Assuming he does not change his mind, kudos to Trump, twice.
Bring the Troops Home!
So hard to believe that Lindsey Graham would be against saving soldier lives & billions of $$$. Why are we fighting for our enemy, Syria, by staying & killing ISIS for them, Russia, Iran & other locals? Time to focus on our Country & bring our youth back home where they belong!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 20, 2018
After historic victories against ISIS, it’s time to bring our great young people home! pic.twitter.com/xoNjFzQFTp
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 19, 2018
Does the USA want to be the Policeman of the Middle East, getting NOTHING but spending precious lives and trillions of dollars protecting others who, in almost all cases, do not appreciate what we are doing? Do we want to be there forever? Time for others to finally fight…..
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 20, 2018
“I’m proud of the President today to hear that he is declaring victory in Syria.” Senator Rand Paul. “I couldn’t agree more with the presidents decision. By definition, this is the opposite of an Obama decision. Senator Mike Lee
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 20, 2018
Thank You President Trump!
I am truly sick of partisan politics. The Democrats will never admit when Trump does anything good, and vice versa.
Warmongers United
Withdrawal of this small American force in Syria would be a huge Obama-like mistake. https://t.co/atsjHUyJlB
— Lindsey Graham (@LindseyGrahamSC) December 19, 2018
The conditions in Afghanistan – at the present moment – make American troop withdrawals a high risk strategy.
If we continue on our present course we are setting in motion the loss of all our gains and paving the way toward a second 9/11.
— Lindsey Graham (@LindseyGrahamSC) December 20, 2018
Afghanistan? Iraq? Isn’t 17 years enough? What the hell did we even accomplish?
The fact remains, we should not have been there in the first place. ISIS is a US creation caused by an asinine war in Iraq that should never have happened.
Defense Secretary Resigns
In response to Trump’s pullout in Syria, defense secretary Mattis resigned.
Proving that many on the Left are nothing but creepy warmongers as well, Alex Ward and Jen Kirby writing for the Vox claim James Mattis, the last “adult” in the Trump administration, resigns as defense secretary.
“I’d rather have Jim Mattis in the room than not in the room,” Leon Panetta, one of former President Obama’s defense secretaries, told Vox in March, nearly 10 months before Mattis’s ouster. “His legacy will be he fought the good battle. But because of the nature of the president, it was one he couldn’t win.”
Personally, I’s rather all the warmongers go the way of McCain, as soon as possible. It is especially sickening to see Left-Wing warmongers.
I stand with Rand. Kudos to Trump!
Next Step
Dear President Trump, bring all of our troops home, from Germany, Japan, everywhere.
Mike “Mish” Shedlock
The problem is Russia and China are not benevolent actors. If you think they wouldn’t take us over if we did nothing then you are mistaken. We can combat them geopolitically overseas or we can become the Chinese Pacific states of America and Russian territory.
Amen Mish. Well said.
Another promise kept, and a great Christmas present for American troops.
“Warmongers United”
The hysterics of the critics remind me of the hysterics of global warming alarmists.
“If we continue on our present course we are setting in motion the loss of all our gains and paving the way toward a second 9/11.”
There were clues that 9/11 was coming, particularly that certain people were taking flying lessons, who were not interested so much in how to take off or land a plane. And of coarse, Moussoui had been arrested. Actor James Woods, saw something and said something about strangely behaving passengers on a flight to L.A.
9/11 could have been prevented and that was before the Patriot Act or anything else security wise in the wake of 9/11. Preventing 9/11 was not dependent on a never ending war in the Middle East.
Best week for a president in decades: Criminal justice reform, troops out of two quagmires, and now the federal government will likely “shut down”. Trump is not a Republican, he is a 3rd party that is a mix of Libertarian, conservative, and populist. Although he is very wrong on free trade, he is so right on many important other issues. This has been a great week for freedom and liberty!
When George W Bush was President, his Sec of Defense was a banker. Since the role of Sec of Defense was held by someone with absolutely no military experience, the position itself is non-essential. Mattis’ departure does not jeopardize the country.
Can we stop this nonsense about how the US defeated ISIS? We were not in Syria to defeat ISIS. We were there to get Assad out. And ISIS was a useful tool for that. If anyone defeated ISIS it was Syria and Russia. Every time Russia and/or Syria made headway against ISIS, we screamed something about them attacking US forces or attacking civilians.
Trump’s Syria exit excuse may be shallow, but an excuse was needed and that one is as good as any. Trump said he would let Assad and Russia continue to fight ISIS as necessary. I am all for it!
Mish the more I hear from you the more you seem to relish playing the “useful fool” roll for Moscow. These weren’t hot wars, they were stabilizing forces in places that are bound to deteriorate now to our disadvantage. Simultaneously we’re throwing some of our only allies in the area under the bus (Kurds). It will take decades if ever to restore the broken trust.
This is not the ‘50 s.
RC, the so called war on terror is destabilizing.
The war in Syria, over a gas pipeline, has killed some 500,000 Syrians and turned millions more into refugees, which in turn, resulted in a migrant crisis in Europe that is destabilizing European countries.
Overthrowing Saddam destabilized Iraq. Overthrowing Khadaffi, destabilized Libya. Afghanistan has been unstable for ever, it seems.
If you want to talk about useful fools for Moscow, talk about those who moved NATO to the Russian border and meddled in the 1996 Russian election, which lead to Putin coming to power in 2000. He isn’t the pushover that Yeltsin was. He fights back, as can be seen after the overthrow of Yanukovich and attempted overthrow of Assad.
As for the Kurds, they haven’t been offered a homeland of their own, cut out of their corner of Iraq, Syria or Turkey. At one time Saddam was an ally of convenience, too.
Ron J…you are wasting your time with your intelligent detailed response to Cataldi. He’s a victim of a severe terminal case of TDS.
About damn time. These endless wars created by the military industrial complex kill our troops and waste our money (and my family is/was all military back to WW1).
Let the world deal with their own messes (and pay for them). Protect our country at home for a change and stop stirring up hatred around the world by all of the collateral killing of non-combatants. Time to be more like the Swiss.
Yep. The whole Syria thing is all about Iran vs Israeli expansion.
I applaud Trump’s decision to remove troops from Syria and Afghanistan. It’s long past the time that we ended these unnecessary and undeclared wars.
At the same time I am discouraged with the universal response by Republicans, Democrats and the media to the news that we are withdrawing our troops. Perhaps never in our history has news of ending a war been met with so much protest. That’s America today, completely brainwashed (or bought) by the MIC.
I’m also concerned that this will ultimately be nothing more than a major redeployment to more serious areas of conflict, such as Ukraine or Korea. The neocons are itching for a war somewhere but the reality that our military is far too stretched (and our budget is out of control) is limiting its ability to engage in a major engagement elsewhere. John Bolton commented on this very issue several weeks ago. I’m deeply suspicious that this administration with Bolton and Pompeo in key roles has suddenly become doves.
Kudos kudos kudos to Trump. (Still doesn’t jive with all his neocons like Bolton/Pompeo ….). How does that work ?
I was overjoyed when the Syria pullout news broke yesterday morning but have become more subdued after reading more. It appears this could be an “Art of the Deal” maneuver between Trump and Erdogan, where Trump enlists Turkey’s support as we ratchet up political/economic/possibly military action on Iran, plus he stops Turkey from going after the House of Saud any further. Soon the Khashoggi story will be as dead as the man himself. In return, Turkey gets carte blanche to wipe out Kurds in both Syria and Turkey while we (and the rest of the West) look the other way for years to come. It looks like the whole idea of Kurdistan is dead for generations at the very least.
I have no particular love for the Kurds and always thought they were fools for being US cheerleaders while alienating all their neighbors, but any buildup toward Iran is ominous. Trump has always hated Iran (much to the delight of the Saudis and Israelis) and may view toppling them as the signature move of his presidency. I hope this isn’t true, but soon we’ll all find out! If this is the case, it means abandoning a “small” war in Syria for a potentially much larger one in Iran. It would also explain why neocons like Bolton and Pompeo aren’t publicly objecting the Syria withdrawal when one would expect them to scream bloody murder.
AMEN. Time to let these countries solve their own damn problems. Let’s start by paying down our enormous debt.
The US has been the policeman of the world since at least 1947’s Truman doctrine, but more like 1917 when Wilson decided to throw out the Monroe Doctrine and enter WWI — a cataclysmic mistake. I’m not a fan of Trump, but one benefit of having such an outsider in office is that he will sometimes go against the tide in surprisingly good ways.
I am SAD Trump is leaving Syrian Kurds who fought against ISIS even more than Assad at the mercy of Turkey.
Also Europe has hundreds of thousands of failed Afghan asylum seekers so it would be helpful if Trump kept some troops at Afghanistan so EU countries could return these Afghans back to Afganistan.
In that case, the EU should send their own troops to stabilize Afghanistan so hundreds of refugees can return. That seems like a net win for the EU (even without US involvement.)
Lindsey Graham’s tweet is an endorsement of never ending war. The “facts” on the ground will never justify withdrawal in the view of people like him. If 17 years, thousands of lives, and trillions of dollars can’t contain one of the poorest countries in the world, declare victory and come home. What will change over the next 17 years? Will Afghani’s suddenly believe in liberal democracy? When will 9/11 stop being the excuse for shoveling money down the military-industrial complex drain?
Tell the locals to run themselves as they see fit. If any local leader or group is connected to terrorism against the US, we’ll be coming to get that individual or group. Barring that, they should be left alone to govern themselves.
Trump deserves the Nobel peace prize. Unlike his predecessor, Trump decimated ISIS and is making progress in resolving N Korea nuclear crisis.
Trump actually tweeted something sensible. I’m stunned, and pleased.
Translation: Northrup Grumman and Lockhead Martin have paid us big time to keep these wars going, puff puff give, stop fucking up the rotation.
“Personally, I’s rather all the warmongers go the way of McCain, as soon as possible.”
Me too! In fact, Americans should vote down any politician who advocates going to war. Beats me how they cannot see that the decision of such war advocates (of fighting someone else’s war) just puts their life on the line for a cause they might not be concerned about. Time for citizens to wake up.