Ignore the hawks, Trump’s Syria withdrawal is bold and brave
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Warmongers on the Left and Right are united in their fury at President Donald Trump’s extraordinarily bold and brave decision immediately to begin withdrawing all US troops from Syria. For those of us who prefer peace, it is a sure sign that Trump deserves our unconditional support and gratitude, no matter how we view the rest of his presidency. After all, the only other time Trump united the neocons and liberal hawks was when he launched a futile cruise missile barrage last year at an empty Syrian airfield in response to an alleged chemical weapons attack against civilians.
It is a sad reflection on the state of the Western media that it is only by unleashing deadly weapons against a sovereign Arab country that – in the infamous words of CNN’s Fareed Zakaria at the time – the Commander-in-Chief can appear ‘presidential’. A year later, we still have no incontrovertible evidence that a chemical attack had in fact been carried out or, if it was, who was responsible. Now Zakaria is whining that Trump’s latest decision to remove troops from Syria feels worse than the moment former President George W. Bush announced the end of major combat operations in Iraq – an invasion, incredibly, Zakaria’s lies helped pave the way for.
For those of us living in the real world, Trump’s decision to remove the military from the Syrian quagmire is the bravest and most logical decision in the Middle East by an American president since Eisenhower ordered Britain, France and Israel to withdraw from Suez. After all, US troops – unlike those from Russia, Iran and Hezbollah, who were invited to fight Isis by the Assad regime – were stationed there illegally, and served no discernible strategic American interests. Worse, they were fighting an Islamic State partly armed by the Obama administration, which had recklessly backed other Sunni terror groups in an effort to topple President Bashar al-Assad.
During the election campaign, Trump was uniquely eloquent in pointing out all this. He was also alone in highlighting the disastrous consequences of earlier military interventions in Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya. This, then, is one of those moments those of us not fond of death and destruction can once again celebrate that Hillary Clinton – who championed the Libya campaign, wickedly joked about Gaddafi’s murder and supported regime change in Syria – never made it to the White House. In stark contrast, by withdrawing US troops from Syria, Trump is guided by a rational and humane assessment that Western military intervention in the Middle East always ends in disaster so should be avoided wherever possible.
President Bashar al-Assad thus becomes the first Arab leader to survive an attempt at regime change coordinated by the West, Gulf Arabs and Israel since Egyptian strongman Gamal Abdul Nasser emerged unscathed from the Suez debacle back in 1956. That will make Western powers much more cautious in the future when it comes to launching such criminal military campaigns. It also means that Syria has cemented historic ties with allies Russia, Iran and Hezbollah, the real reason the pro-Israel neocons are up in arms. However, since it was the heroic sacrifices of the latter on the Syrian battlefield, along with the Syrian Arab Army, that was the real reason Isis and other Sunni terror groups were defeated, it is only just that they should reap the spoils of victory.
But just as crucially, Assad’s survival also means a US or Israeli attack on Iran – a country that, like Syria, poses no threat whatsoever to the West – becomes far less likely. Despite his bellicose rhetoric, Trump has repeatedly made it clear that he is willing to meet with Iran’s leaders to renegotiate the nuclear deal. Let’s hope that he again defies the hawkish advisers he has inexplicably surrounded himself with by pulling off that diplomatic triumph as well.
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The wrong guy got the Nobel.
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By the way, we still have something like 5,000 people in Iraq. Right next door. We have over 50,000 in the Middle East generally. Multiple air bases within easy striking distance of Syria. Just this week a carrier group of the 5th Fleet led by the USS John C Stennis steamed into the Persian Gulf . I guess that's not the kind of thing they cover on CNN.
But yeah, the sky is falling in Syria because we pulled out 2,000 troops on the ground.
Seems trump has pissed them off as well.
Ya think? That was the bigger mistake. We got into the whole Syria thing because of ISIS, or did that get forgotten?
Iraq was a mistake both times. Bush Jr never should have went into Iraq; and Obama never should have gone back into Iraq to save the government that is loyal to Iran.
Also, Obama never should have supported, armed, and trained the Sunni rebels in Syria. He made the problem much worse; and beyond the means of the Assad government to handle. Which was the goal of course- to get rid of Assad and isolate Russia even further.
Our foreign policy has been stuck on stupid for a very long time. It is time for a change.
Bullshit. The lack of a SOFA in Iraq has NOTHING to do with the US being in Syria. Sheesh.
In Dec. 2008, Bush signed an agreement with Iraq to pull out troops by Dec. 31, 2011. Obama kept Bush's word. We used to be a country who could be counted on to do so.
Ironically, Obama sent troops BACK to Iraq to combat ISIS and by the end of his term there were about 4,500 deployed there. Two years later, not many more have been added by Trump.
BTFW, the 'Great Negotiator' hasn't renegotiated a SOFA with Iraq.
It’s a darn shame Ron Paul didn’t win 2008 or 2012 because they would all be home and we would have quit digging the hole of these failed interventions deeper.
It's far more than that, and i believe you realize this
We already have a SOFA with Iraq in place. The one Bush Jr signed.
Once Iraq/Iran gains control of the region again they will kick our forces out.
What if Trumpp decides to redecorate again ? because Putin sneezes or something.
Do you think they'll get the leather Love Seat ?
Right, that's why one of Obama's first act was ban torture. /s
It has been a sensitive issue there, but for now we do have official permission to be there. I think just this past summer we sent them 500 more people at their request. Our forces are actually working with their forces.
I posted a cogent reply to your comment, deal with it.
BTFW, as the seeder, BF decides what is on topic and what is not.
Trump said he, "Knows more than the generals," so there is that.
Besides, is it time for America to step back on the world stage to open the path for Putin's Russia to just 'take care of it?"
As far as the Kurds? Well, trust and integrity can be fleeting, depending on the political winds of propaganda. Democracies are fragile and can be altered by the dandiest things. You know, like Walls, prayer in school, guns everywhere and fetus worship.
Besides, didn't Trump say Putin and Kim were strong leaders?
Or this. What else was discussed behind closed doors at Helsinki?
Did anyone else besides me see the look on Trumps face while sitting down and the door closed just before his private meeting with Putin?
The eyes are the view in to the heart.
My point. Was American interest short changed?
Yes and not only America's, but others are having issues as well.
Trump knows more bullship than all the General
public n private
Sew ride on !!!
i ride on Buttons
The name of my fine new hoarse
hair plaster
of Paris
Hilton
Hotel No Tell N where this is gonna be put to bed,
sew Buttons rides on, off into the sunset, leavingsome in stitches, with others
just scarred , in need of tissue, as i need the economy box of tissues for my issues, but
they've yet to be issued. i wait till too heavy, but hell, he's not my oh brother
OMG !!! How do I follow that ???
That was brilliant.
no
just my incoherent babble, i don't even know how to play scrabble.
i
Iggy talk rocks!
You tell'em Iggy!
Assad has won NOTHING !
His country is in worse shambles now than it ever was, and his own citizens are dead, dead, DEAD ! Even if the "Others" help rebuild Syria, what will change there ? It's always been a "Hell Hole" anyway !
Russia does have a permanent "Naval Port" there now though. It used to be called a "Material-Technical Support Point". That was an Obama "Go-Fund-me" contribution to Russia.....not a Trump contribution.
Get our guys out of there. They were never placed in Syria to actually "WIN" someone else's Civil War in the first place. (facepalm)
But he is still in charge at the end of it all, what he always wanted and what was always his goal. So he actually won it all. Personally I never really cared all that much if he stayed or left, I had even advocated taking his side and using the Syrian Army against ISIS. I figure no matter who wins Syria will be run by a despot, so better the one we know.
They have had it for a long time, hence the only reason they ever cared about Syria.
They were fighting ISIS, which they should continue to do. And they should help protect the Kurds who did the bulk of the heavy lifting against those genocidal cocksuckers.
They leased it for trade reasons. Now it's an actual military "Naval base".
"They were fighting ISIS".
And here I thought the map of ISIS strongholds in the beginning, was all over the Iraq Landscape. The "NEW" and improved by "US" map shows not much exists of them in Iraq anymore.
if ISIS wants to keep dying in Syria, our guys aren't needed. The rebels are doing fine killing Assads "Army" ? It's still going on, even after the gassings. Haven't seen a "White Flag" go up yet.
They had always used it as such. It was always a logistical pit stop for their Black Sea Fleet.
Um, they were all over Syria as well, hence our presence there.
Our guys are needed to protect the Kurds from the Turks, the Syrian and Iraqi governments. Again, my only concerns in this entire ordeal were defeating ISIS and aiding the Kurds.
They are done, I was never too concerned with them to begin with. Half of them seem like they are just as bad or worse than Assad anyhow. Far as I could tell a rebel victory meant genocide for the Alawites.
It'll be over soon.
As I understand it, The U.S. still has somewhere in the vicinity of 5200 to 8000 troops in Iraq, depending on who is reporting at the time !
The Kurds we speak of are in Iraq .
The 2000 or so troops we have in Syria were supposed to just be logistics and advisors.
Doing what?
[Deleted] We are, and have always been talking about the Syrian Kurds.
e in Iraq .
.... okay Trump, we are done.
Are you "Cherry Picking as usual ?
The "Kurds" border Turkey, in Northern Iraq !
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".... okay Trump, we are done."
Because I gave you an actual "Fact" put out by media and politicians, and it hurt your "Feelings" ?
It is a disgraceful betrayal of the Kurds, that's all it is.