Syria

A Loose Cannon For Peace

January 6, 2019 Robert Koehler, Counterpunch. Educate! Iraq, Media, Syria, Wars and Militarism

Apparently what’s under assault is war itself, or so the Establishment believes, in the wake of the shocking announcement by the president that he plans to withdraw all 2,000 U.S. troops now deployed in Syria and 7,000, or half, the U.S. troops in Afghanistan. No, can’t do that! Can’t do that! This screws everything up. “. . . we must be resolute and unambiguous in our approach to those countries whose strategic interests are increasingly in tension with ours,” writes Defense Secretary Jim “Mad Dog” Mattis in his resignation letter to Donald Trump over the issue.

Syrian Kurds Throw Americans Under The Bus

December 31, 2018 By M. K. Bhadrakumar, Indianpunchline.com Educate! Inter-Imperialist Rivalry, Kurdistan, Syria

The Syrian government forces have entered the northern town of Manbij on the Turkish border earlier today. The Syrian military command announced in Damascus that the operation stemmed from the commitment to “impose sovereignty to each inch of Syrian territories and in response to calls of locals of Manbij city.” The announcement reiterated Damascus’ twin objective of “smashing terrorism and expelling the invaders and occupiers out of Syrian soil.” The government troops have hoisted the Syrian Arab flag in Manbij. In a highly significant move, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov promptly welcomed the development. “No doubt, this is a positive step towards stabilizing the situation,” the spokesman said.

The Decade-Long U.S. Campaign To Foment Syria’s “Revolution” And Unseat Assad

December 31, 2018 By Sarah Abed, Mintpressnews.com Educate! Regime Change, Syria, US Imperialism

SYRIA — (First published in May, 2017) The fingerprints of U.S. imperialism can be found all over the manufactured insurrection in Syria, in keeping with the ultimate goal of destabilization and eventual “regime change” through fomenting a sectarian civil war. Former NATO commander Wesley Clark has gone on record as stating that Syria was on a list of targeted nations to be toppled by the U.S. as early as 2001. In 2002, former Secretary of State John Bolton gave a speech titled “Beyond the Axis of Evil” that listed Syria as a handful of nations that could expect to be targeted.

Democrats and Neocons Are the Biggest Losers of Trump’s Syria Withdrawal

December 30, 2018 By Daniel Lazare, Truthdig Educate! Democrats, Donald Trump, Neocons, Syria

Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw them from eastern Syria has generated a rich list of winners and losers. Rarely has a strategy backfired as roundly as the Dem-neocon approach has since 2011. White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney may have exaggerated when he said that Syrian withdrawal is “very popular with ordinary American people,” but not by much. Certainly, no one is taking to the streets to keep the troops in place. Democrats have suffered a major rebuff, deservedly so.

Critics Of Syria Withdrawal Fueled Rise Of ISIS

December 29, 2018 By Max Blumenthal, Consortiumnews.com Educate! ISIS, Middle East, Regime Change, Syria, US Imperialism

President Donald Trump’s announcement of an imminent withdrawal of US troops from northeastern Syria summoned a predictable paroxysm of outrage from Washington’s foreign policy establishment. Former secretary of state and self-described “hair icon” Hillary Clinton perfectly distilled the bipartisan freakout into a single tweet, accusing Trump of “isolationism” and “playing into Russia and Iran’s hands.” Michelle Flournoy, the DC apparatchik who would have been Hillary’s secretary of defense, slammed the pull-out as “foreign policy malpractice,” while Hillary’s successor at the State Department, John Kerry, threw bits of red meat to the Russiagate-crazed Democratic base by branding Trump’s decision “a Christmas gift to Putin.”

What’s Behind U.S. Troop Withdrawals Announced For Syria And Afghanistan?

December 27, 2018 By Sara Flounders, Workers.org Educate! Afghanistan, Inter-Imperialist Rivalry, Middle East, Syria, US Imperialism

The announced withdrawal of the remaining 2,000 U.S. troops from Syria and a partial withdrawal from Afghanistan does not mean an end to the Pentagon’s aggressive militarism and endless U.S. wars – in Syria, in Afghanistan, in the region or globally. The U.S. military has 170,000 troops stationed outside the U.S. in 150 countries, in more than 800 overseas bases. Nearly 40,000 are assigned to classified missions in locations that Washington refuses to even disclose. Because the Pentagon has continually renamed and shuffled its forces in the Middle East, it’s impossible to know how many troops are on standby and how many are on rotation.

Kurds Negotiating With Syria To Avoid War With Turkey

December 27, 2018 By Elijah J Magnier, Ejmagnier.com Strategize! Kurdistan, Middle East, Syria, Türkiye, Wars and Militarism

Following President Trump’s decision to withdraw US forces from occupied northeast Syria, the Kurds of al-Hasaka have for the last two days been negotiating with the government of Damascus on how to spare the province from a possible Turkish invasion. Syrian General Ali Mamlouk, the Syrian president’s special security advisor, says that “he is talking with the Kurdish delegation to find a way for the Syrian army to deploy its forces along the borders with Turkey and, in consequence, stop a possible Turkish invasion of Northeast Syria”, confirmed a decision-maker source in the Syrian capital, Damascus.

The Anti-War Left Must Capitalise On Trump’s Withdrawal From Syria

December 26, 2018 By Lindsey German, Counterfire.org Resist! Anti-War, Inter-Imperialist Rivalry, Syria, Trump Administration, US Imperialism

Donald Trump’s announcement that US troops are withdrawing from Syria has caused havoc amongst the political and military establishment there. The resignation of Defence secretary James Mattis is the most public expression of this. The Financial Times’ Edward Luce describes Mattis as ‘the last grown-up in Donald Trump’s “axis of adults”’. Mattis has made it clear that his resignation is because he disagrees with Trump over the issue. The despair evidenced by Mattis’s resignation from these quarters demonstrates how much he was relied on to keep the president on a course desired by the US and its allies.

Bring The Troops Home, But Also Stop The Bombing

December 25, 2018 Medea Benjamin and Nicolas J. S. Davies, CODE PINK Educate! Bombing, Syria, Wars and Militarism

As our nation debates the merits of President Donald Trump's call for withdrawing U.S. troops from Syria and Afghanistan, absent from the debate is the more pernicious aspect of U.S. military involvement overseas: its air wars. Trump's announcement and General James Mattis' resignation should unleash a national discussion about U.S. involvement in overseas conflicts, but no evaluation can be meaningful without a clear understanding of the violence that U.S air wars have unleashed on the rest of the world for the past 17 years.

And So This Is Christmas

December 23, 2018 David Swanson, Let's Try Democracy. Organize! Syria, Trump, US Empire, Wars and Militarism

There is the possibility of something being done for peace. President Donald Trump claims he will remove all U.S. troops from Syria. There is very little correlation between what he says and what he does, but if he does this, we need to be prepared to thank him, to celebrate such an action, and to insist that bombing cease as well, and that actual humanitarian aid and unarmed peace workers replace the military force, and that weapons sales and gifts to the region be ended. Trump needs to be shocked by the support for this act from unexpected places.

Intel: Why Israel Plans To Fill In US Void In Syria

December 22, 2018 Staff, Al-monitor.com Educate! Inter-Imperialist Rivalry, Israel, Syria, United States, US Imperialism

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared today that Israel would increase its efforts against Iran’s influence in Syria "in a very decisive way and with support and backup from the US.” The comments come after US President Donald Trump’s announcement Wednesday that he was pulling US troops out of Syria caught Israel by surprise, just as it did other US allies as well as Congress and key figures in the Trump administration itself. The United States had previously promised Netanyahu that US troops would remain in Syria until Iran and its proxies were removed. The Israeli leader, after speaking with Trump and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, said that the pullout will be coordinated with Israel.

Trump’s Syrian Withdrawal Order Sparks Political Firestorm In Washington

December 21, 2018 Bill Van Auken, Wsws.org Educate! Syria, Trump Administration, US Imperialism

An apparent order by US President Donald Trump for the withdrawal of all 2,000 US troops deployed in Syria over the next 60 to 100 days has sparked consternation and sharp opposition from the Pentagon, top Democrats and Republicans on Capitol Hill as well as Washington’s NATO allies. The withdrawal order, which was leaked to the media by senior officials within the administration and the military, was given what apparently constituted a confirmation by a brief tweet from Trump Wednesday declaring, “We have defeated ISIS in Syria, my only reason for being there during the Trump Presidency.”

Why Trump Decided To Remove U.S. Troops From Syria

December 21, 2018 Staff, Moonofalabama.org Educate! Syria, Trump Administration, US military

Last Friday President Trump had another long phonecall with the Turkish President Erdogan. Thereafter he overruled all his advisors and decided to remove the U.S. boots from Syria and to also end the air war. This was the first time Trump took a decisive stand against the borg, the permanent neoconservative and interventionist establishment in his administration, the military and congress, that usually dictates U.S. foreign policy. It was this decision, and that he stuck to it, which finally made him presidential.

Don’t Hold Your Breath On US Troop Withdrawal From Syria

December 21, 2018 Patrick Lawrence, Consortiumnews.com Educate! Inter-Imperialist Rivalry, Russia, Syria, US Imperialism, US military

The announcement on Wednesday that the U.S. will withdraw all remaining troops from Syria within the next month looked at first like a rare victory for Donald Trump in his admittedly erratic opposition to senseless wars of adventure. “We have defeated ISIS in Syria, my only reason for being there,” the president tweeted with an unmistakable air of triumph. Don’t get your hopes up. Just about everything in these initial reports is either wrong or misleading. One, the U.S. did not defeat the Islamic State: The Syrian Arab Army, aided by Russia, Iran, and Hezbollah militias did. Two, hardly was ISIS the only reason the U.S. has maintained a presence in Syria. The intent for years was to support a coup against the Assad government in Damascus...

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