
Last week President Trump significantly escalated the US military presence in Syria, sending some 400 Marines to the ISIS-controlled Raqqa, and several dozen Army Rangers to the contested area around Manbij. According to press reports he will also station some 2,500 more US troops in Kuwait to be used as he wishes in Iraq and Syria.
Not only is it illegal under international law to send troops into another country without permission, it is also against US law for President Trump to take the country to war without a declaration. But not only is Trumps first big war illegal: it is doomed to failure because it makes no sense.
President Trump says the purpose of the escalation is to defeat ISIS in Raqqa, its headquarters in Syria. However the Syrian Army with its allies Russia and Iran are already close to defeating ISIS in Syria. Why must the US military be sent in when the Syrian army is already winning? Does Trump wish to occupy eastern Syria and put a Washington-backed rebel government in charge? Has anyone told President Trump what that would to cost in dollars and lives including American lives? How would this US-backed rebel government respond to the approach of a Syrian army backed up by the Russian military?
Is Trump planning on handing eastern Syria over to the Kurds, who have been doing much of the fighting in the area? How does he think NATO-ally Turkey would take a de facto Kurdistan carved out of Syria with its eyes on Kurdish-inhabited southern Turkey?
And besides, by what rights would Washington carve up Syria or any other country?
Or is Trump going to give up on the US policy of regime change and hand conquered eastern Syria back to Assad? If that is the case, why waste American lives and money if the Syrians and their allies are already doing the job? Candidate Trump even said he was perfectly happy with Russia and Syria getting rid of ISIS. If US policy is shifting toward accepting an Assad victory, it could be achieved by ending arms supplies to the rebels and getting out of the way.
It does not appear that President Trump or his advisors have thought through what happens next if the US military takes possession of Raqqa, Syria. What is the endgame? Maybe the neocons told him it would be a cakewalk as they promised before the 2003 Iraq invasion.
Part of the problem is that President Trumps advisors believe the myth that the US surge in Iraq and Afghanistan was a great success and repeating it would being the victory that eluded Obama with his reliance of drones and proxy military forces. A big show of US military force on the ground like the 100,000 sent to Afghanistan by Obama in 2009 is what is needed in Syria, these experts argue. Rarely is it asked that if the surge worked so well why are Afghanistan and Iraq still a disaster?
President Trumps escalation in Syria is doomed to failure. He is being drawn into a quagmire by the neocons that will destroy scores of lives, cost us a fortune, and may well ruin his presidency. He must de-escalate immediately before it is too late.
Poster Comment:
The USA and Turkey are invaders. Russia is there with the permission of the Syrian government.
#1: Vicomte13 To: hondo68 (#0)
Vicomte13 posted on 2017-03-13 15:07:55 Reply Private Reply
#2: Hondo68 To: Vicomte13 (#1)
Getting in the middle of the war between Syria/Russia and ISIS is a lousy idea. It's highly provocative and unnecessary, since ISIS has already been virtually defeated .
Hondo68 posted on 2017-03-13 15:25:13 Reply Private Reply
#3: rlk To: hondo68 (#0)
Turkey was a NATO U. S. ally under Ataturk. But no longer.
rlk posted on 2017-03-13 18:07:28 Reply Private Reply
#4: Pinguinite To: hondo68 (#0)
This is certainly a shortcoming on the part of Trump.
Pinguinite posted on 2017-03-13 18:14:17 Reply Private Reply
#5: A K A Stone To: hondo68 (#0)
A K A Stone posted on 2017-03-13 19:40:44 Reply Private Reply
#6: Gatlin To: Pinguinite (#4)
Uh-huh!
The same usual spot he was on when he said that U.S. intervention in the Middle East is a main motivation behind terrorist hostilities toward America, and that Islam is not a threat to the nation.
And when at a campaign stop while he was running or president, a man asked Ron Paul how terrorist groups would then react if the U.S. removed all its military presence in Middle Eastern nations ..a position that Ron Paul advocates.
Ron Pauls answer was an interesting one
The man specifically asked Ron Paul Radical Islam.Ron Paul, however, did not answer the mans question, but went into his song and dance routine to say
It cannot go unnoticed here that Ron Paul [like Obama and his aides] bent over backwards to avoid using the phrase radical Islam in his answer and he did not respond directly to the mans question.I cannot help but wonder, why that was
Finally, Ron Paul said
From this, I understand that Ron Paul is saying had the U.S. removed all of our troops from the entire Middle East, the 911 attacks would never have occurred. And had the U.S. removed all of our troops from the entire Middle East after the 911 attacks, then the motivation of radical Islamists would cease and desist.Cease and desist like poof .the radical Islamist would somehow magically abandon their unwavering faith in a transcendent deity where radical Islam is a militant, politically activist ideology whose ultimate goal is to create a worldwide community, or caliphate, of Muslim believers .and execute all non- believers who do not embrace Islam.
Sorry, Li'l Abner you may convince your Daisy Mae to believe that
but you damn sure will have a helluva time convincing the vast majority of American that he is spot on in his Middle East position and how the radical Islamists will no longer be a threat to Americans.Gatlin posted on 2017-03-13 20:06:29 Reply Private Reply
#7: paraclete To: Gatlin (#6)
paraclete posted on 2017-03-14 03:25:53 Reply Private Reply
#8: Vicomte13 To: paraclete (#7)
That's true. The US and Russia should ally to crush the Islamists into powder.
Vicomte13 posted on 2017-03-21 15:11:22 Reply Private Reply
#9: Hondo68 To: Gatlin, *Arab Spring Jihad* (#6)
Hondo68 posted on 2017-03-21 16:31:16 Reply Private Reply
#10: sneakypete To: Vicomte13 (#8)
Russia and the US should be allies,period.
sneakypete posted on 2017-03-21 19:50:15 Reply Private Reply
#11: Vicomte13 To: sneakypete (#10)
I agree with you on that.
Vicomte13 posted on 2017-03-21 22:29:48 Reply Private Reply
#12: Deckard To: A K A Stone (#5)
....it is also against US law for President Trump to take the country to war without a declaration.
Or maybe you missed that part.
The last thing this country needs is another invasion of a foreign country under the guise of fighting terrorism.
Of course, I'm not surprised to see that Trump is caving to the neocons.
Deckard posted on 2017-03-22 06:05:09 Reply Private Reply
#13: A K A Stone To: Deckard (#12)
I know that.
Still that he even considers "international" pretend law is dumb.
He has lots of other good points just not this one.
A K A Stone posted on 2017-03-22 06:47:10 Reply Private Reply
#14: Gatlin To: Deckard, A K A Stone (#12)
Gatlin posted on 2017-03-22 09:30:44 Reply Private Reply
#15: A K A Stone To: Gatlin (#14)
Do you know what usurp means?
Was the "shift" legitimate per constitutional rules?
How was it legitimatized? If you know.
A K A Stone posted on 2017-03-22 15:09:28 Reply Private Reply
#16: Gatlin To: A K A Stone (#15)
But I want although that did cross my mind.
Joking aside Please read and take my statement literally .and dont read something into it or try to read something into it, if thats what you are doing, or trying to do.
I stated:
This is true. They did take our country into wars without a declaration [although one was called a conflict it was same thing] and they were notable exceptions of the US law to take the country to war without a declaration. That is exactly what I said, and that is a true statement .period. I didnt call it a shift. So what I think you are asking is: Were those actions constitutional?I will only take time to discuss what, if any, legal basis did Truman act to commit U.S. troops to Korea in June of 1950 .which incidentally still stands as the single most important precedent for the executive use of military action without congressional approval.
I am of the opinion that Truman's unilateral use of armed force in Korea violated the U.S. Constitution [and also the UN Participation Act of 1945, for that matter] because the decision to place U.S. troops in combat and engage the nation in a state of war [regardless of what its call .including a conflict] requires prior approval by Congress.
Ah, but you must realize there have been more that two hundred incidents where Presidents have used force abroad. I say that a war, either small or large, by any other name is still a war although they have been referred to as incidents.But, WOAH, there Old Nellie .hold on. Most of those incidents were minor actions, or adventures taken in the name of directly protecting American lives. Can, or should I condemn or condone any of those? Hmmm I would need to examine each of the specific incidents before doing so.
As great as the Constitution is, and I do think it is .it is a short document and it cannot and it does not attempt to cover every eventuality. Even when it appears clear to some Constitutional Lawyers and Constitutional Experts .there are other Constitutional Lawyers and Constitutional Experts who will argue against them and have different interpretations. There can be conflicting rights and conflicting spheres of power. That is why it is important that judges of the Judicial Branch interpret the Constitution, for that is the way our system was designed.
I could give you many reasons that hundreds of people explained how it [the shift as you called it] was legitimatized .but that would be their justification and not mine. So I say this question is not applicable to me and I trust you can understand this.I hope I have adequately and thoroughly answered your question .and I thank you for taking your time to ask it.
I will now be glad to listen to your opinion or anything you have to say
Gatlin posted on 2017-03-22 17:40:57 Reply Private Reply
#17: Deckard To: Gatlin (#14)
Both wars were based on lies then - I guess that makes it OK, right?
Just like Dubya and his invasion of Iraq to go after non-existent weapons of mass destruction.
De-classified Vietnam-era Transcripts Show Senators Knew Gulf Of Tonkin Was A Staged False Flag Event
The committee decided in the end to effectively conceal the truth, with Senator Church noting that if the committee came up with proof that an attack never occurred, we have a case that will discredit the military in the United States, and discredit and quite possibly destroy the president.
He also noted that if the senators were to follow up on their skepticism over Tonkin, The big forces in this country that have most of the influence and run most of the newspapers and are oriented toward the presidency will lose no opportunity to thoroughly discredit this committee.
The LBJ Presidential tapes, declassified and released in 2001, prove that LBJ knew the Tonkin incident never happened. After dressing down his Defence Secretary Robert McNamara for misleading him, Johnson then discussed how to politically spin the non-event and escalate it as justification for air strikes.
You just came in a few weeks ago and said theyre launching an attack on us theyre firing at us, Johnson tells McNamara in one conversation, and we got through with the firing and concluded maybe they hadnt fired at all.
The NSA also deliberately faked intelligence data to make it appear as if two US ships had been lost in the attack.
Johnson used the 1964 false flag event to expand dramatically the scale of the Vietnam War by ushering in the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, as well as to rope in much needed domestic support with the Congress and public.
*****
THE BIG LIE SELLING YOU WAR WITH NORTH KOREA
The Long History of Lies for War
Deckard posted on 2017-03-24 20:57:02 Reply Private Reply