Narrow majority backs Trump on Syria, Afghanistan troop reductions

Discussion in 'Current Events' started by Ethereal, Jan 6, 2019.

  1. Ethereal

    Ethereal Well-Known Member

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    The 48% of respondents who oppose withdrawing from Syria and Afghanistan probably couldn't locate either country on a map, let alone describe the underlying military and political dynamics in play.

    Nothing has hurt America more than the interventionist foreign policy of the US government. It has cost Americans trillions of dollars and caused massive instability across the Middle East, Africa, and Europe. Yet millions of Americans still support the failed ideology of interventionism. Thankfully, there are just as many Americans who have grown exhausted with endless wars that accomplish nothing. Will Trump listen to them or will he listen to his warmongering advisers like Bolton and Pompeo? Recent events suggest it will be the latter.
     
    Last edited: Jan 6, 2019
  2. Hadrian's Hammer

    Hadrian's Hammer Banned

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    Really.....what's the source of the info?
     
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  3. Ethereal

    Ethereal Well-Known Member

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    Try reading the article I posted and linked to.
     
  4. Hadrian's Hammer

    Hadrian's Hammer Banned

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    Well then you just added the link after because there was no link when this thread was initially posted.
     
  5. Ethereal

    Ethereal Well-Known Member

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    You're correct. My fault. But still, I posted an excerpt from the article which cites the source as a Harvard CAPS/Harris poll.
     
  6. WillReadmore

    WillReadmore Well-Known Member

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    Trump announces a pullout in 30 days.

    Then, Bolton works to settle our allies jolted by such childish treatment of a serious topic, adding conditions that could take years.

    And, America buys that??
     
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  7. WillReadmore

    WillReadmore Well-Known Member

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    The title IS the link.

    And, searching on the title works, too.
     
  8. Ethereal

    Ethereal Well-Known Member

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    I'm not sure what you're asking.
     
  9. PeppermintTwist

    PeppermintTwist Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    The source is randomly dropped right wing stink bombs.
     
  10. Ethereal

    Ethereal Well-Known Member

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    This is an absurd lie. The source is a Harvard poll.

    Americans are sick of endless wars that cost trillions of dollars and accomplish nothing. But you hate Trump so much, that you would rather support endless war than support anything Trump does. Simply amazing.
     
  11. AltLightPride

    AltLightPride Well-Known Member

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    Ethereal likes this.
  12. Egoboy

    Egoboy Well-Known Member Donor

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    Also from your Hill article

    SNIP
    While a slight majority of U.S. voters in the poll said they support the troop reduction in Syria and Afghanistan, an even larger majority — 69 percent — said that it is important for the U.S. to keep ground troops in the Middle East.
    ENDSNIP

    Uh Huh... where are we gong to put troops in the ME where they would do the most good in 2019?? South Egypt? Israel? Libya?

    Some confused people answering these surveys...

    In the long term, I agree with trying to reduce our military footprint in places like these, but I'll wait for the experts to say it's time to do this, not Donnie Darko
     
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  13. PeppermintTwist

    PeppermintTwist Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    All this is, is a sad reflection of how uneducated and uninformed many Americans are in how to safely and politically pull out of a territory such as Syria when we have allies such as the Kurds that were depending upon the USA.
     
  14. AmericanNationalist

    AmericanNationalist Well-Known Member

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    Let's discuss this, something I've been brewing on lately: Our stupid alliance with the Kurds. What, do we think we're playing the role of France in the US Revolution? There's a big difference between the once-held British colonies and our framers and the Kurds. That is, we already had a degree of autonomy and a region to which we could call home. The Kurds do not, that's why they're in this civil war to begin with. To ANNEX territory.

    And then there's this little game we're playing with the Turkish where we're like "We'll be your friend, but please don't fire on those separatists." That's like someone allying with the US and then saying "Please don't fire on the Southern Rebels". Obviously, we wouldn't heed that since it was the Union's position to reunify the North/South.

    This is the exact same situation for the Turks. There is no way in hell Erdogen will diplomatically agree to a Kurdish State. Therefore, there is no diplomatic security for them. Even Pompeo should be aware of that. It will 'take years', because the Turks will never recognize the Kurds, and we apparently want to be friends with both.

    Even ignoring all of that, the more territory Assad and Syria regains, the more they'll want to reclaim the east and the whole of Syria. Syria will declare the US an invader, and seek to remove our forces. The only reason they hadn't done so yet(Fear of the US aside) has been the strength of the rebel forces keeping them occupied. But now that they've cleared the region, the immediate problem of the Syrian Civil war comes to a head and the US must make a decision. And it must make this decision cognizant of the fact that it's not possible to ally with Turkey and the Kurds. We have to choose one or the other.

    If we choose to ally with Turkey, we have to recognize that Turkey doesn't recognize the Kurds and will not offer protection to them. We are left with a Syrian-esque situation where we ask Erogden, mad man that he is to consider reforms of his Turkish government.

    Which will not go well. On that note, Turkey is an enemy of Washington. Did we forget the frank and disrespectful behavior of the Turks last year on US Soil? It's clear that Turkey is in the same mode as Dutere, someone who will act against US and western interests and INTL Law.

    Also, Turkey may be seeking to expand its own Ottoman-esque Empire and has no intentions of allying with the Europeans but rather wants to bide its time before swallowing up Europe. The long and short of this, is that neither the Turks or the Kurds are worthy allies of the US.
     
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  15. Ethereal

    Ethereal Well-Known Member

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    So you want unelected generals to make foreign policy instead of an elected president. Not very liberal of you, is it?

    By the way, would those be the same "experts" who lie about everything, are wrong about everything, and cannot win any wars?
     
  16. Ethereal

    Ethereal Well-Known Member

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    The US occupation of Syria is unlawful and a gross violation of international norms.

    The only reason the Kurds are in danger is BECAUSE of the US occupation of Syria.

    The Kurds have already taken steps to negotiate with the Syrian government for protection.

    Your entire understanding of Syria is based on nothing but lies, misinformation, and hatred for Trump.
     
    Last edited: Jan 6, 2019
  17. Egoboy

    Egoboy Well-Known Member Donor

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    You think we are going to "win" in either Afghanistan or Syria? There is no such possible outcome for the US.

    But yes, I will generally trust the boots on the ground, or those appointed to speak for them in Washington, over somebody who doesn't read or listen... 100 times out of 100...
     
  18. WillReadmore

    WillReadmore Well-Known Member

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    What does this poll even mean?

    My bet is that those polled liked the dream of leaving. Who wouldn't?

    The catch is that administrations far more functional than this one could not pull off that objective - an objective that was considered to be of serious importance.

    And, we now get the crystal clear message from Bolton that it was just one more uninformed comment of a president who can't even listen to his advisers, let alone drive toward a strategy to solve a complex issuee.

    But, hey - half of America was happy!
     
  19. AmericanNationalist

    AmericanNationalist Well-Known Member

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    That is one possible solution for the Kurds(aligning with Syria.) Which will force a Syrian-Turkish war, which will make it even more complicated for those idiots.(Well, the easy solution would be to wipe both Syria and Turkey from the map but then all democratic pretenses go away at that point.)

    Even though I believe in Empire, I also believe the Empire's strength and might being wasted in Syria is exactly how Empires fall. Whether the Kurds can create an independent State for themselves, depends on themselves.
     
  20. Ethereal

    Ethereal Well-Known Member

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    No, I do not think the US will win anywhere because the "experts" have no intention of winning. Why would they? These wars are the source of all their prestige and job security. If it weren't for these wars, guys like Mattis would be working as an accountant for a mid-sized firm somewhere in New Jersey.

    In other words, you will support the people who have been wrong about everything and who have totally failed to achieve even a semblance of victory over America's enemies.

    Would it help if I found some "experts" who agreed with Trump's decision? Or do you oppose this simply because Trump is the one who is doing it?
     
  21. US Conservative

    US Conservative Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    Even Pocahontas Warren backs Trump.

    If Orange man bad wasn't a thing, it would be even more popular.
     
  22. Ethereal

    Ethereal Well-Known Member

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    Bolton is a warmongering idiot who has never been right about anything in his entire life.

    The US occupation of Syria is unlawful, unnecessary, and based on nothing but lies.

    Trump's instincts are 100% correct. Withdrawing from Syria is the practical, ethical, and legal thing to do.
     
  23. ARDY

    ARDY Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    All things being equal, i am sure most americans would prefer to disinvolve ourselve from a whole range of foreign entangelments. But, all of these entanglements originated for reasons that seemed compelling at the time. Afhanistan was the home base of bin laden, and the taliban could easily recapture control there... with potentially very bad consequences. And syria was the breeding ground and defacto home base of ISIS. And syra is where are best allies against isis reside. And syria is a place where russia would like to solidify geopolitical influence. And syria is a place where iran also wants to achieve unfettered dominance. And so there are a lot of reasons why we have not wanted to simply abandon our syrian presence.

    Now, lets say it is likely true that most Americans favor trumps position on syria and afghanistan.... i wonder how many of those supporters have seriously considered the ramifications of those policy choices? I gotta think general james mattis was no idiot, and that he had thought in more depth about these topics than those who support trumps position

    That being said, i kinds agree with trump.... it is hard to see what we are actually accomplishing with our policies in that region
     
  24. Ethereal

    Ethereal Well-Known Member

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  25. AmericanNationalist

    AmericanNationalist Well-Known Member

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    Actually, the Afghani government being as irrelevant as it is in the region, the Taliban do have defacto control over that region already. The MOAB was only good for show and not much. The trench warfare hadn't changed. And the reasons you cite, are exactly the reason we must pull out of Syria. As one poster noted, victory is not achievable in Syria. And yet, the Russians/Iranians hold presence there. We are not a roadblock to the eventual domination of those various forces. We are putting ourselves in a position where they will eventually push us out.

    So unless you want US soldiers to die, needlessly for protection that will never be granted to the Kurds the hoopla over it was retarded.

    The only place I disagree is Afghanistan, and that's if we're actually serious about it. In Hillary's book Hard Choices, a US General proposed a 75K force to take the Afghan-Pakistan line.(AKA, a 'surge' if you will.) Because of the weakness of both the Afghanistan/Pakistani governments, such a move would be feasible and would go a long way towards ending the conflict there, because our objectives are A: To root out the taliban and B: To secure Paki's nukes.

    But if we're not serious, I agree with Trump then too.
     

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