James Mattis steps down as secretary of defense, cites differing views with Trump

[OscarLevant]

It's time to cut the cord over there.
We only have 2,000 troops over there so not that much of a big deal.
Mattis was very respectful when giving his resignation. I can't fault him for wanting to leave.

I can fault president for creating insane management method that has caused many of his top cabinet members aids aids to resign-- Kelly, Mattis, Tillerson, McMaster etcetera etcetera etcetera.

The level of resignations in this Administration is unprecedented. Such a high turnover signals a diseased organization, any org. and especially the White House. We have a president run amok with disregard to input from his experienced advisors--he's just winging it and doing whatever the hell he wants based on whatever Ann Coulter bitches about or his base whines about.

 

[ElChupacabra]

Cheering and rooting for the country to fail. Nice. :roll:

I'm not cheering, but the turnover rate of this White House has taken a comedic aspect.

 

[Airyaman]

Or it's that the situation in Syria has changed, that the Islamists aren't going to win, that the Assad government isn't going to fall, so may be it's time to pop smoke.

Can any of these people supporting us staying in Afghanistan and Syria actually defend what US interests are being protected? It really doesn't seem like anything is being looked after.

Also, I doubt that the US is leaving either nation. May be we'll have conventional ground forces leave, but we'll still have drones, air strikes, and special forces.

There is nothing wrong with simultaneously wanting us out of those nations AND realizing that Trump is going about in a very dangerous manner.

 

[JANFU]

Russia isn't in charge of Syria's fate. The Syrian government has regularly pushed back against Russia wanting to do more than they think they should. The Syrian government and Syrians are in charge of Syria's fate.

No, Iran and Russia hold the cards. Assad is a spectator at the table

 

[Atomic Kid]

Agreed. But 2010 was Obama and 2012 was Obama. Trump is a fool, but this mistake follows a pattern.

Couple of key differences though. Obama erred on the side of caution in not being reckless with his use of the military and perhaps a little too much so, and he had little to no support from Congress for taking action against Syria. Whereas Trump uses the military as a political prop, gives out impulsive and rash orders with litlle to no consultation and has enjoyed wide support from the House and Senate. Up till now anyways.

 

[Mr. Invisible]

No, Iran and Russia hold the cards. Assad is a spectator at the table

Assad isn't a spectator. The gains have been made with the help of allies, but most of the blood spilled in ridding the nation of terrorists has been Syrian blood.

 

[prometeus]

BFD... he's a businessman

He is a ****ing incompetent moron.

not an ass kissing establishment politician.

You are right, the ass kissers are the scores of low intellect degenerates who continue to kiss his ass and defend every idiocy he utters.

 

[slick]

Russia isn't in charge of Syria's fate. The Syrian government has regularly pushed back against Russia wanting to do more than they think they should. The Syrian government and Syrians are in charge of Syria's fate.

Syrians are in charge of Syria's fate absolutely, but Russia sure had a strong hand in Assad's victory over the Islamic fundamentalist.
The victory at Aleppo 'Syria's Stalingrad' could never have been if not for the Russians, they'll certainly have a influence in the
future of Syria.

 

[trixare4kids]

You cannot answer the question I asked. Here we go again. Tell us why a suddenly announced withdrawal from Syria will have regional repercussions.
Tell us pls. I am sure you can use Goggle.

Are you asking me if there may be some repercussions from withdrawing troops suddenly?
Already addressed on another thread. I would prefer a slower pullout.
It has me concerned because what happened to Obama for doing the same in Iraq may come back to haunt us in Syria. We could see a big increase in extremism rise in the region.

 

[JANFU]

Assad isn't a spectator. The gains have been made with the help of allies, but most of the blood spilled in ridding the nation of terrorists has been Syrian blood.

Assad was close to falling, till Hezbollah sent more fighters, Russia with air power, Iraq with Shia Brigades, Iran with the IRG
His military is spread thin and has been for the past few years.

Now how will Assad, under the guidance of Russia/Iran deal with the Kurds, who are not well liked by Turkey and Erdogan.

 

[Checkerboard Strangler]

While this might not be a popular opinion, I support the move to pull out of Syria for reason I don't want to get lost in here.

Let's not get hysterical over Mattis leaving and assume Trump is going to bomb the world now that he's gone. He wasn't keeping Trump inline anymore than the rest of the clowns at the WH, and all you have to do is look at his interactions in Korea, Russia, and China to see the "fruits" of his labor.

I support "A MOVE" to pull out of Syria because I supported the notion of never having gotten involved in the first place, however at this juncture, we're IN Syria and this move right now, at this particular time, is a direct handoff to Putin.

And that means we will wind up BACK IN Syria at some point in the near future, guaranteed, and not with a piddling 2000 people either.

 

[JANFU]

Are you asking me if there may be some repercussions from withdrawing troops suddenly?
Already addressed on another thread. I would prefer a slower pullout.
It has me concerned because what happened to Obama for doing the same in Iraq may come back to haunt us in Syria. We could see a big increase in extremism rise in the region.

Then post it over here
Now the regional, and let me include other Allies, what will the repercussions be?

 

[slick]

Are you asking me if there may be some repercussions from withdrawing troops suddenly?
Already addressed on another thread. I would prefer a slower pullout.
It has me concerned because what happened to Obama for doing the same in Iraq may come back to haunt us in Syria. We could see a big increase in extremism rise in the region.

Russia, Assad's forces & Iran will now have to fight ISIS alone, I think they are able to take care any ISIS stragglers handily

 

[Hawkeye10]

Assad was close to falling, till Hezbollah sent more fighters, Russia with air power, Iraq with Shia Brigades, Iran with the IRG
His military is spread thin and has been for the past few years.

Now how will Assad, under the guidance of Russia/Iran deal with the Kurds, who are not well liked by Turkey and Erdogan.

Assad defied and then humiliated America.

That's Bad.

 

[trixare4kids]

Then post it over here
Now the regional, and let me include other Allies, what will the repercussions be?

No need for me to repost something I said on another thread since I summarized here succinctly.
As for your second question, that's up to them.
It's about time my country stops worrying what our critics think.

 

[JANFU]

No need for me to repost something I said on another thread since I summarized here succinctly.
As for your second question, that's up to them.
It's about time my country stops worrying what our critics think.

Clear ya got nothing

 

[trixare4kids]

Russia, Assad's forces & Iran will now have to fight ISIS alone, I think they are able to take care any ISIS stragglers handily

Agree... even Chuck Schumer inferred as much. (see below)-- Schumer warned against us being there for the same reason Trump is pulling out... Notice how today Schumer pretends that he stands with Mattis and acts like Trump has lost his marbles? Schumer is just politically corrupt but you watch him whip up his base with this nonsense.

Schumer said in April of 2018....
"If you look at Iraq, we sacrificed close to 5,000 of our best young people who made the ultimate sacrifice, spent a trillion dollars that could have been better spent here [in the United States], and Iraq's no better off today than it was back then it," Schumer said. "I don't want to repeat the same mistake in Syria, and I believe any large-term engagement should go to Congress, and Congress would be the check."

https://dailygazette.com/article/2018/04/16/schumer-worried-about-syria-involvement

We never did go to congress, did we?

 

[slick]

I don't like that the military top brass are all together not happy with Trump's recent decisions, this among them. Mattis will leave large shoes to fill.

Now the opposition is dismissing Trump as an idiot because many of his military men have left or are leaving. The Dems
sure can change their stripes.

2016: Trump's Cabinet dubbed 'Goldman, generals and gazillionaires'
"I call it the three 'G' Cabinet: Goldman, generals and gazillionaires," Missouri Sen. Claire McCaskill, a Democrat,
said mockingly Sunday on ABC's This Week, thankfully she's no longer in the senate.

And as usual the WP chimed in 'Why it’s dangerous to have so many generals in the Trump Cabinet'

I haven't check out what they think about all the Generals going probably they'll give Trump a tongue lashing
for bouncing the generals who they were trashing when Trump elevated them to the cabinet way back when.

 

[trixare4kids]

Clear ya got nothing

But I do.
You simply want to be the only voice that is heard...

 

[Nap]

I support "A MOVE" to pull out of Syria because I supported the notion of never having gotten involved in the first place, however at this juncture, we're IN Syria and this move right now, at this particular time, is a direct handoff to Putin.

And that means we will wind up BACK IN Syria at some point in the near future, guaranteed, and not with a piddling 2000 people either.

Congress was against it as well but Obama essentially gave them the middle finger and did it anyways.

I hope more of those that disagree with Trump on bringing soldiers home and ending these pointless wars leave the administration.

 

[Nap]

Agree... even Chuck Schumer inferred as much. (see below)-- Schumer warned against us being there for the same reason Trump is pulling out... Notice how today Schumer pretends that he stands with Mattis and acts like Trump has lost his marbles? Schumer is just politically corrupt but you watch him whip up his base with this nonsense.

Schumer said in April of 2018....
"If you look at Iraq, we sacrificed close to 5,000 of our best young people who made the ultimate sacrifice, spent a trillion dollars that could have been better spent here [in the United States], and Iraq's no better off today than it was back then it," Schumer said. "I don't want to repeat the same mistake in Syria, and I believe any large-term engagement should go to Congress, and Congress would be the check."

https://dailygazette.com/article/2018/04/16/schumer-worried-about-syria-involvement

We never did go to congress, did we?

We did and Congress said no, Obama sent them anyways.

 

[JANFU]

But I do.
You simply want to be the only voice that is heard...

Tell me about the iSIL Terrorists captured and imprisoned in Syria. Set them free, send them to their home country? What??

 

[Checkerboard Strangler]

Russia, Assad's forces & Iran will now have to fight ISIS alone, I think they are able to take care any ISIS stragglers handily

Now illuminate us all on the different motivations between Russia, Assad and Iran, because you know damn well these three are all in it for different reasons.
Then tell us why it was wise to allow Russia to waltz in there in the first place (Obama did not do that) and why, if Iran is so evil, we're letting them have free reign over there now.

This essay in particular has not aged well:

Under the Obama administration, the United States was primarily interested in deconflicting with Russian operations in Syria, lest an incident occur. Now, U.S. military posture is less preoccupied with Russian actions. Instead, its attitude is that Putin should be the one on the defensive. The U.S. military’s looser rules of engagement and direct response to Russian forces in Syria have conveyed just that.

My money says that we will be forced to return to Syria pretty soon, and not just with two thousand "advisers" either.

 

[slick]

Tell me about the iSIL Terrorists captured and imprisoned in Syria. Set them free, send them to their home country? What??

That's up to Assad!

 

[JANFU]

Agree... even Chuck Schumer inferred as much. (see below)-- Schumer warned against us being there for the same reason Trump is pulling out... Notice how today Schumer pretends that he stands with Mattis and acts like Trump has lost his marbles? Schumer is just politically corrupt but you watch him whip up his base with this nonsense.

Schumer said in April of 2018....
"If you look at Iraq, we sacrificed close to 5,000 of our best young people who made the ultimate sacrifice, spent a trillion dollars that could have been better spent here [in the United States], and Iraq's no better off today than it was back then it," Schumer said. "I don't want to repeat the same mistake in Syria, and I believe any large-term engagement should go to Congress, and Congress would be the check."

https://dailygazette.com/article/2018/04/16/schumer-worried-about-syria-involvement

We never did go to congress, did we?

Iraq was the wrong war. But many rushed to War