Trump stops arming terrorists in Syria; warmongers have a meltdown

For only the second time, Trump did something I approved of.

The Trump administration has decided to halt the CIA's covert programme to equip and train certain rebel groups fighting the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, two US officials said, a move sought by Assad ally Russia.
...The decision was made nearly a month ago with National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster and CIA Director Mike Pompeo after they consulted with lower ranking officials and before Trump's July 7 meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the G20 summit in Germany. It was not part of US-Russian negotiations on a ceasefire in southwestern Syria, the two officials said.
One of the officials said the US was not making a major concession, given Assad's grip on power, although not on all of Syria, "but it's a signal to Putin that the administration wants to improve ties to Russia".

I give Trump BIG kudos on this, because those "rebels" have been nothing but head-chopping jihadists for years.
This is a HUGE victory against terrorism.

For amusement, look at how this good news was reported - as the opposite of reality.

'Putin won in Syria': Trump is reportedly ending the CIA's covert program to arm Syrian rebels

Ned Price, a former CIA officer who served as senior director of the National Security Council under President Barack Obama, declined to comment on any purportedly covert intelligence programs. But he said the Post report "raises serious questions about what the administration may have furtively given away in return" for the "limited and fragile ceasefire" achieved with Putin in southern Syria.
"It also fits a broader pattern," Price said. 'The White House appears content to kowtow to Moscow on any number of fronts — including in Syria, where, with each passing day, this administration appears to harbor fewer objections to the continued rule of Bashar al-Assad, a murderous dictator who continues to slaughter his own people."

Trump Ends Covert Aid to Syrian Rebels Trying to Topple Assad

But the pressure on Mr. Assad was not great enough to force him to enter negotiations to end the civil war. Nor was it sufficient to clear the way for the rebel groups to take over major cities or approach the capital, Damascus. The program also sought to bolster so-called moderate rebels against extremist factions like the Syrian affiliate of Al Qaeda.

Trump ends covert CIA program to arm anti-Assad rebels in Syria, a move sought by Moscow

Some analysts said the decision to end the program was likely to empower more radical groups inside Syria and damage the credibility of the United States.
“We are falling into a Russian trap,” said Charles Lister, a senior fellow at the Middle East Institute, who focuses on the Syrian resistance. “We are making the moderate resistance more and more vulnerable. . . . We are really cutting them off at the neck.”
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Pricknick's picture

@gjohnsit
Your essays and diaries stand on their own.
You really don't have to bring TOP into your work to make it important, invaluable or pertinent.
Thanks for all you do.

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Regardless of the path in life I chose, I realize it's always forward, never straight.

Alphalop's picture

@Pricknick

Besides I find it funny and it has become kind of a meme here.

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"I used to vote Republican & Democrat, I also used to shit my pants. Eventually I got smart enough to stop doing both things." -Me

edg's picture

@gjohnsit

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joe shikspack's picture

as they have in the past to fund covert projects that the cia wants to enact but can't spend us money on.

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Big Al's picture

@joe shikspack Trump is not fighting terrorism.

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Pricknick's picture

@Big Al

the Wa Post is a propaganda rag.

Now when will people drop it? They went from a rag mag to internet propaganda.

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Regardless of the path in life I chose, I realize it's always forward, never straight.

Big Al's picture

@Pricknick the war OF terror is bullshit, it's all a fraud so reporting that there is some kind of progress is pure lies, especially because of Trump, is pure lies.

"ISIS is a State-Sponsored Militant Proxy - Not an Independent Organization 

ISIS is first and foremost a proxy military organization, created by and for the state sponsors that fuel it politically, financially, and militarily. As revealed in a 2012 US Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) document (PDF), these include the United States itself, its European partners, NATO-member Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Jordan, as well as Israel.

The summation of ISIS' fighting capacity stems from a torrent of cash, weapons, supplies, and military protection provided to the group, particularly in the establishment of safe havens within Turkey, Jordan, and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights where Syria and its allies are unable to strike."

http://landdestroyer.blogspot.com/search/label/Syria

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@Big Al

for the quotation, and for saying the war of terror is bullshit and a fraud. But I do think the American military is divided into factions, one of which opposes the CIA covertly or otherwise, in conjunction with degenerate allies, arming forces to fight our own forces, as unlikely as it might seem in the age of total corruption. I do think this sounds like a voice of common sense finally trying to find a way out of this quicksand.

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Not Henry Kissinger's picture

Charles Lister, a senior fellow at the Middle East Institute, who focuses on the Syrian resistance. “We are making the moderate resistance more and more vulnerable. . . . We are really cutting them off at the neck.

Ironic News Headline of the Week

Trump Ends Covert Aid to Syrian Rebels Trying to Topple Assad

I guess now that the aid is over it's no longer covert.

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The current working assumption appears to be that our Shroedinger's Cat system is still alive. But what if we all suspect it's not, and the real problem is we just can't bring ourselves to open the box?

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