The war in Syria (5 Viewers)

[hammerva]

So how many hours before we get the "Well the US has done some horrible things as well" line.  This another Trump apologists go to line

So let me get this right we are going to let a ton of Kurdish people get slaughtered in the next couple of days/weeks because "they didn't help in Normandy" (not true by the way as Twitter is proving) and that decision comes from a draft dodger who faked injuries.  

 

[SoBeDad]

The Kurds didn't help in Normandy so.....

Erdigan convinced Trump the Kurds were too busy smoking hashish and planning terrorist attacks on the Ottoman Empire.

 

[parasaurolophus]

The abrupt departure seems to indicate he wanted Turkey to have an advantage and Syria/Kurds to be caught flat-footed. 

I was wondering what your thoughts were on this. I am actually a little shocked to see you write this.

 

[GROOT]

Turkey is in big TROUBLE 

 

[Jackstraw]

Don’t worry, the ISIS people who may escape Kurdish prisons will just go to Europe. 

That's the way to encourage our allies. 

If there were any more strong evidence of his sociopathy I don't know what it could be. 

 

[Amused to Death]

I hope so but I have my doubts. I haven’t seen anything from him at any point to indicate he would respect tradition, follow the laws, etc. He seems to have enough people bought into anything he says that it would be enough to potentially derail a transfer of power. I hate to think that way but who would have thought GOP voters would continue to support a President who made massive shifts on military alliances without consulting allies or his own military leaders? Who would have thought GOP voters would turn their backs on the intel community and the FBI? If ISIS is indeed helped by this move, will GOP voters just brush that off too? If they do, then I would say all hope is lost. Hopefully the Kurds are able to find a way to defend themselves and keep ISIS under control.

Now imagine he has the backing of the Russian and Turkish military. 

 

[Lutherman2112]

Lindsey will flip-flop and be a good boy in weeks.

Right on time:

Syria critic Lindsey Graham reverses stance, says Trump's policy could succeed

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham, who has been one of the most vocal critics of President Donald Trump’s decision to move U.S. troops out of northeastern Syria, said on Sunday he now believed “historic solutions” were possible.

In an interview with Fox News, Graham said a conversation he had with Trump over the weekend had fueled his optimism that a solution could be reached where the security of Turkey and the Kurds was guaranteed and fighters from Islamic State contained.

“I am increasingly optimistic that we can have some historic solutions in Syria that have eluded us for years if we play our cards right,” Graham said on “Sunday Morning Futures.”

...

Graham also said he believed the United States and Kurdish forces long allied with Washington could establish a venture to modernize Syrian oil fields, with the revenue flowing to the Kurds. “President Trump is thinking outside the box,” Graham said of Trump’s thinking on oil.

“The president appreciates what the Kurds have done,” Graham added. “He wants to make sure ISIS does not come back. I expect we will continue to partner with the Kurds in eastern Syria to make sure ISIS does not re-emerge.”

Graham, referring to the Kurdish fighters in the region, previously warned that Trump’s decision to pull out U.S. troops would lead to their “destruction.”

----

Good boy, Lindsey. Good boy.

 

[sho nuff]

Right on time:

Syria critic Lindsey Graham reverses stance, says Trump's policy could succeed

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham, who has been one of the most vocal critics of President Donald Trump’s decision to move U.S. troops out of northeastern Syria, said on Sunday he now believed “historic solutions” were possible.

In an interview with Fox News, Graham said a conversation he had with Trump over the weekend had fueled his optimism that a solution could be reached where the security of Turkey and the Kurds was guaranteed and fighters from Islamic State contained.

“I am increasingly optimistic that we can have some historic solutions in Syria that have eluded us for years if we play our cards right,” Graham said on “Sunday Morning Futures.”

...

Graham also said he believed the United States and Kurdish forces long allied with Washington could establish a venture to modernize Syrian oil fields, with the revenue flowing to the Kurds. “President Trump is thinking outside the box,” Graham said of Trump’s thinking on oil.

“The president appreciates what the Kurds have done,” Graham added. “He wants to make sure ISIS does not come back. I expect we will continue to partner with the Kurds in eastern Syria to make sure ISIS does not re-emerge.”

Graham, referring to the Kurdish fighters in the region, previously warned that Trump’s decision to pull out U.S. troops would lead to their “destruction.”

----

Good boy, Lindsey. Good boy.

What a spineless little man.

 

[SoBeDad]

Richard Engel has developed relationships with the Kurds during his time in Syria, so maybe he is getting biased information.  Maybe not. Here is his latest on the betrayal, which if true, goes beyond betrayal:

"US officials tell me Trump wants to wash his hands of responsibility for the Kurds. The US mil/gov gave Kurds REPEATED assurances of protection. US even asked Kurds to REMOVE defenses BEFORE the Turkish offensive. Kurds complied and now being displaced. WH says not our problem."

https://mobile.twitter.com/RichardEngel/status/1186290107852230657

 

[SaintsInDome2006]

Inside the Iran Hawks' Hijacking of Trump's Syria Withdrawal Plan - Former Special Presidential Envoy Brett McGurk: Donald Trump's Syria debacle may be "a Fort Apache scenario" in the making.

- In which President Trump "takes the oil."

 

[ren hoek]

@MaxAbrahms

The mainstream narrative of the Syria conflict has imploded. Every day there are new revelations that the “rebels” were in cahoots not only with Al Qaeda but also ISIS & official reports of Assad using chemical weapons were doctored according to the reports’ own authors.

Were you ever skeptical that Assad was authorizing chemical weapons attacks when they were the one thing that put his winning the war at risk? Authors of the official reports linking him to chemical weapons usage have now supplied evidence that their own reports were doctored.

When I was interviewed about Syria's military using chemical weapons, I expressed skepticism Assad bucked the political science literature by engaging in the one conduct that would reverse his hard-fought victory. But the media would excise me & the research from their stories.

The #1 story should be that authors of the official reports linking Assad to WMD usage have supplied evidence that they were doctored in defiance of the scientific evidence & exploited to push regime change in Damascus, which risked creating the Islamic State & war with Russia.

Until you get how you were duped into supporting regime change in #Syria you'll get duped into supporting other costly ventures to the local population, international stability & our counterterrorism efforts. The story of doctored WMD reports & Al Qaeda-led rebels must be told.

What happened in #Syria is the American political establishment decided that the ends justify the means. Truth did not matter at all. We were told Assad must go based on WMD reports their own authors say were doctored to support "rebels" who were Al-Qaeda-led & helping ISIS.

 

[Slapdash]

‘Sent Candy’: Cockpit Tapes Show Russian Pilots Bombing Syrian Civilians

 

[SaintsInDome2006]

Just an update here:

- The US is is still in Syria.

- Trump greenlit Erdogan’s invasion of Syria.

- But the US moved out of Russia’s & Iran’s way. So Russia and Turkey were in direct contact without the US as a buffer and without the US-RU deconfliction processes.

- Since, Russia bombed a Turkey position killing dozens of Turk soldiers.

- Turkey conveyed an executive session of NATO demanding US & allied support, as is their right. The US and allies have agreed to back Turkey, as they are indeed committed to do.

So, who will back down.

 

[SaintsInDome2006]

There’s also a massive humanitarian crisis underway in Idlib.... which no one is talking about. 

 

[Shula-holic]

Just an update here:

- The US is is still in Syria.

- Trump greenlit Erdogan’s invasion of Syria.

- But the US moved out of Russia’s & Iran’s way. So Russia and Turkey were in direct contact without the US as a buffer and without the US-RU deconfliction processes.

- Since, Russia bombed a Turkey position killing dozens of Turk soldiers.

- Turkey conveyed an executive session of NATO demanding US & allied support, as is their right. The US and allies have agreed to back Turkey, as they are indeed committed to do.

So, who will back down.

Zero chance we are going to step into a direct conflict with the Russians IMO.  Assad for better or worse is "Russia's guy".  He's better than what was the ISIS alternative even though it's going to be a brutal situation.  I wouldn't think Erdogan is naive enough to suppose any real NATO backing in conflict there beyond just the political rhetoric.

 

[ren hoek]

So, who will back down.

The last thing we need is another war in Syria.  This is why the NATO alliance is obsolete- it will only draw us further into war.  

A couple things that I don't think have gotten much consideration-

1. The OPCW appears to have fabricated its reporting on chemical weapon use by Syria in Douma.  This was used as the rationale for US and other western states to bomb Damascus.  Multiple whistleblowers have come forward to dispute the organization.  

2. The Turkish and its Gulf/Saudi partners have fed a ratline of salafi jihadists into northern Syria- Idlib has been known as an Al Qaeda stronghold in Syria.  

3. The CIA financed a secret billion dollar war in Syria.  It was a meddling operation called Timber Sycamore.   

Without fail, this context is always omitted from reporting on Syria.  This is the aftermath of a covert regime change operation by multiple world powers, so that a Gulf/Turkish pipeline could run through Syria.  Assad is infinitely more preferable than the prospect of turning yet another Middle Eastern country into an Islamic caliphate.  It is time to let go.  

 

[SaintsInDome2006]

The Turks have shot down 2 Syrian AF planes.

Turkey appears to be at war with Syria.

 

[ren hoek]

@andrewmcockburn
Do any of these bozos know that Idlib is controlled by Al Qaeda?

 

[ren hoek]

Ian Henderson, a former OPCW inspector who went to Douma, testified to the UN Security Council.  His testimony has been posted.  He publicly disputes the OPCW's FFM report on chemical weapon usage in Douma, alleging politically motivated doctoring of its own report.  We were called conspiracy theorists, and Putin/Assad apologists, for questioning why Syria would 'cross the red line' when it was already winning the war.  

Nothing about it in the NYT.  Nothing about it on CNN.  Nothing on the AP, Washington Post, Reuters, Fox News, NBC News, Yahoo, CBS News, ABC or NPR.  

It is an international outrage that another WMD-style campaign of lies was used as a justification to bomb Damascus.  The war in Syria has caused mass suffering, death and displacement to millions of ordinary Syrians.  But like everything else that doesn't suit our imperial propaganda narrative, it will be quietly ignored by our "free press".  

 

[shadrap]

Ian Henderson, a former OPCW inspector who went to Douma, testified to the UN Security Council.  His testimony has been posted.  He publicly disputes the OPCW's FFM report on chemical weapon usage in Douma, alleging politically motivated doctoring of its own report.  We were called conspiracy theorists, and Putin/Assad apologists, for questioning why Syria would 'cross the red line' when it was already winning the war.  

Nothing about it in the NYT.  Nothing about it on CNN.  Nothing on the AP, Washington Post, Reuters, Fox News, NBC News, Yahoo, CBS News, ABC or NPR.  

It is an international outrage that another WMD-style campaign of lies was used as a justification to bomb Damascus.  The war in Syria has caused mass suffering, death and displacement to millions of ordinary Syrians.  But like everything else that doesn't suit our imperial propaganda narrative, it will be quietly ignored by our "free press".  

the middle east is a despot of killing each other over anything as evidenced by the last 2000 years or so.  I have no idea why we have any american there.  the only thing that changes over there is weapons.