Friday, January 24, 2020

U.S. Senators Demand A Syria Strategy From The Pentagon

A US soldier sits atop an armoured vehicle during a demonstration by Syrian Kurds against Turkish threats next to a base for the US-led international coalition on the outskirts of Ras al-Ain town in Syria's Hasakeh province near the Turkish border on October 6, 2019. - US forces in Syria started pulling back today from Turkish border areas, opening the way for Ankara's threatened military invasion and heightening fears of a jihadist resurgence. DELIL SOULEIMAN

The Hill: Senators push Pentagon on Syria strategy after withdrawal uproar, Soleimani strike

A bipartisan pair of senators is pressing the Pentagon for “clarity” on the U.S. military mission in Syria.

In a letter to the top officials at the Pentagon, Sens. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) and Mitt Romney (R-Utah) cited both the recent spike in U.S.-Iran tensions and last year’s firestorm over President Trump’s order to withdraw from Syria when seeking answers to a dozen questions on the U.S. strategy in Syria.

“We would appreciate further clarity about the mission of U.S. troops currently deployed to Syria,” the senators wrote to Defense Secretary Mark Esper and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Mark Milley in a letter obtained by The Hill ahead of its release. “Until now, the administration has not articulated a coherent and consistent strategy to Congress.”

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WNU Editor: When President Trump declared that he wanted US troops out of Syria, the uproar from Congress, the media, and foreign policy experts was overwhelming negative. And now the same people are demanding clarity on what is the policy and strategy to keep US soldiers there?!?!? You can't have it both ways. If you want US soldiers to remain there, lets have a public debate on why US troops should say there, and after that decide on how to make it happen. Shifting all of this decision making process to the Pentagon is (to me) just an attempt to shift all of the responsibility to the Pentagon in the event of things going wrong. If this is not CYA, I do nto know what is. President Trump was right when he said it was time for US forces to leave Syria, and I predict that regardless on what the Congress, the media, and the foreign policy establishment are saying, in the end there will be a withdrawal of US forces from that country.

7 comments:

Roger Smith said...


I wonder the impact on politicians if the TV cameras weren't a part of these news interviews?

Anonymous said...

The Sunnis and Shia are irredentists, which makes them a danger to isolationists or non-isolationists.

A Kurdish state is in America's best interest. The Shia in Iraq have shown that they will not give the Kurds (or the Sunni) a square deal. At this point why would Basher Assad give the Kurds a square deal. Historically, for the last 50 years the Ala'wites in Syria have not given the Sunni a fair deal (since Hafez seized power in 1970).

Balkanization into ethnic states might force the people into fair commerce in order to survive and therefore bring peace. Islam sure hasn't done it. Islam is a global irredentist ideology (Isolation in such a case is a fool's bet).

Anonymous said...

The pentagon does not set foreign policy in a democracy

Bob Huntley said...

"And now the same people are demanding clarity on what is the policy and strategy to keep US soldiers there?!?!?"

As in they want to know what is going on perhaps, given that what is happening appears contrary to the actions taken by Trump to pull out?

Anonymous said...

Trump wanted to pull them out. Most of Washington wanted to keep them there. This is a CYA maneuver by Washington.

Come on bob, certainly you are not that daft.

Maybe you are. Maybe being the ingénue that you are, you would not get the game of daughter or girlfriend.

Bob Huntley said...

The sick Anon at his best?

Anonymous said...

Damn Bob, your lexile score is really low and you are daft to boot.

I said you were such a naif that you could be in the middle of sin city and not know it.