Thread: Why Trump's Syria withdrawal is the right move

Why Trump's Syria withdrawal is the right move

By Christian Whiton | Fox News
Published 8 hours ago

President Trump’s order Wednesday to remove all 2,000 U.S. troops from Syria should be seen and celebrated for what it is: a great victory over the ISIS terrorist group and the fulfillment of his pledge not to do nation-building.

Trump campaigned for the White House on an unambiguous pledge to crush ISIS. Just one week into his presidency he ordered the Pentagon to develop a plan to “demolish and destroy” the group. Then U.S. and allied forces did just that.

YOur militaries obliterated a jihadist force that sprung out of the vacuum of the Syrian civil war and once grew so large as to approach the outskirts of Baghdad in neighboring Iraq.

President Trump’s choice of retired Marine Gen. James Mattis as secretary of defense was pivotal. Mattis freed U.S. forces who had been fighting with one arm tied behind their backs, and contributed to major battlefield gains without a massive invasion.

Of course, ISIS stragglers still exist. Remember that Japanese holdouts were still coming out of the jungle to surrender long after World War II ended? But ISIS is kaput as an organized military and governing force in Syria and Iraq.

Now it is time to bring our military home. President Trump correctly tweeted: “We have defeated ISIS in Syria, my only reason for being there during the Trump Presidency.”

Of course, hawks will be upset. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., the Senate’s leading interventionist, tweeted: “Withdrawal of this small American force in Syria would be a huge Obama-like mistake.”

Now it is time to bring our military home. President Trump correctly tweeted: “We have defeated ISIS in Syria, my only reason for being there during the Trump Presidency.”

Trump’s top military adviser, Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman and Marine Gen. Joseph Dunford, tried to move the goal posts on the president earlier this month remarking: “With regard to stabilization, we have a long way to go.” He then claimed that only 20 percent of needed local forces in Syria had been trained.

But “stabilization” was never Trump’s goal, nor should it have been. Syria remains gripped in civil war, with government forces directed by Syrian President Bashar Assad consolidating steady gains.

Yes, it is lamentable that Assad is in cahoots with Iran and Russia. Certainly, President Trump was right to strike Syria with two major cruise missile attacks after the regime used chemical weapons.

However, replacing Assad would require a major Iraq-style war and inflict deep suffering on a people who have already been devastated by eight years of bloody conflict. Furthermore, anti-Assad forces have proved incapable of achieving lasting military victory and some are worse than Assad, including Al Qaeda elements.

Former President Obama famously said that “Assad must go,” but that was never our choice to make. And Assad has proved canny and resilient.

We should now engage with the villainous Assad, using statecraft to minimize his misconduct. We should strike him again if he crosses red lines over the use of chemical weapons or threatening our Middle East allies politically or militarily, but also create an avenue for postwar reconstruction for him that does not necessarily run through Moscow or Tehran.

As for President Trump, he has now placed in the history books a clear alternative to the neoconservatives’ incompetent never-ending war, as demonstrated in Afghanistan and Iraq. He knows that when we deploy our military we should accomplish a clear goal with strong force and then get out.

Perhaps the most important achievement in President’s Trump’s withdrawal will be the least heralded. By slowly moving away from fighting in backwaters stretching from Afghanistan to Libya, he can refocus more of our military power on America’s chief threat in the world: China.

While the massive national security complex in Washington longs for confrontation against familiar Middle Eastern foes and Russia, Trump, like the public, knows instinctively that our biggest challenge lies across the Pacific.

https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/trum...the-right-move

I know it is the right thing. Absolutely. So glad to hear this.

Shocking Syria withdrawal plan is pure Trump

Analysis by Stephen Collinson, CNN
Updated 4:31 AM ET, Thu December 20, 2018

(CNN) President Donald Trump once famously said he knew more about ISIS than US generals do. Now he wants to prove it.
His big gamble on a sudden and rapid Syria pullout, which broke on Wednesday, is classic Trump in execution and content after he effectively declared mission accomplished and the defeat of ISIS.

The President announced an apparently impulsive decision that shook the world, showed little sign of nuanced consideration, confounded top advisers and by the end of the day left Washington in chaos and confusion.

It was a move that appeared to clash with the central goal of his Middle East policy -- containing Iran's regional influence -- since it could leave a vacuum for Tehran and other outside nations to fill.

Trump's critics inside Washington, his own party, the military and around the world are already portraying his move as a massive strategic blunder that could open the way for an ISIS rebound.

"It's a mistake of colossal proportions and the President fails to see how it will endanger our country," a senior administration official told CNN's Jake Tapper.

Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham, usually a Trump ally, blasted the decision on the Senate floor Wednesday night.

"This is a stain on the honor of the United States," the South Carolina Republican said.

"I think it's disastrous to our own national security," he added.

There was also a strong suspicion that a President under political and legal siege was casting around for a year-end win to add to a triumph represented by the passage of a criminal justice bill, and to divert attention from a concession in a duel with Congress over funding for his border wall.

Trump released a video on Wednesday evening touting his decision to bring troops home that looked like a bid to lock in a pre-Christmas political boost.

"Our boys, our young women, our men, they're all coming back and they're coming back now. We won, and that's the way we want it. And that's the way they want it," the President says in the video.

In a typically bizarre twist, he also appeared to suggest that Americans killed in Syria were looking down with approval at his decision.

Trump's decision to ditch US leverage in Syria, which fulfills one of Russian President Vladimir Putin's goals, will spark fresh speculation about Trump's motives as his relationship with Russia comes under increasing scrutiny.

In another win for Moscow, the administration on Wednesday told Congress it was lifting sanctions on two Russian firms. But reflecting the strange duality of US policy on Russia, Washington announced sanctions against 15 members of Moscow's GRU intelligence service and four entities over election interference, an assassination attempt in Britain and other "malign activities."
No one has ever accused the President of being consistent. But his decision opens him to charges of hypocrisy since Trump branded former President Barack Obama the "founder" of ISIS after the group exploited the US withdrawal from Iraq in 2011 to build its self-declared caliphate in Iraq and Syria.

Other people's wars

While the move to withdraw US special forces from a fraught geopolitical hotspot might have been unexpected, it was squarely in line with Trump's idiosyncratic worldview.

It's no secret that he believes American troops should not be fighting what he sees as other people's wars, and he tends to view alliances as simply a chance for America's traditional friends to rip off the US.

And while Trump's Pentagon and foreign policy aides have been warning that the fight to prevent an ISIS resurgence is not over, the President concocted a more simple reality that satisfies a political goal.

"We have defeated ISIS in Syria, my only reason for being there during the Trump Presidency," Trump wrote on Twitter.
The President's decision not to schedule a major address to the American people to explain the strategic foundation of his withdrawal added to the impression of a leader uninterested in the details of grave decisions.

Unlike many of the President's most significant, shocking decisions, the Syria withdrawal order did not test constitutional norms and was well within the guardrails of mainstream political thought on overseas deployments.

After all, he won the 2016 election; he is the constitutionally empowered civilian commander in chief with the right to give such orders.

And the President will not be isolated on Syria.

There has been a strong feeling among some liberals and conservatives -- dating to Obama's 2008 campaign -- that
America's post-9/11 wars should end and the troops should come home.

And while the Pentagon and senior US officials have advocated a long-term presence in Syria to prevent a return of ISIS, maximize US leverage in the region and contain Iran, there has been little talk of an exit plan.

Confusion

Even so, Trump's move shared characteristics with many of his previous executive power coups.

It was a bold move by a President who relishes that power rather than a bottom-up policy process typical in most administrations.

He is also untroubled that the experts in his administration were advising him to take another course.
On December 11, for instance, the US special presidential envoy for the global coalition to defeat ISIS, Brett McGurk, made an argument that contradicted Trump's reasoning on Wednesday.

"If we've learned one thing over the years, enduring defeat of a group like this means you can't just defeat their physical space and then leave; you have to make sure the internal security forces are in place to ensure that those gains, security gains, are enduring," McGurk said.

Another characteristic result of Wednesday's announcement was chaos.

Trump's decision -- like his executive order decreeing a travel ban on citizens of some mostly Muslim nations, for instance -- left officials on his own team struggling to explain the implications.

One senior administration official made available to reporters could not say how many troops have already left Syria or when others would return to the US.

Confusion in the White House will be mirrored abroad, where US allies often struggle to understand the administration's strategic goals.

Trump's go-it-alone move also ranked as yet another insult for America's friends in the West who had sent soldiers to fight and die alongside Americans.

Two diplomatic sources from countries in the Middle East told CNN's Elise Labott that their countries had not been consulted or informed and news of the planned withdrawal came as a "total surprise."

As is often the case with Trump's foreign policy decisions, there was also a whiff of some kind of hidden quid pro quo.

The Syria pullout order came after a call last Friday between Trump and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

A US departure from the region could potentially give Turkey an advantage in its efforts to pressure Kurdish rebels in Syria and to stop them from bolstering the Kurdish militant group PKK, which it views as a terrorist organization.

In another development that could be connected, the United States on Tuesday approved the sale of a $3.5 billion Patriot missile system to Turkey.

In recent weeks, Erdogan's disclosures about the murder of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul have exposed Trump to criticism from Republican senators over his support for Saudi Arabia's crown prince, who is accused of ordering the killing.

Washington observers will now be watching to see whether Erdogan dials down the Khashoggi issue.

CNN's Michael Callahan, Nicole Gaouette and Kevin Liptak contributed to this story.

https://www.cnn.com/2018/12/20/polit...ics/index.html

Trump stated in March at a rally that he'd be bringing the troops home from Syria very soon. This is December, he's taken his time, he's given the military plenty of time and money to wrap this up, they've done a good job, maybe took longer than Trump expected, but from his standpoint, whatever it is by now, it's done and other people's responsibility to deal with. He's made lots of arrangements with neighbors and the Gulf States to fill any "void" and do any further clean up of ISIS.

No one should be surprised or confused. Trump made his position on Syria very clear during the campaign. OUT OUT OUT. Let Russia handle it, they have a vested national interest, this is in their sphere, not ours. They know how to maintain order, fight terrorists and squash skirmishes. And the Assad government is also very effective, their army and police can maintain law and order, now that the awful rebellion is over. I honestly think that our departure will help Syria finalize the peace there.

NO MONEY TO REBUILD!

GET US OUT OF THERE!

SEND THEIR REFUGEES BACK AND LET MIDDLE EAST PAY TO REBUILD!

TRILLIONS OF OUR MONEY ALREADY SPENT IN THAT MASSIVE SAND BOX! NO MORE MONEY AND NO MORE REFUGEES HERE!

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

Trump’s Syria plan is a “dream scenario” for ISIS, Russia, Iran and Assad

By Tim Hume Dec 20, 2018


Donald Trump’s sudden announcement Wednesday that he intends to pull all U.S. troops out of Syria blindsided his aides and allies — and opened the door for a potential ISIS resurgence, experts warn.

Trump committed as recently as September to the 2,000-strong troop deployment remaining in Syria indefinitely until ISIS was defeated, a political solution was in place, and Iranian forces and their proxies had left.


None of those goals have been accomplished, but Trump said he was bringing the troops home anyway.

"We have won against ISIS,” he declared in a video message. “We’ve beaten them and we've beaten them badly. We’ve taken back the land, and now it's time for our troops to come back home.”

The abrupt policy reversal attracted a storm of criticism from lawmakers, military partners on the ground, and analysts.

The battle against ISIS is far from over, they say. What’s more, the pullout looms as a repeat of an Obama-era foreign policy decision that the president has repeatedly criticized — the withdrawal from Iraq, which left a power vacuum that enabled the rise of ISIS. “Withdrawal of this small American force in Syria would be a huge Obama-like mistake,” tweeted Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham.


The pullout would also leave the Kurds, a key regional ally, without support as they face an imminent threat, while effectively ceding victory in the conflict to Syria’s key backers, Russia and Iran — even though the Trump administration has repeatedly cited Tehran as Washington’s main regional threat.

“I see any such U.S. decision as just as wrongheaded and counterproductive as Obama’s to leave Iraq in 2012 — and likely with just as many adverse consequences,” Michael O’Hanlon, senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, told VICE News.

“Allies will suffer. Assad and Iran and Russia will gain.”

Charles Lister, director of the Countering Terrorism and Extremism Program at the Middle East Institute, described the move as “the greatest gift and insurance policy that ISIS could have wished for.”


“Geopolitically, this is not just a dream scenario for ISIS but also for Russia, Iran and the Assad regime, all of whom stand to benefit substantially from a U.S. withdrawal.”

WHY THE EXPERTS ARE WORRIED

The 2,000 U.S. troops have been stationed in support of the Syrian Defense Forces (SDF), a Kurdish-dominated militia that has been the most effective ground force in the fight against ISIS, reducing its one-time “caliphate” to a mere footprint in Syria.
With the might of a superpower behind it, the SDF has gained control of about a third of Syria’s territory in the northeast.

But the Kurds are surrounded by enemies —Turkey, which sees the Kurds as terrorists and fears they will fuel an insurgency in the country's heavily Kurdish southeast; Syria and its Russian and Iranian backers; and ISIS.

The Kurds fear that once the U.S. withdraws, the recent battlefield equilibrium will be shattered and Syria will revert to chaos.

An SDF statement Wednesday said that Trump’s move would “create a political and military vacuum... leaving its people between the claws of hostile parties” — a situation that would jeopardize the anti-ISIS campaign and allow the terror group “to revive itself again.”

Trump’s move comes as Turkey, a U.S. ally that has already carved out a pocket of influence bordering Kurdish areas in Syria, is threatening to launch an attack on the SDF.
“Turkey will take advantage of there no longer being a risk of clashing with U.S. troops in northeast Syria to pursue its planned military campaign against” the SDF, Lina Khatib, head of the Middle East and North Africa Programme at Chatham House, told VICE News. She said that with the Kurds occupied in renewed hostilities with Turkey, “the ground would be left wide open for ISIS to regroup and regenerate.”


READ: This Syrian family dug a cellar to hide from Assad’s bombs

Lister said the Syrian regime may respond to the U.S. withdrawal by buying the loyalty of the Arab militias affiliated with the SDF in northeast Syria, leaving the Kurds more vulnerable to Turkish aggression.

“It’s a sad state of affairs when our key allies on the ground, who’ve shed blood and thousands of lives for our fight against ISIS, are to be well and truly abandoned,” he said.

THE MOVE BENEFITS THE U.S.’ GEOPOLITICAL RIVALS IN THE REGION

American withdrawal would also cede the Syrian conflict to the regime and its Russian and Iranian backers, analysts warn.

The move will undermine the administration’s sanctions policy intended to exert maximum pressure on Tehran, according to analysts at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies think tank.

“A full U.S. troop withdrawal from Syria will signal that as the administration calls for maximum pressure on Iran, it is not even willing to do the bare minimum to counter Iran at the regional level,” said research fellow Behnam Ben Taleblu.

If Assad reclaims Kurdish-held territories, where 90 percent of the country’s oil supplies are located, it will ease the pressure on Tehran to subsidize Syria’s oil needs and alleviate the pressure from U.S. sanctions. It would also allow Iran to complete a strategically valuable land-bridge from its territory to the Mediterranean.

Russian President Vladimir Putin himself commended Trump’s decision to pull out Thursday. “On this, Donald is right. I agree with him,” he said in a news conference.


WHY ISIS COULD MOUNT A COMEBACK

Obama’s reason for entering the Syrian quagmire was “to degrade and ultimately destroy ISIS.” But despite Trump’s claim that “we have defeated ISIS in Syria,” the job is far from done.

The “caliphate” that once stretched across two countries and governed an estimated 8 million people has all but collapsed. Yet ISIS still controls small, organized pockets of territory — which U.S. officials say could take months to win back — and the group is believed to command thousands of militants across the country who have gone underground and reverted to insurgency tactics.
A U.S. Defense Department assessment in August estimated the number of ISIS fighters in Syria at 14,500.

Lister said any defeat was “arguably years” away. “To make that fact as clear as day, ISIS claimed responsibility for an attack in Raqqa only 10 minutes before Trump’s 'mission accomplished' tweet,” he said. “That’s a city the U.S. liberated and in which U.S. troops and USAID and State personnel are deployed to this day.”

Paul Salem, president at the Middle East Institute, told VICE News that ISIS was already regrouping in parts of Syria and Iraq “and will certainly try to come back in parts of Syria if it sees an opportunity.”

He added: “It is certainly not 'out' by any stretch of the imagination.”

Salem said it was a mistake to think that the group, as a manifestation of violent Islamic fundamentalism, could ever be truly defeated on the battlefield alone. “As long as it exists as an idea and skeleton network in part of Syria and Iraq — and parts of other countries like Yemen, Libya, or elsewhere — it can bide its time, regroup and fight another day. They have played the long game before, and they will play it again.”


Contrary to his comments Wednesday, Trump appeared to concede Thursday that the group hadn’t actually been defeated — but argued instead that the fight was the responsibility of Assad and his allies.

“Russia, Iran, Syria & others are the local enemy of ISIS. We were doing there (sic) work,” he tweeted. “Now they will have to fight ISIS and others, who they hate, without us.”


But that stance could be disastrous if the terror group capitalizes on the new security vacuum to make a comeback in the region. Several analysts said that by the 2020 U.S. elections, Trump could be among the many, many people rueing that decision.

“Trump blamed Obama for withdrawing too soon from Iraq and allowing ISIS to rise there,” said Salem. “In the run-up to the 2020 election, Trump might be faced with the reality of a resurgent ISIS in Syria that he might take the blame for.”

https://news.vice.com/en_us/article/...ithdrawal-isis

These are people with their hands in the $15 billion plus we're wasting chasing down a handful of terrorists and "training" rebels on how to kill ISIS. The rebels have killed 500,000 people in this country and caused millions to flee as refugees. We do not need to "train" anyone in the middle east on how to kill someone. They've been killing each other for thousands of years.

We have MORE casualties by not carpet bombing and getting out.

Millions more killed, on both sides, by these never ending wars that last for years!

And now millions of refugees are flooding our countries, overbreeding, bankrupting us and destroying OUR nations! Should have killed them off there...because you can bet your ass they will kill us here by you dumbasses letting them in.

Carpet bomb...send the message...then get out!

The game has changed. And stop selling them more weapons to keep fighting!

Youtube Video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NrDf54QRCY4

Pat Buchanan Responds to Trump Pulling Syria Troops

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Conservative Citizen
Published on Dec 20, 2018

Pat Buchanan on The Laura Ingraham Show 12/20/2018

Youtube Video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1gjiP6Ocd7I

Sec. Mike Pompeo on Trump's Decision to Pull out of Syria

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Conservative Citizen
Published on Dec 20, 2018

Sec. Mike Pompeo on The Laura Ingraham Show 12/20/2018