Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis Resigns - Trump Went a Step Too Far

Isis have 3 pockets in Syria, two of them are completely surrounded by Assad and its his forces and allies that have been fighting those ones, one quite deep into his territory, the 3rd one is on the edge, wedged between Iraq, the Kurds and Assad, but that's part of the Iraqi deployment (since its spillage from Iraq). The Syrian campaign for the US is in that north west quadrant, keeping it in a permanent state of war, and really has nothing to do with ISIS.

Trump wants nothing to do with that section, Mattis does as he has stated before. This is not about ISIS.

 

Note this is being reported by fox news, quoting senior defense department official... "As one senior US defense official put it to me, "no one will ever work or fight with us in the Middle East again." And, the decision was influenced by Turkey's Erdogan.

 

Trump is just so despicable. He betrayed the Kurds, Israel, Europe all at the same time.

 

It's been pretty obvious all along that our mistake-in-chief shrinks like a little p***y and gives in to the demands of men who are actually men and not perpetual toddlers.

 

You can’t betray your allies like that, the way he handles foreign policy is similar to how he handles his personal life. This makes me sad, the Kurds will get slaughtered.

I just can’t wrap my head around how morons in this country continue to support him. Kelly, Rex, and now Mattis are all gone and only Kelly is holding his tongue for how much of an idiot trump is.

 

Does anybody really believe Trump gave two seconds of consideration for a bunch of Muslims who happen to be allies?

Everybody not named Trump is for sale when convenient. "The Art of The Deal", indeed. He's not going to lose even one second of sleep over this betrayal.

 

"As one senior US defense official put it to me, "no one will ever work or fight with us in the Middle East again."

That may not be a bad thing. We really don't need to be there and never should have gone there.

 

That's a very naive stance. You are there and will be there.

 

Rare time I will agree with ATW. Isolationism in a world where messages and news are sent across the globe in a span of miliseconds are in no way feasible. The U.S must have a ME presence, especially post Iraq given how the region has destabilized since then.

 

I'm not sure if he was being dishonest, or just honestly doesn't know what happened.

 

I don't think too many people were upset that Mattis took the position. He received praise from both Democrats and Republicans and has had support from both throughout his tenure.

 

This is an area that Trump is at odds with many Republicans and Evangelicals.

They don't mind spilling US blood to back Israel and deal in these foreign wars and affairs.
He has traditionally been an America First even in regards to war and international policy.

You've shown a propensity for an anti-muslim/arab states and very pro-Israel bend.

I think we as a global business economy should stay out of military affairs that don't benefit
our long-term commercial standings in these countries.

I don't know the details but I do know Military have spent their whole lives learning and knowing
war. Its what they know and to the man with the hammer, everything looks like a nail.

These generals and such will never reduce troop presences around the world, they'll never reduce
the size of our military or its standings and will believe that they are the most important piece of world
stability.

I think they are wrong. Military might is about money. Money is about commerce and the history
and success of the US is based on its history of entrepreneurs and business and the lack of guilds
and government telling people what they can't and can do. That combination mixed with
more aggressive by self selection immigrants has built a nation that controls much of the world's
commerce.

So people elected Trump because he was against war and troops around the world for the sake of it.

Not to surprising the military wanted to keep thousands of troops places and Trump was against this.
If we remember 9/11 was a result (by OBL's own admission) of having US troops in Saudi Arabia in their
holy land.

Let's stay out of foreign entanglements and just make sure after a hard day of fighting in the middle east,
they ride home in a Ford Truck, drinking a Coca Cola with an Iphone and while wearing Polo Jeans
and Nike shoes.

 

Except those things are all made in foreign countries by people who will soon be too busy chanting "Death to America" to go to work.

 

He went too far, no Marine could accept it

 

There's a very good chance Mattis resigned over Syria, not just because he disagrees with the end of the military engagement, but because of the reason

The reason seems to be: The President of the United States, Donald J. Trump is being personally blackmailed by Turkey and Russia over Khasoggi, Flynn, and his personal financial affairs, as well as his crimes durin the campaign.

This, yet again, is immediate grounds for impeachment. The President swore an oath to provide for the common defense and he is, yet again, failing to do so, putting his personal & financial interests first, causing the Secretary of Defense to resign in disgust.

Again, the question for Democrats in February is not whether or not impeachemnt is the right political move in teh short-term calculus of beltway **** talkers and sunday talk shows, but whether or not tehre is a moral and ethical duty to impeach.

It really looks like there is.

 

LOL, wow Sam has lost it.

 

Hahahahahaha. Dude Trump owns your brain.

"Never hate your enemy, it clouds your judgement" Michael Corleone!

 

It's possible to be a less-active player in the Mideast and not totally shred your reputation.

Does this even need to be explained?

 

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2018/12/kurdish-led-forces-isil-prisoners-181221124343666.html

SDF discusses plan to release 3,200 local and foreign ISIL fighters after US decided to pull out its troops from Syria.

Kurdish-led forces in Syria may not be able to hold prisoners from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) if the situation in the region gets out of control, a senior Syrian-Kurdish official has said.

Ilham Ahmed of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) warned that the Trump administration's decision to withdraw all of its forces would have dangerous repercussions and a destabilising effect on the entire region.

"Under the threat of the Turkish state, and with the possibility of Daesh (ISIL) reviving once again, I fear the situation will go out of control and we no longer be able to contain them," Ahmed said at a news conference in Paris on Friday when asked if the SDF was considering releasing hundreds of ISIL detainees.



https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/20/world/middleeast/isis-syria-prisoner-release-trump.html

A report by the Syrian Observatory said the S.D.F. leadership was discussing the prisoners’ release because the home countries of many of them had refused to take them back. The observatory, a London-based group with a network of citizen monitors throughout Syria whose work is widely considered credible, said the prisoners come from 31 countries in addition to Syria, and their family members from 41 countries.

The S.D.F. was also concerned that it would need all of its fighters to defend against a possible Turkish military invasion, the report said — a prospect made more likely by a United States withdrawal.

The Syrian Democratic Forces are predominantly made up of Kurdish fighters from the Y.P.G., the People’s Protection Units, but under American tutelage the group has signed up many Arab fighters opposed to the Islamic State; Arabs now make up about 40 percent of the force, which has up to 75,000 fighters. The group has been trained, advised, financed and supplied by the United States, which has 2,000 troops, mostly Special Operations forces, in Syria allied with the S.D.F.

With American support, especially from airstrikes, since 2016 the Kurds have pushed the Islamic State out of most of the territory it held in eastern and northern Syria, reducing the extremists to a pocket of about 20 square miles on the Iraqi border, near the town of Hajin, far from any cities. Fighting continues in that area, although the S.D.F. claimed last week to have ousted the Islamic State from Hajin.

Turkey has vowed to attack the S.D.F. because it considers the Y.P.G. as a front for the outlawed Peoples Workers Party, or P.K.K., in Turkey, and last week it said a cross-border invasion to attack the Kurds was only days away.