On Point: Trump’s Canny Diplomatic and Psychological Feints on the International Stage
4th December 2019
Earlier this year, President Trump began grousing about endless wars and publicly mulled removing U.S. military forces from Syria. Then, in mid-October, he abruptly ordered military advisers to leave northern Syria, a predicate to a complete U.S. skedaddle. Trump’s critics cratered. Syria’s civil war is a dirty, fractious bloodbath where regional and global powers collide amid homicidal tribes. With the U.S. gone, Turkish forces would slaughter Kurds.
Ah, but in late October, American commandos killed the truly evil Islamic State group leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, who was hiding in a Syrian village not far from the Turkish border. The Pentagon had spent months planning the raid. Alas, The New York Times reported Trump’s withdrawal decision “disrupted the meticulous planning and forced Pentagon officials to press ahead with a risky, night raid …”
Funny how we don’t hear about any genocidal massacres of Kurds over there. Maybe CNN just forgot to report that, busy as they were with impeachment and all.