Mattis and Syria: Get a Grip on the Hysteria!

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While it would have been wiser to leave the 2,000 American troops in Syria longer, both to ensure ISIS’s demise and to protect the Kurds, and while the administration benefited greatly from Secretary James Mattis’s restoration of deterrence, which merited him a much longer tenure, the hysteria over the withdrawal of troops and the unfortunate resignation of Mattis as something end-of-the-world devastating and historically unprecedented is as weird as it is incoherent.



First, we should remember that earlier General Mattis did not resign from the Obama administration; he was summarily and without much cause fired — reportedly without a phone call, causing outrage in January 2013 from many who now see his resignation as unprecedented.

Two, defense secretaries, given the nature of the job, have historically sometimes had short tenures. Harry Truman and Barack Obama each had four different secretaries, many of whom were controversial and at odds with their bosses. At some point, policy differences outnumber agreements, and secretaries resign or are forced to resign. The list of defense secretaries who departed either in less than harmonious scenarios, or for a variety of reasons after only a few months, includes a pantheon of American luminaries, from George Marshall to Donald Rumsfeld, Leon Panetta, and Elliot Richardson.

Three, earlier this year Mattis was the subject of a lot of curious stories quoting appraisals of him as “bulletproof,” given that despite his numerous disagreements with Trump (reportedly on getting out of the Paris climate accord, moving the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem, quitting the Iran deal, transgender soldiers, etc. ), he still was seen as invaluable to the president, who had given him, according to Washington conventional wisdom, unusual latitude and exemption to focus on rebuilding the military and reestablishing deterrent policies.

Four, earlier this year Trump had promised to put troops into Syria to finish up destroying ISIS for “six months.” So his deadline was not really much of a surprise, although most had thought, given the success of the mission, that a continued presence would be in the country’s and the administration’s interests.

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@Richard Wheeler:

Bill Tulsi called out the foolish NYT hit job—good for her

So, does that go for CNN to? “Hit job”? Was that “fake news”? Gee, I don’ know… if Tulsi can’t handle the “fair reporting” of our honest and fair media, perhaps she doesn’t have the temperament to be President. Thoughts?

@kitt: Erdogan was not going to attack American troops—Trump green lighted him as we pulled out.

Did you READ his letter to Erdogan which Trump graciously revealed? Threatening to destroy him and his economy is a green light? No, handing off pallets of cash and raising all sanctions before any conditions have been met is a green light.

@FYI:Owningabook:

FYI: Owning a book is not an impressive feat.

Reading one can be.

@Randy:

@FYI:Owningabook: It is if you read it and understand what was written. Most folks who are criticizing the president have no clue what is at stake.

Indeed. Since the Democrats got us deeply involved in Vietnam, we have a habit of pulling out of conflicts. This is because we get into bad ones. Syria is definitely one of those, unique in that we had no national interests there and should never have been there. Syria was a job for the UN from the very beginning, but the UN is in the bribes and climate change business, not the world peace business. Our mission there was complete; the ISIS caliphate was destroyed. We can’t stay there until the radical Islamic mentality is eradicated. If Trump was moving more troops INTO Syria, Democrats would be outraged… probably impeaching, since the bar is now so low for impeachment. But he is merely reversing a horrific mistake, one of many, made by Obama.

Remember when the dems were outraged when Obama pulled our troops out of Iraq helping to unleash ISIS which went on to attack the Kurds amongst others? Neither do I. Remember when the dems were outraged when Obama overthrew the Libyan government and then sent arms from there into the hands of ISIS? Neither do I. Remember when the dems openly embraced Cindy Sheehan who was running around calling the people were fighting over there freedom fighters? Like it was yesterday. Remember when the dems defended the Obama administration when they called Bergdahl a “hero”. Like it was yesterday.

The dems don’t give two shits about the Kurds or our military. This is all about trying to weaken PT in order to remove him from office which is the impetus for everything they’ve done since the election. Time will tell if PT’s actions turn into an Obama sized failure. Right now this country’s biggest threat isn’t the external one, it’s the internal one that is trying to turn the country into a neo-Marxist banana republic.

@another vet: Remember when the Democrats consistently and steadfastly stood by a principle? Yeah… me neither.

From FOX News, October 24, 2019 – Pentagon ‘likely’ deploying tanks to Syria, officials say

The Pentagon is “likely” to order tanks and hundreds of soldiers to eastern Syria, U.S. officials tell Fox News.

The tanks will come from a unit already deployed to the Middle East, the officials said. The potential deployment was first reported by Newsweek.

The plans come one day after President Trump announced a “permanent” cease-fire in northeast Syria and said a “small number” of U.S. troops would guard oil fields previously held by ISIS and now in Syrian Kurdish hands.

“We’ve secured the oil and therefore a small number of U.S. troops will remain in the area. Where they have the oil and we’re going to be protecting it and we’ll be deciding what we’re going to do with it in the future,” President Trump announced.

On Thursday, President Trump clarified his remarks in a tweet, saying: “The Oil Fields discussed in my speech on Turkey/Kurds yesterday were held by ISIS until the United States took them over with the help of the Kurds. We will NEVER let a reconstituted ISIS have those fields!”

@Greg: #154 good for him! Not leaving US equipment behind for ISIS and cutting off a potential black market income stream for terrorists. No future plans right now, but they dont have it.

@Greg: And?