Thread: Trump’s blunder in Syria is irreparable
10-19-19, 09:42 AM #1
Trump’s blunder in Syria is irreparable | The New York Times
Turkey allied Islamist militia forces prepare to attack Manbij, where Trump removed the US blocking force.
UNTIL NOW, it was possible to hope that the damage caused by President Trump’s terrible incompetence, ignorance and impulsivity in foreign policy was largely theoretical, and possibly reparable. That is no longer true. The cost of his latest Syria blunder is unfolding before our eyes: Innocent lives lost. U.S. servicemen and -women betrayed. Butchering dictators emboldened. Dangerous terrorists set free. A ghastly scene is playing out, and it almost surely will get worse. How often have Mr. Trump and his Republican enablers in Congress berated President Barack Obama for allowing Syria to cross his “red line” without dire consequences? None of them is entitled ever to mention that again. Mr. Trump — with no consideration, no warning, no consultation with allies, no regard for the other nations that have fought alongside the United States and risked their men and women in the fight — has turned tail. In the past two years, courageous U.S. troops cooperated with our Kurdish allies to defeat the deadly Islamic State caliphate. These allies (the Kurds) lost more than 11,000 men and women killed; the United States, a dozen. It was a rare U.S. success in the Middle East. The president has thrown it all away. His surrender is so hasty that U.S. forces could not execute a long-standing plan to take dozens of high-profile Islamic State detainees with them; we can expect to hear from those terrorists before long, in the region, in Europe or in the United States.
The Islamic State is likely to exert its malign force again. The allies who fought alongside us are being slaughtered, and noncombatant women and children, too. Iran is strengthened, which threatens Israel. The murderous Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad is strengthened, too. Russia is taking charge. America’s adversaries could not have scripted a better outcome. Mr. Trump likes to preen and posture as a champion of American fighters. But what more bitter medicine could any commander in chief administer to U.S. troops than ordering them to abandon the comrades who fought alongside them? He likes to preen, too, as a great enemy of Iran, and even as he runs from Syria he is ordering 1,800 U.S. troops to Saudi Arabia, ostensibly to deter Iran. But that deployment, while proving the utter incoherence of his claim of “ending wars in the Middle East,” will have far less effect on Iran than the U.S. pullout from Syria, which opens the door for it to swell its influence there, on Israel’s border. And speaking of preening: Republican senators such as Lindsey O. Graham (S.C.) and Marco Rubio (Fla.), who have cheered and celebrated Mr. Trump and his national security team, now huff and puff about imposing sanctions on Turkey as punishment for its invasion. Mr. Trump said Monday that he now supports such sanctions. But only one week ago he greenlighted Turkey’s incursion, and on Sunday he further encouraged it with his announcement of a hasty U.S. withdrawal. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan bears responsibility for Turkey’s depredations, of course. But if there is any coherence — or morality — in Mr. Trump’s position, he is doing a good job of concealing it.
Says it far better than I ever could. The damage Trump has wrought is unprecedented and indeed irreparable.
10-19-19, 09:57 AM #2
Re: Trump’s blunder in Syria is irreparable
[B]Says it far better than I ever could.
Yes, some people have a way with words...can spin much better than others. The NYT Editorial Board is one of them.
10-19-19, 10:05 AM #3
Even Mitch knows this is a mistake.
"The combination of a US pullback and the escalating Turkish-Kurdish hostilities is creating a strategic nightmare for our country," he wrote. Even if the ceasefire held, the Turkish assault and US withdrawal had "set back" Washington's fight against the Islamic State (IS) group."
10-19-19, 10:10 AM #4
Where is the rest of the world. Bring our children home and let the rest of the world send their children to be killed. We should never have participated in the unending war in the Middle East that has been raging for 5000+ years. If these people want to kill each other for eternity then so be it. We can celebrate Christmas and they can celebrate death to the infidels.
10-19-19, 10:12 AM #5
Your posts would be only a bit more readable, were you to develop “a way with words”........
10-19-19, 10:14 AM #6
So send more troops to Saudi Arabia?
10-19-19, 10:16 AM #7
There was no "blocking force".
Now that the Left has turned into warhawks, y'all should really learn what this stuff means...lol
10-19-19, 10:17 AM #8
Should we send more troops to northern Syria?
10-19-19, 10:19 AM #9
I saw many of the same type editorials written about Obama, Do you think their may be a slight bias with the editorial group? Do you think their may be a little bit of sensationalism with this editorial? THe sky is falling, the sky is falling!!! Do we ever get tired of it?
10-19-19, 10:20 AM #10
Gee, the NYT has an issue with an action the President took.
Thread: Trump’s blunder in Syria is irreparable
10-19-19, 09:42 AM #1
Trump’s blunder in Syria is irreparable | The New York Times
Turkey allied Islamist militia forces prepare to attack Manbij, where Trump removed the US blocking force.
UNTIL NOW, it was possible to hope that the damage caused by President Trump’s terrible incompetence, ignorance and impulsivity in foreign policy was largely theoretical, and possibly reparable. That is no longer true. The cost of his latest Syria blunder is unfolding before our eyes: Innocent lives lost. U.S. servicemen and -women betrayed. Butchering dictators emboldened. Dangerous terrorists set free. A ghastly scene is playing out, and it almost surely will get worse. How often have Mr. Trump and his Republican enablers in Congress berated President Barack Obama for allowing Syria to cross his “red line” without dire consequences? None of them is entitled ever to mention that again. Mr. Trump — with no consideration, no warning, no consultation with allies, no regard for the other nations that have fought alongside the United States and risked their men and women in the fight — has turned tail. In the past two years, courageous U.S. troops cooperated with our Kurdish allies to defeat the deadly Islamic State caliphate. These allies (the Kurds) lost more than 11,000 men and women killed; the United States, a dozen. It was a rare U.S. success in the Middle East. The president has thrown it all away. His surrender is so hasty that U.S. forces could not execute a long-standing plan to take dozens of high-profile Islamic State detainees with them; we can expect to hear from those terrorists before long, in the region, in Europe or in the United States.
The Islamic State is likely to exert its malign force again. The allies who fought alongside us are being slaughtered, and noncombatant women and children, too. Iran is strengthened, which threatens Israel. The murderous Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad is strengthened, too. Russia is taking charge. America’s adversaries could not have scripted a better outcome. Mr. Trump likes to preen and posture as a champion of American fighters. But what more bitter medicine could any commander in chief administer to U.S. troops than ordering them to abandon the comrades who fought alongside them? He likes to preen, too, as a great enemy of Iran, and even as he runs from Syria he is ordering 1,800 U.S. troops to Saudi Arabia, ostensibly to deter Iran. But that deployment, while proving the utter incoherence of his claim of “ending wars in the Middle East,” will have far less effect on Iran than the U.
S. pullout from Syria, which opens the door for it to swell its influence there, on Israel’s border. And speaking of preening: Republican senators such as Lindsey O. Graham (S.C.) and Marco Rubio (Fla.), who have cheered and celebrated Mr. Trump and his national security team, now huff and puff about imposing sanctions on Turkey as punishment for its invasion. Mr. Trump said Monday that he now supports such sanctions. But only one week ago he greenlighted Turkey’s incursion, and on Sunday he further encouraged it with his announcement of a hasty U.S. withdrawal. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan bears responsibility for Turkey’s depredations, of course. But if there is any coherence — or morality — in Mr. Trump’s position, he is doing a good job of concealing it.
Says it far better than I ever could. The damage Trump has wrought is unprecedented and indeed irreparable.
10-19-19, 09:57 AM #2
Re: Trump’s blunder in Syria is irreparable
[B]Says it far better than I ever could.
Yes, some people have a way with words...can spin much better than others. The NYT Editorial Board is one of them.
10-19-19, 10:05 AM #3
Even Mitch knows this is a mistake.
"The combination of a US pullback and the escalating Turkish-Kurdish hostilities is creating a strategic nightmare for our country," he wrote. Even if the ceasefire held, the Turkish assault and US withdrawal had "set back" Washington's fight against the Islamic State (IS) group."
10-19-19, 10:10 AM #4
Where is the rest of the world. Bring our children home and let the rest of the world send their children to be killed. We should never have participated in the unending war in the Middle East that has been raging for 5000+ years. If these people want to kill each other for eternity then so be it. We can celebrate Christmas and they can celebrate death to the infidels.
10-19-19, 10:12 AM #5
Your posts would be only a bit more readable, were you to develop “a way with words”........
10-19-19, 10:14 AM #6
So send more troops to Saudi Arabia?
10-19-19, 10:16 AM #7
There was no "blocking force".
Now that the Left has turned into warhawks, y'all should really learn what this stuff means...lol
10-19-19, 10:17 AM #8
Should we send more troops to northern Syria?
10-19-19, 10:19 AM #9
I saw many of the same type editorials written about Obama, Do you think their may be a slight bias with the editorial group? Do you think their may be a little bit of sensationalism with this editorial? THe sky is falling, the sky is falling!!! Do we ever get tired of it?
10-19-19, 10:20 AM #10
Gee, the NYT has an issue with an action the President took.