Trump wants out of Syria.
Despite Mattis, Kelly, and now Bolton, DJT is starting to sound a little like a peacenik (note, I said "a little like").
Here is the brief announcement from a press conference. Make of this what you will. I expect answers ranging from BullShit to 9th dimensional chess. Okay, Swampers, let's have at it.
WASHINGTON — President Trump said Tuesday that he will make a decision soon on U.S. troop levels in Syria, saying he wants to “bring our troops back home” as soon as possible and complaining that interventions in the Muslim world has brought America “nothing except death and destruction.”
“We’ll be making a decision as to what we do in the very near future,” Trump told reporters at a joint press conference at the White House with the presidents of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia. “I want to get out. I want to bring our troops back home.”
He claimed that the United States had spent $7 trillion on the global war on terrorism declared after 9/11, including invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq. That figure appears to be roughly double more conventional estimates.
“We have nothing, nothing except death and destruction. It’s a horrible thing,” he said. “So it’s time. It’s time. We were very successful against ISIS. We’ll be successful against anybody militarily. But sometimes it’s time to come back home, and we’re thinking about that very seriously.”
https://www.aol.com/article/news/2018/04/03/trump-i-want-to-get-out-of-s...
Comments
Here's another.
Funny that I trust this site more than anything tied to AOL.
This is from 03/29/18.
https://www.rt.com/usa/422728-trump-syria-leave-troops/
Regardless of the path in life I chose, I realize it's always forward, never straight.
So we're supposed to believe that after Tillerson said
"In January, then-Secretary of State Rex Tillerson outlined a plan that envisioned extended US presence in Syria to ensure a peaceful transfer of power to a “post-Assad leadership.” In December last year, the Pentagon said US troops would remain in Syria for “as long as we need to, to support our partners and prevent the return of terrorist groups.”
and then Trump hires rabid anti-Iran Pompeo as SOS and even more rabid neocon Bolton as his NSI, that Trump is suddenly deciding to end U.S. warmaking in the M.E.?
Ya, that makes sense.
No, don't believe a word of it, it's all obfuscation.
Trump is so full of bullshit, holes and contradictions the only reasonable course is to believe everything he says is a lie or a smokescreen.
Well of course he is.
I would recommend Iran to heighten awareness.
Regardless of the path in life I chose, I realize it's always forward, never straight.
When both RT and AOL report the same thing
reality of the reporting is more likely.
One hypothesis here is that naming the "super-hawks" to his inner circle reassures the MIC. Note he promises more money this year and then even more in 2019 for the military. With the MIC placated, the neocons have to cajole the Dims into a more war-like posture. Perhaps that's why so many "peace-loving" former spooks are running as Democrats. Trump has outmaneuvered the Dims.
Double "conventional" estimates?
If anything, Trump's figure of $7 trillion is a low-ball estimate. War ain't cheap. Just ask the defense contractors gleefully rubbing their hands on their way to the bank.
And that doesn't include diversions for CIA use
CIA use is often contrary to the executive and certainly to society. Drugs for weapons. Drugs for children.
Bingo!
The figure I quoted during our local Peace vigil was that the estimate of the total costs of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan was expected to run between $4.5 and $6 Trillion based upon a 2013 study by a Harvard researcher, Linda J. Bilmes.
The difference between many of these low ball quoted costs and the real costs is that the publicly quoted costs include what I describe as hard costs, such as weapons and equipment. The real costs of these wars is far higher due to the long term costs as a result of these wars, such as veterans' services or the rebuilding of these countries we have destroyed. These costs are not a one shot deal like the cost of a bomb, but are ongoing costs that extend often for decades.
In addition, the real costs of these wars goes far beyond what can be tabulated on an accounting sheet. The human costs of these wars are enormous, both abroad and at home. In addition, perpetual war has had a very negative effect upon the moral character of the citizens of the US and upon the militarization of law enforcement. We live in a nation where human lives are considered expendable, either as throwaway people or the senseless violence and killing that occurs on a daily basis in the US.
Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?
“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." ~ President John F. Kennedy
Talk is cheap isn't it
trumpkopf likes to say the right thing
but usually does the wrong thing
I never knew that the term "Never Again" only pertained to
those born Jewish
"Antisemite used to be someone who didn't like Jews
now it's someone who Jews don't like"
Heard from Margaret Kimberley
Trump may be unpredictable,
and his decisions may have to do with whomever he spoke with last, meaning minutes ago, but I'm hoping his decision to get out of Syria is grounded in the fact that he likes business, deals, money, and that what Putin is doing looks more interesting to him than bombing.
I ran across these 2 articles today before reading Alligator Ed's posting. These articles may represent the kind of information that impresses Trump about Putin's approach to the Syrian problem. And I'm astonished that the SDF, the group we are supporting, has cooperated in this deal. In the second article, about Iraq, Rosneft is the leader of Russia's petroleum industry.
Very interesting news but don't overlook the 'handed over' part
Why did previously no-holds barred US supported Syrian rebels hand over an oil field without fighting like hell to keep control of a major economic asset? Leaving the who-bought-out-who oil transactions aside, I suspect that Mattis told the so-called rebels that they were getting no more support and get the hell outta Dodge.
Where's
Matt Dillon when you need him?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matt_Dillon_(Gunsmoke)
Regardless of the path in life I chose, I realize it's always forward, never straight.