Thread: TRUMP’S SYRIA PLAN IS A “DREAM SCENARIO” FOR ISIS, RUSSIA, IRAN AND ASSAD

Yes. Your policy is your opinion or decision on a course of action.

Continued American Occupation Of The Middle East Does Not Suppress Terrorism, It Causes It



"The chaos of this incoherent and counterproductive strategy is, peculiarly enough, what the neocons actually want. Perpetual war and destabilisation in the Middle East is their goal..."

Thu, 12/20/2018 - 23:45
86 SHARES
Authored by Craig Murray,

Even the neo-con warmongers’ house journal The Guardian, furious at Trump’s attempts to pull US troops out of Syria, in producing a map to illustrate its point, could only produce one single, uncertain, very short pen stroke to describe the minute strip of territory it claims ISIS still control on the Iraqi border.



Of course, the Guardian produces the argument that continued US military presence is necessary to ensure that ISIS does not spring back to life in Syria. The fallacy of that argument can be easily demonstrated. In Afghanistan, the USA has managed to drag out the long process of humiliating defeat in war even further than it did in Vietnam. It is plain as a pikestaff that the presence of US occupation troops is itself the best recruiting sergeant for resistance. In Sikunder Burnes I trace how the battle lines of tribal alliances there today are precisely the same ones the British faced in 1841. We just attach labels like Taliban to hide the fact that invaders face national resistance.
The secret to ending the strength of ISIS in Syria is not the continued presence of American troops. It is for America’s ever closer allies in Saudi Arabia and the Gulf to cut off the major artery of money and arms, which we should never forget in origin and for a long time had a strong US component. The US/Saudi/Israeli alliance against Iran is the most important geo-political factor in the region today. It is high time this alliance stopped both funding ISIS and pretending to fight it; schizophrenia is not a foreign policy stance.



There has been no significant Shia Islamic terrorist or other threat against the West in recent years. 9/11 was carried out by Saudi Sunni militants. Al Qaida, ISIS, Al Nusra, Boko Haram, these are all Sunni groups, and all Saudi sponsored. It is a matter of lunacy that the West has adopted the posture that it is Iran – which has sponsored not one attack on the West in recent memory – which is the threat in the Middle East.
The origin of this stance appears to lie in the fact that the Shia group Hezbollah proved to have the only military force among Israel’s neighbours capable of halting an Israeli invasion. After the disastrous invasion of Iraq resulted in an Iran friendly regime in Baghdad, the US decided for balance of power reasons to back Saudi regional power plays, only for Saudi Arabia to fall into the hands of the psychopathic warmonger Mohammed Bin Salman who escalated an already flawed policy to breaking point.
The chaos of this incoherent and counterproductive strategy is, peculiarly enough, what the neocons actually want. Perpetual war and destabilisation in the Middle East is their goal. One of the findings I had not expected to discover in writing Sikunder Burnes was that the British had been deliberately exploiting and exacerbating the Shia/Sunni divide as early as 1836 to the Imperial purpose. Today, by keeping Arab populations poor and politically divided, the neo-cons believe that they enhance the security of Israel, and they certainly do facilitate the access of western companies to the oil and gas of the region, as we see in destabilised Iraq and Libya.
The Clintons and Blair were the apotheosis of the capture of the mainstream “left” political parties by this neo-con Imperialist agenda in the Middle East. Sanders, Trump and Corbyn were the first politicians with any chance of power for many decades who did not pay lip-service to the neo-con agenda. Trump’s lack of enthusiasm for Cold War politics has been neutralised from any possible action on his part by the ludicrous lie that Russia hacked his election.
Furthermore his greed has led to deals with Saudi Arabia which have largely undercut his declared preference for non-interventionism. And now in Syria, the very hint that Trump may not be fully committed to the pursuit of perpetual war has the entire neo-con establishment, political media and NGO, screaming in unison, both sides of the Atlantic.
I have written before that Trump may be a rotten President for Americans, but at least he has not initiated a major war; and I am quite sure Hillary would have done by now. For a non-American, the choice between Hillary and Trump ended up in balancing on one side of the scale the evil of millions more killed and maimed in the Middle East and the launching of a full on, unreserved new Cold War, against on the other side of the scale poorer Americans having very bad healthcare and social provision and America adopting racist immigration policies. I do hope that the neo-con barrage today arguing for more American troops in the Middle East, will help people remember just how very unattractive also is the Hillary side of the equation.
It is also very helpful in revealing the startling unanimity of our bought and paid for political, media and NGO class here in the UK.



https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-...m-it-causes-it

Santorum: Trump's base may not support this

State of the Union
Former Senator Rick Santorum tells CNN's Jake Tapper he does not think most of President Donald Trump's base supports his decision to back out of Syria "without a plan."
Source: CNN

Bob Corker, Lindsey Graham, Ben Sasse and Jeff Flake are not "Trump's" base.

Originally Posted by Judy

Yes. Your policy is your opinion or decision on a course of action.

Sorry, I don't make government or military policy.

Syria: World reacts to Trump's decision to pull US troops out

UK, France stunned, while Russia and Turkey sense opportunity to advance own agenda, as Trump says ISIL is defeated.

20 Dec 2018

In the wake of US President Donald Trump's announcement that he would pull troops out of Syria, some international allies have reacted with shock and dismay, while Russia and Turkey seemed to welcome a decision that could allow them to advance their own plans in Syria.
Trump's decision to pull out completely was confirmed by US officials and is expected to take place in the coming months.

There are currently about 2,000 US troops in Syria, most of them on a train-and-advise mission to support local forces fighting ISIL.

Trump's declaration that the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) group had been "defeated" was not endorsed by allies who have fought alongside the US in Syria.
Rather, officials in France and the UK stressed the threat the armed group continues to pose to their interests.

"Much remains to be done and we must not lose sight of the threat they pose. Even without territory, Daesh (ISIL) will remain a threat," the UK's Foreign Office said in a statement on Wednesday.
"As the United States has made clear, these developments in Syria do not signal the end of the Global Coalition or its campaign. We will continue to work with members of the Coalition on achieving this."
British junior defence minister, Tobias Ellwood was more blunt, retweeting a message from Trump that the group had been defeated in Syria with the words: "I strongly disagree."

"It has morphed into other forms of extremism and the threat is very much alive."

Speaking on Thursday, France's defence minister said that ISIL had been weakened but not defeated.
"Islamic State (ISIL) has been weakened more than ever," Florence Parly said on Twitter. "But Islamic State has not been wiped from the map nor has its roots. It is necessary that the last pockets of this terrorist organisation be definitively defeated militarily."

France's European Affairs Minister Nathalie Loiseau said that French forces would remain in Syria "for now".

"It's true that the coalition has made significant progress in Syria, but this fight continues, and we will continue it," she told CNews television.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who remains concerned about Iranian efforts in the area, reacted in non-committal fashion after talking with Trump by telephone.

"This is, of course, an American decision," he said, adding that no matter what, "we will safeguard the security of Israel and protect ourselves from this arena".

For the US's NATO ally Turkey, however, the news is likely to be welcome.

Washington-Ankara relations have long been strained by differences over Syria, where the US has backed the Syrian Kurdish YPG group in the fight against ISIL.

Turkey considers the YPG a terrorist group and an extension of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK). In the wake of Trump's declaration, Turkey escalated its rhetoric against the Kurds
According to the Turkish state news agency Anadolu, Defence Minister Hulusi Akar told reporters on Thursday that Turkey was preparing "intensely" for a new military operation in parts northeast Syria, where US forces are

"Right now it is being said that some ditches, tunnels were dug in Manbij and to the east of the Euphrates, he said. "They can dig tunnels or ditches if they want, they can go underground if they want, when the time and place comes they will be buried in the ditches they dug. No one should doubt this."

Al Jazeera's Zeina Khodr, reporting from the Turkish capital Ankara, said the Kurdish forces have been left in a difficult position.

"Syria's Kurds, or in particular the YPG armed group, are vulnerable, they are left abandoned really," she said. "The YPG, the SDF, were in talks with the Syrian government earlier this year…trying to find some sort of arrangement. But the US intervened and pressured the Kurds to pull out of those negotiations, and now the US is pulling out its troops. So the Kurds are in a difficult position.

"What is next? This decision by US President Donald Trump gives Turkey the green light to operate in the northeast of Syria but many would argue a US green light is not enough, you need a green light from the Russian government as well. So we are going to see talks between Turkey, Russia, Iran on what is going to happen in this enclave. Will the area be divided into spheres of influence?

"One thing is certain. What Turkey wants is the YPG to move away from the border. So the biggest question is, who will take control of this border region. Will it be the Syrian government, or will it be Turkish-backed Syrian rebels."

Russia, which backs the Syrian government, has welcomed Trump's decision.

The Russian news agency TASS reported the Russian Foreign Ministry as saying on Wednesday that the decision creates prospects for a political settlement in Syria.

TASS also cited the ministry as saying that an initiative to form a Syrian constitutional committee had a bright future with the US troop withdrawal.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2018/...092240234.html

Friday, December 21, 2018

Jordan: Trump is stabbing allies in the back with Syria pullout

After President Trump announces decision to withdraw all U.S. forces from Syria, top Jordanian official tells Israel Hayom: Israel enjoys proven air supremacy to deter Iranian troops, but Jordan now faces a real threat • Kurdish militia warns of vacuum.U.S. President Donald Trump's decision this week to withdraw American troops from Syria sparked disappointment in Amman, with one senior Jordanian official telling Israel Hayom the move is akin to "stabbing an ally in the back and forsaking it."

Trump announced Wednesday that the U.S. would be pulling all its troops out from Syria, saying they had succeeded in their mission to defeat the Islamic State terrorist group and were no longer needed in the country.The decision was met with shock by U.S. allies in the international coalition that has been fighting Islamic State in recent years. These allies include France, the United Kingdom, and Jordan, which views the American presence in the region as crucial to ending the Syrian civil war and keeping Iran in check.

The Jordanian official who spoke to Israel Hayom said: "Israel enjoys proven air supremacy to deter Iranian troops, but Jordan is facing a tangible threat in the wake of the American decision. Having U.S. troops leave southwestern Syria, an area that borders Jordan, will have destabilizing repercussions."

The U.S.'s Kurdish allies were also outraged by Trump's announcement. The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, which partnered with U.S. troops for years as the key force against Islamic State militants, said in a strongly worded statement Thursday that the fight against the jihadi group was at a "decisive" stage that required even more support from the U.S.-led coalition.

"The war against terrorism has not ended and [Islamic State] has not been defeated," the statement said. "The decision to pull back will directly undermine the efforts of the final battle of defeating the terrorists … and it will lead to political-military vacuum."

One senior SDF official said they might be forced to release some 3,200 captured Islamic State fighters, which could give a boost to the terrorist group.

Turkey has repeatedly warned that it might launch an offensive in northeastern Syria against the SDF-controlled enclave there, saying the militia is aligned with Kurdish separatists in Turkey. In the wake of Trump's decision, Turkey may show less restraint and move ahead with such an offensive.The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the SDF might boost its presence along the border with Turkey to prepare for a possible invasion.

http://www.israelhayom.com/2018/12/2...syria-pullout/

Let the UK send 2,000 of their soldiers in there to kill ISIS. They're a lot closer to Syria than we are.

Donald J. Trump
‏Verified account @realDonaldTrump
1h 1 hour ago

President @RT_Erdogan of Turkey has very strongly informed me that he will eradicate whatever is left of ISIS in Syria....and he is a man who can do it plus, Turkey is right “next door.” Our troops are coming home!

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/...64829825966081

Let the "world" go in and use their blood and treasure!

Send their damn refugees home!