12
12
0
MY COMMENT:
You seem to want to have your cake and eat it, too. Make up your mind, is Donald Trump's strategy "bizarre" or is there something to it? I never blinked from the first announcement that 50 US troops were being withdrawn from the northern Syria border region. We had no contract with Kurds, nor anyone else in the region to remain. Our mission accomplished (destruction of ISIS), it was time to re-deploy. Donald Trump is a student of the great and wise ancient Chinese philosopher/general, Sun Tzu. He is practicing perhaps the Great Master's most important concept: "One hundred victories in one hundred battles is not the most skillful. Subduing the enemy without battle is the most skillful." Sanctions worked in obtaining a "permanent" cease fire from NATO ally, Turkey. The Russians are playing nice in the sand box, and the Taliban and US negotiator/envoy Khalilzad are off to China to continue negotiations for peace in Afghanistan. The Taliban were prepared last month to sign their own cease fire with President Trump, until one of their attacks killed a US soldier, prompting President Trump to say that negotiations were "dead." To get what you want you have to be willing to walk away. T.E. Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia) famously said: "Do not try to do too much with your own hands. Do not try to do too much with your own hands. Better the Arabs do it tolerably than that you do it perfectly. It is their war, and you are to help them, not to win it for them." What's needed is a Middle East Marshall Plan, led NOT by the United States, but by committed Arab and other Middle East stake holders. They have the wealth and ability to re-build what war has broken down. Except for lives lost on both sides, an oasis can be re-imagined and built. But for any of it to work, those currently committed to death and destruction must see more profit in life than in death.
You seem to want to have your cake and eat it, too. Make up your mind, is Donald Trump's strategy "bizarre" or is there something to it? I never blinked from the first announcement that 50 US troops were being withdrawn from the northern Syria border region. We had no contract with Kurds, nor anyone else in the region to remain. Our mission accomplished (destruction of ISIS), it was time to re-deploy. Donald Trump is a student of the great and wise ancient Chinese philosopher/general, Sun Tzu. He is practicing perhaps the Great Master's most important concept: "One hundred victories in one hundred battles is not the most skillful. Subduing the enemy without battle is the most skillful." Sanctions worked in obtaining a "permanent" cease fire from NATO ally, Turkey. The Russians are playing nice in the sand box, and the Taliban and US negotiator/envoy Khalilzad are off to China to continue negotiations for peace in Afghanistan. The Taliban were prepared last month to sign their own cease fire with President Trump, until one of their attacks killed a US soldier, prompting President Trump to say that negotiations were "dead." To get what you want you have to be willing to walk away. T.E. Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia) famously said: "Do not try to do too much with your own hands. Do not try to do too much with your own hands. Better the Arabs do it tolerably than that you do it perfectly. It is their war, and you are to help them, not to win it for them." What's needed is a Middle East Marshall Plan, led NOT by the United States, but by committed Arab and other Middle East stake holders. They have the wealth and ability to re-build what war has broken down. Except for lives lost on both sides, an oasis can be re-imagined and built. But for any of it to work, those currently committed to death and destruction must see more profit in life than in death.
The beginning of the end of US policy?
Posted from middleeastmonitor.com
Taliban
War on Terror
Donald Trump
Syria
Posted 5 y ago
Responses: 9
8
8
0
It is too early to tell if Trump can change the dynamic in the middle east. He is trying and doing different things and sending messages about how we will engage/disengage. Most in the diplomatic and political circles don't like it because they have built careers around the status quo.
(8)
(0)
5
5
0
2
2
0
The small amount of troops we had there were never going to stop the Turks. They would have been slaughtered and then used as a reason to go to war with the Turks. The fact President Trump realizes this, and i willing to try different things to achieve his goals, is admirable. We have a massive economy, and plenty of other tools. Using that economy to achieve your goals, rather than troops is a win/win for me. It is amazing watching all of these idiots in Congress and on TV, clamoring for war.
(2)
(0)
MAJ Montgomery Granger
OK, but consider that the President's move was calculated to obtain what he now has, safe Kurds (he is now encouraging them to occupy oil fields in Syria), controlled Turkey (permanent ceasefire in place), Russians mute, and fewer Americans sitting around in the sand box waiting to be whacked. At the beginning of this no one imagined such results. Remember one of the most useful elements of success in battle: Deception and surprise. We only get to know what they want us to know. Real troop strengths and movements are classified. The whole operation was meant to confuse and perhaps get any remaining ISIS to expose themselves. We don't know what we don't know and don't need to know. What they trow up for public (and enemy) consumption rarely has anything to do with reality. It is my guess that Kurdish leaders knew about the move WAY in advance.
(1)
(0)
Read This Next
Continue with Facebook 
Continue with Google