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Thread: What Is The Current US Policy In Syria?

  1. #31
    It's our standard pinata policy.

    We gotta vote for it to find out what's in it.
    We gotta go to war to find out if it was worth it.

    The enemy is anyone who interferes with US interests.

    US interests involve making enemies of anyone who questions US interests.

    Any questions?
    When a trumpet sounds in a city, do not the people tremble?
    When disaster comes to a city, has not the Lord caused it? Amos 3:6



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  3. #32
    Quote Originally Posted by Origanalist View Post
    $#@!ing Trump, he lurches around like a ill mannered dog on a leash and this forum lurches around in his wake. FUBAR
    From Washington Post (Paywall) via Zerohedge, the headline reads:

    Trump wants to get the U.S. out of Syria's war, so he asked the Saudi king for $4 billion

    The Washington Post has revealed that President Trump attempted to extricate US troops from Syria by asking ally Saudi Arabia to foot the bill for postwar reconstruction and "stabilization" projects in the area of northeast Syria currently occupied by US coalition forces, to the tune of $4 billion. The deal would involve US allies like Saudi Arabia moving into a lead position regarding coalition policy in Syria, while hastening a US exit.


    Though the coalition continues to claim that its occupation of Syrian soil is toward anti-terror and humanitarian efforts, including the reestablishment of civilian infrastructure in a region previously controlled by ISIS, America's top general, CENTCOM chief Gen. Joseph Votel, admitted in congressional testimony this week that the Syrian government along with its Russian and Iranian allies have effectively won the war.

    General Votel's very frank admissions on Syria stunned hawks like Senator Graham, who were looking for more muscular policy goals. The Washington Post summarized this part of the exchange as follows:

    [A]sked on Tuesday in a Congressional hearing if Bashar al-Assad had “won”, Gen. Joseph Votel, head of US Central Command, replied, “I do not think that is too strong of a statement. I think [Russia and Iran] have provided him with the wherewithal to be ascendant at this point.”
    Senator Lindsey Graham asked Votel, “And it is not your mission in Syria to deal with the Iranian-Assad-Russia problem?” Graham asked Votel. “That’s not in your ‘things to do,’ right?”
    The general replied, “That’s correct, senator.”
    Votel declined to say whether he believed the US military should pursue that broader objective. And asked whether it was still policy that Assad must leave power, Votel said: “I don’t know that that’s our particular policy at this particular point. Our focus remains on the defeat of ISIS.

    However, US policy does remain fundamentally aimed at preventing Assad and his allies from reasserting control over oil and resource rich northeast Syria, and this is where Trump reportedly envisions the Saudis as having a greater role to play, taking the pressure off US forces.

    According to the Washington Post the deal was articulated by Trump directly to Saudi Arabia's King Salman in a December phone call. The Post reports:

    In a December phone call with Saudi Arabia’s King Salman, President Trump had an idea he thought could hasten a U.S. exit from Syria: Ask the king for $4 billion. By the end of the call, according to U.S. officials, the president believed he had a deal.
    The White House wants money from the kingdom and other nations to help rebuild and stabilize the parts of Syria that the U.S. military and its local allies have liberated from the Islamic State. The postwar goal is to prevent Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his Russian and Iranian partners from claiming the areas, or the Islamic State from regrouping, while U.S. forces finish mopping up the militants.

    But missed (or more likely deliberately ignored) by the Post reporters is the central irony that Saudi Arabia could possibly "stabilize" anything in Syria at all. As the New York Times concluded in a lengthy investigation over the kingdom's role in fueling the rise of ISIS and directing the broader jihadist insurgency in Syria, the Saudis are "both the arsonists and the firefighters" in Syria and throughout the region.

    Revelation of the $4 billion proposed deal comes as Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman is set to arrive in Washington on Monday for high level talks with US officials, including a Tuesday meeting with President Trump. The Saudi Embassy in Washington refused to comment on the offer, and neither side has yet confirmed or denied that a deal was reached or is in the works.

    Last month the US announced a mere $200 million pledge toward reconstruction efforts in Syria - a paltry sum (considering total rebuilding costs have been widely estimated at $200-350 billion) perhaps intended to highlight the need of other countries to share in the burden. The Washington Post continues:

    For Trump - who has long railed against insufficient burden-sharing by allies under the U.S. security umbrella - getting others to foot the bill for expensive postwar efforts is important. A $4 billion Saudi contribution would go a long way toward U.S. goals in Syria that the Saudis say they share, particularly that of limiting Assad’s power and rolling back Iran’s influence. By comparison, the United States last month announced a $200 million donation to the stabilization effort.

    The more simple translation of Trump's message to the Saudis seems to be something like this: "Our occupation of Syria is costly. If you don't want Assad and Iran to regain the whole country, then you're invited to take over the occupation yourselves."

    Judging by Trump's recent maneuvers with the Saudis and CENTCOM chief Votel's congressional testimony, it appears we are in for more long, painful mission creep and perpetuation of the illegal occupation of Syria with no end in sight. [editorial opinion]
    @Origanalist @acptulsa @Raginfridus @TheCount @r3volution 3.0
    Last edited by spudea; 03-17-2018 at 09:30 PM.
    I just want objectivity on this forum and will point out flawed sources or points of view at my leisure.

    Quote Originally Posted by spudea on 01/15/24
    Trump will win every single state primary by double digits.
    Quote Originally Posted by spudea on 04/20/16
    There won't be a contested convention
    Quote Originally Posted by spudea on 05/30/17
    The shooting of Gabrielle Gifford was blamed on putting a crosshair on a political map. I wonder what event we'll see justified with pictures like this.



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  5. #33
    I was thinking about reposting the same article, just bolding the parts you missed, such as our policy remains the illegal occupation of a sovereign nation. Hey, this'll do.

  6. #34


    Russia Claims US Deploys Warships For Imminent Attack On Syria, Trains Militants For False Flag Attack:


    Last April, in one of the Trump administration's first "diplomatic" ventures, the US fired 59 Tomahawk missiles on Syria, in stated retaliation for the latest alleged chemical attack by the Assad regime, the same "false flag" excuse which was used by the US to officially enter the conflict back in 2013 when military tensions between the US and Russia nearly resulted in a regional war.

    Well, it appears that Assad is a relentless glutton for punishment, because not even a year later, the WaPo reported two weeks ago that the US is considering a new military action against Syria for - what else - retaliation against Assad's latest chemical attack, which took place several weeks earlier.

    How do we know Assad (and apparently, Russia) was behind the attack? We don't: in fact, former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, in a moment of bizarre honesty, admitted that he really doesn't know much at all about "whoever conducted the attacks." But hey: just like it is "highly likely" that Russia poisoned the former Russian double agent in the UK - with no proof yet - so it is "highly likely" that a clearly irrational Assad was once again behind an attack which he knew would provoke violent and aggressive retaliation by the US, and once again destabilize his regime.

    And so we now wait for that flashing, red headline saying that US ships in the Mediterranean have launched a missile attack on Syria, just like a year ago. Only this time Russia - which is allied with the Assad regime - is not planning to be on the defensive, and according to Russia’s Defense Ministry, "US instructors" are currently training militants to stage false flag chemical attacks in south Syria, i.e., the catalyst that will be used to justify the US attack on Assad. The incidents, the ministry said, will be used a pretext for airstrikes on Syrian government troops and infrastructure.

    “We have reliable information at our disposal that US instructors have trained a number of militant groups in the vicinity of the town of At-Tanf, to stage provocations involving chemical warfare agents in southern Syria,” Russian General Staff spokesman General Sergey Rudskoy said at a news briefing on Saturday.

    According to the Russian, "early in March, the saboteur groups were deployed to the southern de-escalation zone to the city of Deraa, where the units of the so-called Free Syrian Army are stationed."

    "They are preparing a series of chemical munitions explosions. This fact will be used to blame the government forces. The components to produce chemical munitions have been already delivered to the southern de-escalation zone under the guise of humanitarian convoys of a number of NGOs."

    And, using the exact same worn out narrative as last April, and every prior "chemical attack by the Assad Regime", the "planned provocations will be widely covered in the Western media and will ultimately be used as a pretext by the US-led coalition to launch strikes on Syria", Rudskoy warned.

    The provocations will be used as a pretext by the United States and its allies to launch strikes on military and government infrastructure in Syria."

    Confirming the WaPo's report from early March, it now appears that an attack is imminent.

    “We’re registering the signs of the preparations for the possible strikes. Strike groups of the cruise missile carriers have been formed in the east of the Mediterranean Sea, Persian Gulf and Red Sea.”


    Rudskoy also warned that another false flag chemical attack is being prepared in the province of Idlib by the “Al-Nusra Front terrorist group, in coordination with the White Helmets.” The militants have already received 20 containers of chlorine to stage the incident, he said.

    Moscow and Damascus have repeatedly warned about upcoming chemical provocations, and have highlighted that banned warfare agents have been used by the militants. Of course, none of that matters to the Western press which has its marching orders to expose the bloodthirsty killer Assad as an irrational despot who will use the exact same military method month after month and year after year, knowing well the response he will get from the US.

    Meanwhile, just a few days ago, Syrian government forces reportedly captured a well-equipped chemical laboratory in Eastern Ghouta. Footage from the facility has been published by the SANA news agency:




    The installation contained modern industrial-grade hardware of foreign origins, large amounts of chemical substances as well as crude homemade munitions ad their parts. It was unclear if the chemical lab was capable of synthesizing the novachok nerve gas used in the attempted murder of the Russian agent in the UK that has resulted in the latest diplomatic scandal involving Russia and the west.
    https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-...attack-justify

  7. #35
    Quote Originally Posted by Raginfridus View Post
    I was thinking about reposting the same article, just bolding the parts you missed, such as our policy remains the illegal occupation of a sovereign nation. Hey, this'll do.
    That the president is seeking to end in a stable manner, and it involves the resurgence of the sovereign nation's government under Assad, and any Anti-Assad parties must take over the effort themselves.
    I just want objectivity on this forum and will point out flawed sources or points of view at my leisure.

    Quote Originally Posted by spudea on 01/15/24
    Trump will win every single state primary by double digits.
    Quote Originally Posted by spudea on 04/20/16
    There won't be a contested convention
    Quote Originally Posted by spudea on 05/30/17
    The shooting of Gabrielle Gifford was blamed on putting a crosshair on a political map. I wonder what event we'll see justified with pictures like this.

  8. #36
    Quote Originally Posted by spudea View Post
    That the president is seeking to end in a stable manner, and it involves the resurgence of the sovereign nation's government under Assad, and any Anti-Assad parties must take over the effort themselves.
    The postwar goal is to prevent Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his Russian and Iranian partners from claiming the areas, or the Islamic State from regrouping, while U.S. forces finish mopping up the militants.
    But missed (or more likely deliberately ignored) by the Post reporters is the central irony that Saudi Arabia could possibly "stabilize" anything in Syria at all. As the New York Times concluded in a lengthy investigation over the kingdom's role in fueling the rise of ISIS and directing the broader jihadist insurgency in Syria, the Saudis are "both the arsonists and the firefighters" in Syria and throughout the region.
    Call me skeptical.

  9. #37
    Quote Originally Posted by spudea View Post
    Yeah, we can tell he wants out real bad, or he wouldn't make it contingent on the Saudis voluntarily paying four billion for something they don't want.

    Is that Size 200 headline there to spin our attention away from the bottom line of that very article?

    The more simple translation of Trump's message to the Saudis seems to be something like this: "Our occupation of Syria is costly. If you don't want Assad and Iran to regain the whole country, then you're invited to take over the occupation yourselves."

    Judging by Trump's recent maneuvers with the Saudis and CENTCOM chief Votel's congressional testimony, it appears we are in for more long, painful mission creep and perpetuation of the illegal occupation of Syria with no end in sight.
    Last edited by acptulsa; 03-18-2018 at 08:24 AM.
    Quote Originally Posted by Swordsmyth View Post
    We believe our lying eyes...

  10. #38
    Quote Originally Posted by RonZeplin View Post
    One of the most disgusting things I've ever heard anyone say.

  11. #39

    President Trump the king of sanctions

    Quote Originally Posted by Anti Globalist View Post
    One of the most disgusting things I've ever heard anyone say.
    The present president Donald J. Trump(R) has even more sanctions, on more nations. Expect him to beat all previous death toll records, if he lasts much longer.



    Believes Hillary's story that she lost due to Russian hacking, so sanctions.
    Quote Originally Posted by Swordsmyth View Post
    You only show up to attack Trump when he is wrong
    Make America the Land of the Free & the Home of the Brave again

  12. #40
    "Israel's involvement has been one of its most closely held secrets, and it was not immediately clear why Israel decided to go public now."

    https://www.cbsnews.com/news/israeli...-site-in-2007/

    TEL AVIV, Israel
    -- The Israeli military confirmed Wednesday it carried out the 2007 airstrike in Syria that destroyed what was believed to be a nuclear reactor, lifting the veil of secrecy over one of its most daring and mysterious operations in recent memory.

    Although Israel was widely believed to have been behind the Sept. 6, 2007, airstrike, it has never before commented publicly on it.

    In a lengthy release, the military revealed that eight F-15 fighter jets carried out the top-secret airstrikes against the facility in the Deir el-Zour region, about 300 miles northeast of Damascus, destroying a site that had been in development for years and was scheduled to go into operation at the end of that year.




    A still frame taken from video material released on March 21, 2018 shows a combination image of what the Israeli military describes is before and after an Israeli air strike on a suspected Syrian nuclear reactor site near Deir al-Zor on Sept 6, 2007.

    IDF HANDOUT VIA REUTERS

    Israel's involvement has been one of its most closely held secrets, and it was not immediately clear why Israel decided to go public now. The military would not comment on its reasoning, but the move could be related to the upcoming memoir of former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, who ordered the strike and has hinted about it for years, or it could be meant as a warning to archenemy Iran, which is active in Syria.

    "The motivation of our enemies has grown in recent years, but so too the might of the IDF (Israel Defense Forces)," Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman said Wednesday. "Everyone in the Middle East would do well to internalize this equation."


    Israel and Syria have always been bitter enemies. Throughout Syria's seven-year civil war, Israel has carried out well over 100 airstrikes, most believed to have been aimed at suspected weapons shipments destined for the Iranian-backed Hezbollah militant group. Both Iran and Hezbollah are allied with Syrian President Bashar Assad.

    At the time of the 2007 strike, Syria accused Israel of invading its airspace, but gave no further details about the target.

    The pre-mission briefing, made public Wednesday, stated that the operation should not be attributed to Israel so as to minimize the potential for an all-out war.


    The strike was reminiscent of an Israeli attack in 1981 against a reactor being built in Iraq. The strike was later credited with preventing Saddam Hussein from acquiring weapons of mass destruction that could have been used in the Gulf War a decade later.


    "The message from the 2007 attack on the reactor is that Israel will not tolerate construction that can pose an existential threat," military chief Lt. Gen. Gadi Eisenkot said in Wednesday's statement. "This was the message in 1981, this is the message in 2007 and this is the future message to our enemies."


    Eisenkot, who at the time commanded Israel's northern front along the Lebanese and Syrian borders, said it marked Israel's most comprehensive attack in Syria since the 1973 Mideast war, and that everyone involved knew it could spark a new one. He said only a handful of top commanders were aware of the plans for Operation "Outside The Box."


    The military said the F-15s took off from two bases in southern Israel at 10:30 p.m. on Sept. 5 and returned four hours later. Wednesday's announcement also indicated the Syrian reactor was much closer to completion than previously reported.


    From Israel's perspective, the strike was an astounding success since it not only destroyed the site, but prevented further escalation and strengthened its deterrence in the region.

    Air force commander Maj. Gen. Amikam Norkin said the current turmoil in Syria has further vindicated the strike, particularly since the reactor was in an area later captured by Islamic State militants.

    "Imagine what situation we would be in today if there was a nuclear reactor in Syria," Norkin said. "Israel's decision to destroy the reactor is one of the most important decisions taken here in the last 70 years."

    Uzi Rabi, an expert on Iran at Tel Aviv University, said Israel's surprising confirmation might be meant as a "warning sign" to Iran as it expands its military footprint in Syria. Israel has warned against the establishment of a permanent Iranian military presence in Syria, particularly in areas close to Israel.

    Last month, Israel shot down an Iranian drone that entered its airspace, triggering a clash in which an Israeli warplane crashed after being struck by Syrian anti-aircraft fire. Israel responded by bombing Syrian anti-aircraft batteries.


    The military said it began obtaining information regarding foreign experts helping Syria develop the Deir el-Zour site in late 2004. Later it discovered that North Korea was helping Syria build a reactor to manufacture plutonium.

    In his memoir, "Decision Points," former President George W. Bush said Israel first asked the U.S. to bomb the site and then carried out an attack itself when Washington declined.

    The strike came about a year after Israel's inconclusive war against Hezbollah, in which the Lebanese guerrillas battled Israel's army to a stalemate. The poor performance raised questions about Israel's deterrent capabilities.


    "Prime Minister Olmert's execution of the strike made up for the confidence I had lost in the Israelis during the Lebanon war," Bush wrote, adding that the Israeli leader rejected a suggestion to go public with the operation.

    "Olmert told me he wanted total secrecy. He wanted to avoid anything that might back Syria into a corner and force Assad to retaliate. This was his operation, and I felt an obligation to respect his wishes," Bush wrote.

    Olmert has skirted around the issue, and military censors, for years, repeatedly saying that according to foreign sources Israel had been involved. After Bush's account was published in 2010, Olmert said: "I don't want (to), and I can't deny it."


    Olmert, who was prime minister from 2006 until 2009 and was recently released from prison after serving time for corruption, is expected to delve more deeply into the issue in his upcoming book. The disclosure looks to help rehabilitate at least part of Olmert's tarnished image while damaging the legacy of his longtime rival, then-Defense Minister Ehud Barak, who was reportedly hesitant to strike in Syria.



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  14. #41
    Quote Originally Posted by r3volution 3.0 View Post
    ...still waiting for someone to explain the current US Syria policy.
    One year bump. It's still a mystery.
    Quote Originally Posted by Swordsmyth View Post
    Pinochet is the model
    Quote Originally Posted by Swordsmyth View Post
    Liberty preserving authoritarianism.
    Quote Originally Posted by Swordsmyth View Post
    Enforced internal open borders was one of the worst elements of the Constitution.

  15. #42
    Trump Breaks Another Promise: Troops Will Remain in Syria

    It was a mere two months ago the president of the United States declared he would leave Syria and bring home the troops.
    “Our boys, our young women, our men, they’re all coming back,” Trump said. “And they’re coming back now. We won. And that’s the way we want it. And that’s the way they want it.”

    That was then, this is now.

    Now Trump has gone back on his promise, as he has gone back on most of his other promises, and US troops will continue to violate Syria’s national sovereignty for the foreseeable future.
    Mr. Trump has yet to admit—his massive ego won’t let him—that at best the US played a minor role in eradicating the Islamic State, a terror organization that began as a Pentagon psyop during the Iraqi resistance to George W. Bush’s invasion.

    In fact, it was Russia and Iran in coordinated with the Syrian Arab Army that neutralized the threat, but you won’t hear Trump or the corporate media he supposedly detests talk about this. If you ask the average citizen, he or she will likely say it was the US that singlehandedly beat the Islamic State. (See David William Pear, “Who Really Defeated ISIS.”)

    “A small peace keeping group of about 200 will remain in Syria for period of time,” White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said last month.

    The Pentagon, however, notorious for decades of deceit and lies, said the actual number will be double that mentioned by Sanders. The actual number is likely triple or quadruple the official estimate—possibly more, much more.

    This illegality, this violation of international law and the UN Charter (the US signed this document in 1945 with the founding of the UN), represents a cornerstone of US foreign policy. The US has invaded 70 nations, engaged in genocide, economic warfare, and has fomented terror since the founding of the nation (see Dr. Gideon Polya’s “The US Has Invaded 70 Nations Since 1776—Make 4 July Independence From America Day”).

    ISIS is not and has never been the reason the United States bombed targets and killed thousands of Syrian civilians. The war on ISIS was about establishing a military presence in Syria, the excuse being an effort to counter Iran’s geopolitical aims.

    The centerpiece of this strategy is Israel, which has for years called for an outright invasion of Iran, using the fallacious pretext of nuclear weapons. Like Iraq under Saddam Hussein, Iran doesn’t possess nuclear weapons. This has been verified by the International Atomic Energy Agency. The agency also reported Iran was in compliance with the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, which Trump ultimately killed. Nonetheless, the US and Israel continue to push the absurd fallacy that Iran will nuke Israel, thus inviting annihilation by Israel with its nukes, which are undeclared and have been for decades.

    It was obvious from the start when Trump surrounded itself with generals, and then a rabble of neocons (Bolton, Abrams, and Pompeo), that in no way would he live up to his promise to make America noninterventionist again, which it never was (see above).

    It is safe to say the MAGA troops faithfully support of his policies, formulated by neocons and their cousins, the “humanitarian interventionists.” Take a look at the Breitbart and Drudge Report websites. There is virtually no criticism of Trump’s foreign policy and the focus is invariably on the border and the twists and turns of an orchestrated “civl war” between the “New Right,” or “Alt-right,” and the Left. It would seem Breitbart is more interested in Melania Trump’s footwear than endless war, while Drudge peppers his front page with nonsense about celebrities and sports mixed in with news stories on the border and the evilness of Hillary Clinton and all things Democrat. The new distraction is Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. She competes daily with the fake Mueller investigation.

    It’s not fake news. It’s diversionary news.

    It’s fair to say most of Trump’s hardcore MAGA supporters believe Make America Great Again is achieved by invading small, usually defenseless countries. In the case of Breitbart, Drudge, et al, these issues are ignored altogether. It should be kept in mind Breitbart got its start in Jerusalem.

    https://kurtnimmo.blog/2019/03/05/tr...main-in-syria/
    Quote Originally Posted by Swordsmyth View Post
    You only show up to attack Trump when he is wrong
    Make America the Land of the Free & the Home of the Brave again

  16. #43
    Quote Originally Posted by RonZeplin View Post
    Trump Breaks Another Promise: Troops Will Remain in Syria

    It was a mere two months ago the president of the United States declared he would leave Syria and bring home the troops.
    “Our boys, our young women, our men, they’re all coming back,” Trump said. “And they’re coming back now. We won. And that’s the way we want it. And that’s the way they want it.”

    That was then, this is now.

    Now Trump has gone back on his promise, as he has gone back on most of his other promises, and US troops will continue to violate Syria’s national sovereignty for the foreseeable future.
    Mr. Trump has yet to admit—his massive ego won’t let him—that at best the US played a minor role in eradicating the Islamic State, a terror organization that began as a Pentagon psyop during the Iraqi resistance to George W. Bush’s invasion.

    In fact, it was Russia and Iran in coordinated with the Syrian Arab Army that neutralized the threat, but you won’t hear Trump or the corporate media he supposedly detests talk about this. If you ask the average citizen, he or she will likely say it was the US that singlehandedly beat the Islamic State. (See David William Pear, “Who Really Defeated ISIS.”)

    “A small peace keeping group of about 200 will remain in Syria for period of time,” White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said last month.

    The Pentagon, however, notorious for decades of deceit and lies, said the actual number will be double that mentioned by Sanders. The actual number is likely triple or quadruple the official estimate—possibly more, much more.

    This illegality, this violation of international law and the UN Charter (the US signed this document in 1945 with the founding of the UN), represents a cornerstone of US foreign policy. The US has invaded 70 nations, engaged in genocide, economic warfare, and has fomented terror since the founding of the nation (see Dr. Gideon Polya’s “The US Has Invaded 70 Nations Since 1776—Make 4 July Independence From America Day”).

    ISIS is not and has never been the reason the United States bombed targets and killed thousands of Syrian civilians. The war on ISIS was about establishing a military presence in Syria, the excuse being an effort to counter Iran’s geopolitical aims.

    The centerpiece of this strategy is Israel, which has for years called for an outright invasion of Iran, using the fallacious pretext of nuclear weapons. Like Iraq under Saddam Hussein, Iran doesn’t possess nuclear weapons. This has been verified by the International Atomic Energy Agency. The agency also reported Iran was in compliance with the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, which Trump ultimately killed. Nonetheless, the US and Israel continue to push the absurd fallacy that Iran will nuke Israel, thus inviting annihilation by Israel with its nukes, which are undeclared and have been for decades.

    It was obvious from the start when Trump surrounded itself with generals, and then a rabble of neocons (Bolton, Abrams, and Pompeo), that in no way would he live up to his promise to make America noninterventionist again, which it never was (see above).

    It is safe to say the MAGA troops faithfully support of his policies, formulated by neocons and their cousins, the “humanitarian interventionists.” Take a look at the Breitbart and Drudge Report websites. There is virtually no criticism of Trump’s foreign policy and the focus is invariably on the border and the twists and turns of an orchestrated “civl war” between the “New Right,” or “Alt-right,” and the Left. It would seem Breitbart is more interested in Melania Trump’s footwear than endless war, while Drudge peppers his front page with nonsense about celebrities and sports mixed in with news stories on the border and the evilness of Hillary Clinton and all things Democrat. The new distraction is Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. She competes daily with the fake Mueller investigation.

    It’s not fake news. It’s diversionary news.

    It’s fair to say most of Trump’s hardcore MAGA supporters believe Make America Great Again is achieved by invading small, usually defenseless countries. In the case of Breitbart, Drudge, et al, these issues are ignored altogether. It should be kept in mind Breitbart got its start in Jerusalem.

    https://kurtnimmo.blog/2019/03/05/tr...main-in-syria/
    Shocker.
    There is no spoon.

  17. #44
    The occupation of a sovereign nation continues it seems.
    "Perhaps one of the most important accomplishments of my administration is minding my own business."

    Calvin Coolidge

  18. #45
    What does "Drain the Swamp" really mean?
    ____________

    An Agorist Primer ~ Samuel Edward Konkin III (free PDF download)

    The End of All Evil ~ Jeremy Locke (free PDF download)

  19. #46
    The Army's killer drones: How a secretive special ops unit decimated ISIS

    https://www.yahoo.com/news/how-a-sec...100000657.html

    As the Islamic State’s physical caliphate shrinks to nothing after an almost five-year campaign led by U.S. special operations forces, military insiders say one small unit has killed more of the extremists than any other: the company of Gray Eagle drones in the Army’s 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment.
    Although the military has thrown a cloak of secrecy over its operations, the unit — officially called E (or “Echo”) Company of the regiment’s Second Battalion and established less than a decade ago — is increasingly being lauded in special operations and Army aviation circles.
    “They are doing the most killing of anyone in the national mission force,” said a former 160th officer, referring to Joint Special Operations Command, which runs counterterrorism task forces in Afghanistan, and does battle against the Islamic State in Iraq, Syria and the Horn of Africa. “They’re out there doing the nation’s bidding in a ferocious way.”


    Echo Company is credited with “well over 340 enemy killed in action” in Afghanistan and the Iraq-Syria theater between August 2014 and July 2015, according to a November 2015 Army write-up of an award for the unit. The company has also played a key role in a special operations task force established in Iraq in 2014 to roll back the Islamic State’s physical caliphate and hunt its leaders. Flying from a base in Iraq to attack targets in Syria, the drone company has launched “more than a thousand” Hellfire missiles in the last two to three years, the former 160th officer told Yahoo News. “That means to me they’ve been very busy in Syria.”
    Echo Company’s achievements are remarkable, in part, because unlike the Air Force, whose drones are operated from air-conditioned trailers in Nevada and flown by officers, the pilots in this Army aviation company are mainly enlisted soldiers who are deployed in combat theaters.


    The U.S. drone campaign against Islamist militants has been enmeshed in controversy since it began in 2001, with accusations that some attacks caused needless civilian casualties or hit the wrong target altogether. On Wednesday, President Trump rescinded an executive order that required the intelligence community to disclose information about U.S. drone strikes outside of declared war zones, including civilian casualties. The White House last year had already ignored the requirement, put in place by President Barack Obama. Trump’s order does not affect a law that requires the Defense Department to send Congress an annual report detailing civilian casualties.
    “U.S. armed drones have played a key role in the fight against ISIS, with its Reapers and Predators contributing up to 7 percent of all strikes, according to official data released back in 2017,” Chris Woods, the director of Airwars, a United Kingdom-based nonprofit that tracks airstrikes in Iraq, Syria and Libya, wrote in an email. “Thousands of civilians have locally been alleged killed in Coalition actions — with our own minimum estimate at more than 7,500 deaths. However, what proportion of these deaths resulted solely from drones we can’t say.”
    It is even less clear if any of Echo Company’s strikes resulted in civilian casualties; no allegations have been directed at its operations, which have been kept under tight wrap by the Defense Department.


    Citing the classified nature of Echo Company’s missions, U.S. Special Operations Command declined to provide any information about the unit, which, like its parent battalion and regiment, is based at Fort Campbell, Ky. But insights into the unit’s history can be found on the website of the Army Aviation Association of America, a nonprofit organization that supports the Army’s aviation branch. The association has awarded Echo Company its “Unmanned Aerial Systems Unit of the Year” award four times since 2011.
    “Echo Company [is] the most lethal company in the Army, and it may very well be the most lethal company-size element in all of [the Defense Department],” Brig. Gen. John Evans, at the time the head of U.S. Army Special Operations Aviation Command, told attendees at the aviation association’s conference in April 2017.
    The record still holds today, according to a retired senior Army aviation officer. “This is the most lethal Army unit this year,” he said. “The whole Army, including artillery, including everything.”
    One of the few Army units that fly fixed-wing aircraft, the company apparently has been more lethal than its Army helicopter counterparts and all Air Force fixed-wing outfits, manned and unmanned. Even in Joint Special Operations Command, the secretive organization that includes special mission units like Delta Force and SEAL Team 6, Echo Company’s performance stands out, according to those familiar with its operations.


    When it was created in 2009, Echo Company represented something new for the 160th, an elite special operations helicopter unit established in the wake of the failed effort in 1980 to rescue U.S. hostages in Iran. The regiment’s distinctive black helicopters have featured in virtually every high-profile special operations mission since then, including the 1993 Battle of Mogadishu in Somalia.
    Since 2001, the 160th has been heavily engaged as part of Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC, pronounced “jay-sock”) task forces in Afghanistan and, since 2003, in Iraq. The unit’s most prominent members have always been the warrant officers and commissioned officers who fly the regiment’s helicopters, from the small, nimble AH-6 “Little Bird” gunships to the twin-rotor MH-47 Chinook assault aircraft.
    But unlike those Army pilots, or the pilots of the Air Force’s better-known Predator and Reaper drones, the soldiers who fly the Gray Eagles are mainly enlisted service members, according to the retired senior Army aviation officer. “They are lethal as all get-out,” he said.
    Made by General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc., the same firm that produces the MQ-1 Predator, which the Air Force retired in 2018, and its successor, the MQ-9 Reaper, the MQ-1C Gray Eagle is a derivative of the Predator and falls somewhere between the two in terms of capability. Armed with up to four Hellfire missiles or a mix of other munitions, the Gray Eagle also carries a suite of surveillance gear that includes signals intelligence equipment and high-resolution cameras that can read a license plate from 15,000 feet. The basic Gray Eagle can fly for up to 25 hours, while an extended range version has a maximum endurance of 42 hours.

    (cont.)
    https://www.yahoo.com/news/how-a-sec...100000657.html
    Pfizer Macht Frei!

    Openly Straight Man, Danke, Awarded Top Rated Influencer. Community Standards Enforcer.


    Quiz: Test Your "Income" Tax IQ!

    Short Income Tax Video

    The Income Tax Is An Excise, And Excise Taxes Are Privilege Taxes

    The Federalist Papers, No. 15:

    Except as to the rule of appointment, the United States have an indefinite discretion to make requisitions for men and money; but they have no authority to raise either by regulations extending to the individual citizens of America.

  20. #47
    Trump says he agrees '100%' with keeping U.S. troops in Syria

    Granted he did promise immediate Syria withdrawl recently, perhaps folks should be bit more understanding when a course correction or even flip flop happens occasionally. Earlier some zealous hard right conservatives quickly jumped to conclusions and started calling 'America First' movement leader a 'fraud', 'scam', 'puppet' etc on first signs of some policy adjustments relative to pre-election promises.

    Not a big fan of all of his foreign policies but do purists & isolationists have any idea what kind of pressures (from donors, foreign lobbies, special interest groups etc) a POTUS has to face when making final decisions on important wars/global interventions/foreign spending issues that have far reaching implications for our closest alllies and our domestic businesses & interests?
    Sometimes political chess board is too complex for average voter to grasp the whole situation by just taking a two dimensional look at promises vs delivered policies metric.


    From another discussion for detailed context on US Iran/Syria policy:


    Wesley Clark on Trump’s Syria withdrawal: ‘Did Erdogan blackmail the president?'
    12/24/18
    https://thehill.com/policy/defense/4...-the-president

    Considering MAGA's fealess personality, Scaramucci's assessment seems more credible than Gen Clark's:
    Loyal Trump supporter Scaramucci says Trump is "not blackmailable"


    Also, despite Gen Clark's comments, any nefarious foreign lobbies/groups are very unlikely to use any tactics to initimidate or pressure MAGA using such tactics as may have been used to pressure other politicians with aim to influence US foreign policy in the past.


    Publisher of the ‘Atlanta Jewish Times’ suggests Mossad should assassinate Obama over US Iran policy
    Adam Horowitz on January 20, 2012

    John Cook reports at Gawker:


    Andrew Adler, the owner and publisher of the Atlanta Jewish Times, a weekly newspaper serving Atlanta’s Jewish community, devoted his January 13, 2012 column to the thorny problem of the U.S. and Israel’s diverging views on the threat posed by Iran. Basically Israel has three options, he wrote: Strike Hezbollah and Hamas, strike Iran, or “order a hit” on Barack Obama. Either way, problem solved!
    Here’s how Adler laid out “option three” in his list of scenarios facing Israeli president Benjamin Netanyahu (the column, which was forwarded to us by a tipster, isn’t online, but you can read a copy here):

    Three, give the go-ahead for U.S.-based Mossad agents to take out a president deemed unfriendly to Israel in order for the current vice president to take his place, and forcefully dictate that the United States’ policy includes its helping the Jewish state obliterate its enemies.
    Yes, you read “three” correctly. Order a hit on a president in order to preserve Israel’s existence. Think about it. If I have thought of this Tom Clancy-type scenario, don’t you think that this almost unfathomable idea has been discussed in Israel’s most inner circles?
    Another way of putting “three” in perspective goes something like this: How far would you go to save a nation comprised of seven million lives…Jews, Christians and Arabs alike?
    You have got to believe, like I do, that all options are on the table.


    Trump's top donor in 2013: US should drop atomic bomb on Iran

    American-Jewish billionaire blasts Obama over negotiations with Tehran; says US should show Iran nuclear capabilities.

    By Maya Shwayder, JERUSALEM POST CORRESPONDENT
    October 24, 2013








    Contradicting Trump, Bolton says no withdrawal from Syria until ISIS destroyed, Kurds’ safety guaranteed
    (Reuters)
    January 6
    https://www.washingtonpost.com/world...0a8_story.html




    Related

    John Bolton Shows the Dangers of a Weak President

    Donald Trump is losing the battle against his own executive branch. Chaos is the result.
    By Jonathan Bernstein
    March 6, 2019
    https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/ar...ump-s-weakness

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