Trump orders US troops out of Syria

[sallybutler]

President Trump claims victory and pulls US troops out of Syria

President Trump has made a dramatic about-turn and ordered the swift withdrawal of American troops from eastern Syria, declaring the fight against Islamic State won.“We have defeated Isis in Syria, my only reason for being there during the Trump presidency,” he tweeted.Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the

www.thetimes.co.uk

Trump outright ignored Pentagon, State Department Syria policy in a big win for Putin

The US withdrawing from Syria will give Putin a freer hand to impose his will on the region as the unopposed military power in the region.

www.businessinsider.com

Graham: ‘Obama-like Mistake’ for Trump to Pull Troops From Syria | National Review

Senator Lindsey Graham on Wednesday said the White House’s decision to withdraw American troops from Syria would be a “huge Obama-like mistake.”

www.nationalreview.com

 

[Peebo]

I guess it’s to hard for some to admit to a 'Trump like mistake"…

 

[Ridgerunner]

I’m not sure that’s what he did. One tweet does not make a military move. But I would agree with GRaham that a complete pullout would likely be a mistake. We’ll see what happens.

 

[grotto]

I would be happy to leave this decision to General Mattis and President Trump - and would also be happy if we got out of Syria, Iraq, and Afghanistan. They just cannot bring themselves to leave the chains of ideology and fall back into the slave-like existence of the 7th Century. Some called for help, we answered, it has not helped.

 

[7_Sorrows]

I think I just read today ISIS had executed 700 prisoners in recent months. Maybe they didn’t have enough food and didn’t want the responsibility for taking care of this many prisoners.

 

[JW55]

I believe it is a good move. I don’t feel we should have been there to begin with, but obviously many will disagree. America can not continue to involve themselves in perpetual wars around the world. Vietnam 1961-1974 (actually earlier) and 58,000 Americans dead. Afghanistan 18 yrs and counting, are two of the longest involvements with other numerous interventions (among them, Iraq).

This is no slam on any American soldier who fought in these wars. Far from it. As a soldier, you do as is required, and they should be remembered for their sacrifices. However, the bureaucracy of our country has a different agenda. Many of the military supporters seemed to even favor setting ourselves up with a confrontation with Iran. Our military presence in Syria was like smoking a cigarette sitting on a gas can.

When you fight a country on there own turf, their backs are against the wall. They are fighting for their homes, their livelihood, everything they have. They have nothing left to lose. Sending troops to a country 5000 miles away does not inspire the same attitude. Should the US ever be attacked, I would assume Americans would defend it with the same fervor that these other countries have because you are fighting for everything-home, family and tradition.

A very mistaken belief that one country can be the policeman for the world.

 

[grotto]

There is a lot of quick opinions that have not been based on much 2 + 2 = 4 on the Fake Opinions. Assad/Syria has been an enemy of their own people, to the point of being mass killed by chemical weapons. ISIS was thrilled to attack on the already defenseless. The US went in after ISIS - sent them to their happy land = our job done! Assad has invited Russia to keep him in power (that is like putting the fox.R in charge of the hen house, but Russia already has a history in Afghanistan don’t think they want to take that on again. The game changer would be chemical weapons continuing and ISIS showing their where-abouts. The USA does not need to have our military amassed there to fulfill the need for peace/protection. The technology we have that has proven effective allows this. Putin can pour his financial bucket out - Russia paid a horrible price in their military. The US needs to protect our country first - period. Again, President Trump has been more effective for the US and contrary to political obstructionists is keeping the US on top. Our brave military men and women shall not be unnecessarily put in harms way where making the difference for those peoples is gained and quickly lost. As a military family with four grandchildren serving, we pay more attention to these matters than most.

 

[Victoria33]

Iraq has become a reasonably stable country now. Having troops in Iraq means we are somewhat nearby.

Many offer their view on what happened yesterday. I do not agree with what I am reading we are doing, withdrawing but, the situation is a bit fraught with danger in that we could end up getting into a shooting war with NATO member, Turkey.

That said, we must be fully respectful and considerate and not abandon our Kurd allies. They are, with our backing, easily the main reason, ISIS was rolled back, their sacrifice. ISIS is easily, one of the greatest evils since World War II.

The French have announced they will remain.

I fully back Senators and Representatives of congress who have served in the military who are critical of this move, Senators Cotton, Joni Ernst and Representative Dan Crenshaw and other members of congress.

 

[exnihilo]

Practically we accomplish nothing. And we do this at great expense both in terms of human lives and dollars. A far more effective strategy would be to isolate that part of the world. We don’t go there and they don’t come here. That would completely eliminate the terrorist threat.

 

[MonteRCMS]

Iran expands toward Israel.

 

[Zzyzx_Road]

We never should have been there in the first place. All that whinging about ISIS? The Russians can handle them just fine.

Now we need to expand that by getting out of Afghanistan, Iraq, Ukraine and Yemen. Got no more business in any of those areas. Should never have been in Libya either, but the damage is done.

 

[Victoria33]

We never should have been there in the first place. All that whinging about ISIS? The Russians can handle them just fine.

Except for one thing, they haven’t handled ISIS “'just fine”. They’ve done little against them.

Yes, if we are over there in Iraq in the first place, we should have been there. The Assad regime has been found guilty of aiding al Qaeda and killing Americans.

https://clarionproject.org/us-judge-rules-assad-helped-al-qaeda-kill-americans/

 

[Victoria33]

A far more effective strategy would be to isolate that part of the world. We don’t go there and they don’t come here. That would completely eliminate the terrorist threat.

It’s a nice notion but it is not realistic that it will happen. I’ve thought the same thing, it almost needs a wall around it. And then, we should help out Christians who are there.

 

[FirstFiveEighth]

It is interesting to see members of the political parties flip flop on these issues. Suddenly Republicans want to pull out of conflicts and Democrats want to stay in them indefinitely.

As an aside, there is very little doubt in my mind that if Hillary Clinton has been elected president, the US would have a much more robust presence in Syria, along the lines of the Army owning territory in Syria and active duty Brigades assigned areas of responsibility in direct contact with whomever didn’t donate to the Clinton Found…I mean with the most potent terrorists groups in the country.

 

[Victoria33]

It is interesting to see members of the political parties flip flop on these issues. Suddenly Republicans want to pull out of conflicts and Democrats want to stay in them indefinitely.

This isn’t really so, Republicans who have come out against the alleged withdrawal are and just for the Senate: And those are just the ones I remember.

Lindsay Graham, Tom Cotton, Ben Sasse, Angus King, Marco Rubio, Joni Ernst.

Graham has been outspoken in his criticisms, I’m not really seeing Democratic Senators speaking against this too much. They may exist but I haven’t seen it yet.

Those Republican names are some of the most prominent Senators there are.

 

[Zzyzx_Road]

What one should take from this is that when we look at the big picture from the Iraq invasion in 2003 to the present day, both parties in Congress have been and still are very complicit in our continuing involvement in the “never-ending” conflict. Hillary voted as a senator to support Bush in going there. She then spearheaded our overseas policy with Obama’s concurrence and Congress dutifully approved the funds. So Afghanistan and Iraq were escalated and 5 more countries were entered or actively interfered with (Egypt, Libya, Ukraine, Syria and Yemen). People thought it was going to be different with the Republicans back in charge? What a rude awakening! Watch Trump get hamstrung when he tries to follow through on his announcement.

 

[Victoria33]

Mattis quits.

I agree with him doing so.

Horrible decision to withdraw, we may well see many refugees leaving there, oh, I thought it didn’t affect us.

 

[sagemage]

They are, with our backing, easily the main reason, ISIS was rolled back,

This isn’t even close to being true. Assad and the Russians retook way more land than the Kurds did and killed far more ISIS and Jabhat Fatahl al Sham (formerly known as Al Nusra, the Syrian branch of Al Qaeda) terrorists. The USA actually multiple times either let ISIS terrorists flee the battlefield, released ISIS commanders, or in other instances even bombed Syrian Armed Forces when they were fighting ISIS.

USA also armed Jabhat Fatah al Sham terrorists who in turn sometimes armed ISIS.

Iran expands toward Israel.

Israel needs to fight their own wars. Oh and btw, Israel also bombed Syrian armed forces who were about to overrun ISIS forces.

The Assad regime has been found guilty of aiding al Qaeda

That is absurd. Assad is an Alawite and the Sunnis consider him to be a heretic and blasphemer. This is the same kind of stuff where people claim Iran is funding ISIS.

Assad is supported by the majorty of Christians in Syria. He attended midnight mass on new years Eve.

USA needs to leave Syria! No more Petro-Wars!

 

[Victoria33]

If what you say is so that Russia and Assad killed more ISIS, that means there should be no problem producing some link that says this.

Oh, I see, Western media, er, state media from Russia, Iran and Syria.

I’ll await the documentation because it does not exist

All I would say, is I really meant the Syrian Defense Forces,SDF, meaning mainly Kurds with some other groups like Christians and Arabs.

I cant answer promptly now but can later.

 

[Victoria33]

That is absurd. Assad is an Alawite and the Sunnis consider him to be a heretic and blasphemer. This is the same kind of stuff where people claim Iran is funding ISIS.

Assad is supported by the majorty of Christians in Syria. He attended midnight mass on new years Eve.

You are basically saying Russian/Iranian propaganda, don’t think someone will automatically believe this. There may be some truth, plenty of Christians have been against Assad and even, if he were in the favor of the majority, it doesnt justify barrel bombs, gassing etc.