Ret. general: Syria pullback looks like an open door to disaster.
Last edited Fri Oct 18, 2019, 11:46 AM - Edit history (1)
by General Wesley Clark
'Every military leader understands that the most difficult military operation is the withdrawal under pressure. In the face of the enemy, a bungled withdrawal becomes a retreat, and a retreat can become a rout.
Earlier this month, the Trump administration announced it was pulling troops from the border area between Turkey and Syria. Just days later, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced the military would launch an offensive into northeastern Syria, aimed at Kurdish forces, which were left vulnerable with US troops withdrawn.
With this latest US pullback, the United States' strategic withdrawal from the Mideast looks like an open door to regional disaster -- or worse, to a wholesale loss of American influence, perhaps worldwide. The US Senate, and especially the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, owes it to the men and women in uniform, and those who have previously served, to hold the hearings that will make sense of this strategy, or help develop a better approach.
These hearings should be asking the fundamental questions: Why was the withdrawal ordered with apparently no military preparation? Why was there no effort to resolve Erdogan's boiling ambitions in Syria through diplomacy and mediation? With US troops withdrawn, what is the strategy for maintaining our ability to secure US interests in the region? And what are the implications for US alliances worldwide -- and the safety and security of our military and their families serving around the globe?'>>>
https://www.cnn.com/2019/10/16/opinions/syria-withdrawal-open-door-disaster-clark/index.html
crickets
(25,963 posts)with apparently no military preparation?"
Good question. Where were the generals who could have, and should have, said no - if not to the command itself, at least to the timing and execution of necessary details before leaving? How could they put their own troops in this situation?
I claim no military knowledge at all, but I am stunned that not one military leader could push back and say, "We can leave, but it will take x steps in preparation, and x amount of time to do it safely." It's obvious Trump has no knowledge or care about the details, but those whose career involves these very things?
Was there no one who could explain to Dummy in Chief that this was a strategically idiotic idea and he needed to immediately walk it back? Other than passing a resolution in the House, Congress has made little noise about the War Powers clause that could have stopped this, if it were implemented properly. In recent history Congress has let president after president act without oversight in this regard other than a rubber stamp after the fact, and it's come back to bite all of us now, hard. Congressional reaction has been too little and too late, while people are needlessly dying because of the whims of an incompetent fool whose allegiances are questionable at best.
SharonAnn
(13,772 posts)elleng
(130,865 posts)Generals have no authority to 'JUST SAY NO.'
lagomorph777
(30,613 posts)Pres. Turd will burn in hell for this.