A. Singleton says
Haven’t read the above article yet. But looking at other mentioned “articles” on this website I’m wondering if I’m going to be reading an article or a screed.
This also from Defense One: “Trump is denying President-elect Joe Biden access to the President’s Daily Brief, a courtesy customarily extended after the election. The Washington Post lists that among other reasons the president’s refusal to accept the election results is raising national-security risks.”
“The NYT looked around for historical precedents for the president’s behavior and found that “Denying defeat, claiming fraud and using government machinery to reverse election results are the time-honored tools of dictators.” Read, here.”
gravenimage says
Larry, why do you think the story above is in doubt?
Larry A. Singleton says
Can’t find a pdf for that “A Letter From G.O.P. National Security Officials Opposing Donald Trump” mentioned in this Defense One article to save my life.
gravenimage says
Larry, I think this is what you are looking for:
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/08/08/us/politics/national-security-letter-trump.html?mtrref=www.google.com&gwh=8BAA2759437075A7EF0A2F61C56C4D8A&gwt=regi&assetType=REGIWALL
Hoi Polloi says
I guess Graven just saved your life, Larry. You are now indebted for all eternity.
gravenimage says
Outgoing US envoy to Syria admits to lying to Trump in order to prevent withdrawal of US troops from Syria
………………..
It shows how bad things are that Jim Jeffrey openly admits this.
ElderlyZionist says
“U.S. troops still operating in Syria, denying Russian and Syrian territorial gains and preventing ISIS remnants from reconstituting.”
Last time I checked, the ISIS die-hards were still holding out in Idlib province, under Turkish protection, enlisting in Caliph Erdogan’s Arab Legion for further adventures.
Infidel says
Can Jim Jeffrey explain what our relationship is w/ ‘our NATO ally Turkey’ in Syria?
Hoi Polloi says
“a steady erosion of our constitutional freedoms.” Agree. As many have asserted, we are already governed under a shadow constitution developed in our court system and written according to the idea that some are more equal.
LB says
Of course the Deep State does not want to pull back form the Middle East, there’s way too much money to be made by selling weapons and other black market deals. Also, imagine the number of “diplomats” and other government and military staff that would lose their jobs if the US completely pulls back.
Well their worries are almost over now as Kamala’s presidency looms ever closer. She will make sure to resume the standard carpet bombing and further destabilization of the Middle East which has been going on for decades before Trump came to power.
OLD GUY says
Lying to the President and Commander an Chief is awful close to committing treason. Jefferey should be pulled immediately and investigate for his actions. You might want to check his bank accounts and follow the money.
Norman Gardner says
I think Jeffries had a lot of company in the form of diplomats and military who thought Trump was irrational regarding the removal of troops from Syria after he had spoken to Erdogan because it was a betrayal to the Kurds who led the fighting against ISIS. As for the hijab woman`s complaint I believe you leave your religion at home when you go to work.