"The developments made clear that one of President Donald Trump's rationales for withdrawing troops from Syria was not going to come to pass any time soon. 'It's time to bring our soldiers back home,' he said Wednesday. But they are not coming home.... While [Esper] acknowledged reports of intermittent fighting despite the cease-fire agreement, he said that overall it 'generally seems to be holding. We see a stability of the lines, if you will, on the ground.' He also said that, so far, the Syrian Democratic Forces that partnered with the U.S. to fight IS have maintained control of the prisons in Syria where they are still present. The Turks, he said, have indicated they have control of the IS prisons in their areas. 'I can't assess whether that's true or not without having people on the ground,' said Esper."
ABC News reports.
ADDED: Here's the full transcript of Esper's remarks.
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35 comments:
"If you lived in western Iraq you'd be home by now!"
Let the democrats pass a War Resolution and then everyone can just get on to other important issues like, why are Greta Thunberg's parents letting her stay up past her bedtime?
"There has been a long time saying the Kurds have had which is “we have no friends but the mountains”. For a short time, the Kurds actually thought the Americans were their friends. After the precipitous decision President Trump made, the Kurds are back to their only friend."
~ Matthew Dowd
Never Trumpers: He's withdrawing troops out of Syria to the USA, he's going to give the Middle east to Putin and kill thousands!!!
News: He's just moving them to Iraq
Never Trumper: Trump is such a liar. Why doesn't he fulfill his promises?
"Kurdish commander Gen Mazlum Kobane makes an urgent appeal, telling
@NBCNews
Syria's Kurds face what could become “the biggest ethnic cleansing operation of the 21st century... happening in front of the American army's eyes.” He blames Turkey and Trump"
~ Richard Engel
Iraq is Iran's Austria. Our military should not be there.
If it ain't broke, don't fix it.
Our pro-Kurdish policy had been a major foreign-policy win for the United States. (A U.S. ally had fought ISIS successfully and captured a thousand ISIS fighters.)
So Trump fixed it.
Trump and his supporters have dredged up the Old Right "America First" isolationism fantasy in which the U.S. doesn't need any allies. We can just go it alone from the rest of the world, they think.
They can't seem to think beyond their embittered "Screw Everybody" attitude.
Trump ordered the bulk of the approximately 1,000 U.S. troops in Syria to withdraw after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan made it clear in a phone call that his forces were about to invade Syria to push back Kurdish forces that Turkey considers terrorists.
This is a change. At least they're no longer saying Trump "green-lighted" the invasion.
"But they are not coming home...." That sounds really dumb. The goal is not to minimize the number of soldiers we have. It is to have less wars. We don't need to be in Syria, so we left. We should do the same in Afghanistan; the only reason we're there is because Pres. Obama needed to claim that Pres. Bush had fought the "wrong war".
Any time we disengage our troops from useless wars like Syria is OK with me.
Simple operations research principles would tell you that limiting a mission to it's original scope will, over time, allow more troops to come home than would be the case if you were to expand the scope of the mission.
First you withdraw the troops out of harm's way. Done. Next you evaluate the situation with the underlying goal of withdrawing from conflict. Unlike Obama you don't advertise every move you are going to make. We have overwhelming air power in the area both in the Persian Gulf and the Med. There is no place to hide from air in the desert so if we make a threat we can easily follow through. I don't object to our having troops stationed on bases in Iraq to provide intelligence and logistical support to the Iraqis and Iraqi Kurds who occupy the western part of Iraq. I DO still want us out of Afghanistan.
Is there a way to search the blog to see how many comments had been posted by sunsong, re his beloved Kurds, prior to October 2019? I’m guessing there must have been hundreds...
Trump & Erdogan, A Love Story
E: Can I fuck you up the ass?
T: No.
E: Can I fuck you up the ass?
T: No.
E: Can I fuck you up the ass?
T: Okay, but don’t cum. Don’t cum or I’ll destroy your economy.
E: Nnnnnhhh.
T: Hey!
E: Nnnnnnnnnnhhhhh.
T: Did you cum?
E: What a mess!
T: Well, it’s okay this time. But don’t do it again or I’ll destroy your economy.
E: For five days.
T: Okay then, don’t do it again for five days or I’ll destroy your economy.
E: What are you doing Tuesday?
Trump and his supporters have dredged up the Old Right "America First" isolationism fantasy in which the U.S. doesn't need any allies. We can just go it alone from the rest of the world, they think.
Democrats have not been this warmongerish since Lyndon B.
For those willing to read.
For several years, there has been a significant shift underway in U.S. strategy toward the Middle East, where Washington has consistently sought to avoid combat. The United States is now compelled to seek accommodation with Turkey, a regional power in its own right, based on terms that are geopolitically necessary for both. Their relationship has been turbulent, and while it may continue to be so for a while, it will decline. Their accommodation has nothing to do with mutual affection but rather with mutual necessity. The Turkish incursion into Syria and the U.S. response are part of this adjustment, one that has global origins and regional consequences.
Similarly, the U.S. decision to step aside as Turkey undertook an incursion in northeastern Syria has a geopolitical and strategic origin. The strategic origin is a clash between elements of the Defense Department and the president.
The DoD is still caught in the GWOT theme. Time to recalculate,.
Via Rantburg:
...Germany has the largest Kurdish diaspora in the world, with most coming in various waves from Turkey and Syria
Kurdish protesters were joined by women and feminists groups, environmentalists and leftists of various stripes ‐ including many Germans. In a rarity for a Kurdish protest, all parties in the German parliament except the anti-immigrant Alternative for Deutschland (AfD) had representatives in attendance in Cologne.
The Ottoman Turkish military operation has exacerbated the negative outlook among Germans towards the country and Erdogan developing over the past years. According to a survey conducted by Forschungsgruppe Wahen pollster, 91% of Germans are against arms exports to Turkey and 65% support punitive economic measures against the country due to its offensive in Syria....
Let the Germans handle it.
Via Insty:
POTSDAM, Germany (Reuters) - Germany’s attempt to create a multicultural society has “utterly failed,” Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Saturday, adding fuel to a debate over immigration and Islam polarizing her conservative camp....
We were never there to fight or protect the Syrian Kurds. We there to help them, help us destroy ISIS, mission accomplished. No US administration has promoted Syrian Kudish independence, we have actually dissuaded them from trying to doing so.
If you believe the 28 US military people Trump pulled out acted as a tripwire, you are probably stupid enough to still believe in the Russian Hoax.
@Seeing Red,
The article InstaPundit linked to is nine years old, which Glenn Reynolds apparently didn't notice when he linked it. What's remarkable is that despite Merkel's recognition that multiculturalism wasn't working then, she went ahead and doubled down on it and made things much worse.
The lefties will never forgive Trump for refusing to inflict another useless multi-decade war in the Midfle East upon us.
I can see the democrats ads now: "Trump Refuses To Start Wars!! Impeach!!"
So I guess we can officially retire the dems 2016 campaign theme of "Trump Will Destroy The World By Starting Wars Everywhere!!"
Remember that?
Good times, good times.
I am going to predict Trump gets 70% of the Active Duty Military vote, assuming the lefties dont get large numbers of militaru ballots disqualified again as they have joyfully and gleefully doe in the past.
If all it takes is a couple hundred troops to secure perfect peace in the area, time for NATO to step up.......
........LOLOLOLOLOLOL
re: protecting the Kurds
"There was an understanding that America had given its word" ~ Michael Morell
Here's an excellent analysis of the situation by an actual expert in this matter:
Trump didn't sell out the Kurds by pulling out of Syria
Blogger MikeR said...
... We should do the same in Afghanistan; the only reason we're there is because Pres. Obama needed to claim that Pres. Bush had fought the "wrong war".
10/20/19, 9:36 AM
We are still in Afghanistan because it is a treasure trove of intelligence, sharing porous borders with Iran, Pakistan and China. Been there, done that.
sunsong said...
re: protecting the Kurds
"There was an understanding that America had given its word" ~ Michael Morell
Michael Morell never said that. Those words came from the interviewer Margaret Brennan who ascribed them to General Thomas, the subject of a previous segment. But he didn't say that either.
Here's what he said, from the transcript:
MARGARET BRENNAN: Do you feel that the Kurds led by General Mazloum are essentially being asked to surrender?
GEN. THOMAS: I think they are being asked to survive. And truthfully, the conversation that we've had with them- and I was partner with Brett McGurk at the time- was the intent that they would be part of the future of Syria, whatever that entailed and truthfully we didn't have a- a solid plan for how- how it would end. But they believe that they would be part of the fabric of the future of Syria. And- and- and obviously, right now, they are forced to make deals with the Syrian regime and the Russians.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Well that- that's an important point you raise there because the State Department has said that no- no promise was ever made to the Kurds to help protect them. But you're saying there was some understanding?
GEN THOMAS: There was absolutely a discussion. Brett McGurk and I were there in Kobani where we said that they would be part of the future discussion of Syria in- in return for doing our bidding. That was absolutely the- the- the approach from the previous administration, obviously carried over into the current administration, but they were not fighting for free. They were fighting to be part of that- that future demographic.
That's a long way from, America gave it's word to take and hold territory in Northern Syria against an unforeseen invasion by NATO ally Turkey on behalf of the Kurds, some of whom have provoked Turkey by using that territory as a base for terrorist attacks inside Turkey.
I wish had Nexus so I could do a word search in the New York Times for "Kurd Allies" 2009-2018 and see how many times "Our Noble Allies" were mentioned. And the see how many time they were mentioned in the last six months. The results wold be illuminating.
and timmerman, is a real expert in the region, he wrote that long tract about arms shipments in the iran-iraq war, fanning the flames,
If all it takes is 50 Americans to prevent an invasion, the US Army needs to be cut way down. A 1,000 men and a brass band should do it.
sunsong said...
re: protecting the Kurds
"There was an understanding that America had given its word" ~ Michael Morell
By who? Some CIA guy in sun glasses with a suitcase of cash. No American President ever promised, no SOS ever promised, no Treaty ever promised, a CIA guy (M. Morell) might have promised, but CIA guys are paid to lie.
So, no vacuum, no Kurdovo, no Libyan solution, not even a Kiev (Jordan? Learn from history) coup, no immigration reform. The Kurdish factions will have to reconcile with their neighbors.
They have a terrorist faction known as the Kurdish Freedom Falcons (TAK) that has killed scores of Turks.
This experience is analogous to the conflict between Serbians and Muslims in Europe. However, there is no evidence of a will to carve Turkey, slice Syria, disinter Iraq, etc. in order to establish a Kurdovo.
"We don't need to be in Syria, so we left. We should do the same in Afghanistan; the only reason we're there is because Pres. Obama needed to claim that Pres. Bush had fought the 'wrong war.'"
Of course, they're all the wrong wars.
"'There was an understanding that America had given its word' ~ Michael Morell"
Everyone in the world knows our "word" is always provisional...based on what serves our purposes.
yes, it's an old story, certainly back to 1919, when Kurdish claims in turkey were short circuited by oil concessions there and in Mesopotamia,
Ken B said...
Trump & Erdogan, A Love Story
Thank you. Are you Kurdish? If not, then I must remember that you are an insane person and not talk to you anymore. I'm sure you'll live.
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