President Trump yesterday claimed he would be leaving US troops in Syria to make sure no one takes the oil. Leaving aside who’s oil it actually is (hint: it’s in Syria), what are the logistics and what is the wisdom of leaving a couple of hundred US troops dispersed through Syria to guard oil facilities? Good move? Dumb move? Don’t miss today’s Liberty Report:
Reprinted from The Ron Paul Institute for Peace & Prosperity.
I’m not sure if Moon Over Alabama mentioned this fact, but the real killer for keeping a small contingent of US soldiers behind in eastern Syria to guard the oil fields is the DoD’s “golden hour rule.” This policy means, US Army med-evac capability (using Blackhawks, not contractor a/c) must be available to get wounded US soldiers to a NATO Role 3 trauma hospital (İncirlik, al-Assad or maybe Erbil in this case) within one hour after an attack. Thus, a US Army med-evac detachment would have to be onsite at a U.S. controlled airfield in the vicinity of oilfields. Even with max use of contractor personnel and no Apache gunships as escorts, more than 100 US soldiers would be needed just for this med-evac mission. Moreover, why would Turkey or Iraq (who themselves want a say in how Syrian oil is dispersed) give permission for US med-evac fights to come and go from their airspace for US troops that are in Syria illegally? (Nobody gives up anything for free in this part of the world.) As Daniel said, the logistics of keeping a small contingent of US soldiers in Syria is infeasible. The 1,000 to 2,000 US soldiers in Syria before the pullout was already the minimum. I’m going to love seeing “military expert” Senator Graham eat crow on this stupid idea.
Wow! I’m now hearing in the news that the DoD wants to put a heavy armored (tank) combat brigade team in Syria as part of the proposed unauthorized and illegal “defend the oil fields” mission. (A BCT is normally 4,000 soldiers.) As anyone who served in Iraq or Afghanistan knows, the words “light footprint” are not in the DoD’s field operations manual. The DoD is now talking about “leaving behind” more troops on the ground in Syria than the 1,000 that supposedly left under Trump’s pull-out order!
Shhh. You’re not supposed to notice. If you notice, it means that you’re not on the Trump Peace Train and probably love Hillary Clinton.
HRC wanted to impose a No Fly zone over Syria. That would have shut down the Russians and it would have ensured Assad’s defeat.
The workflow here is not that everything is decided upfront and then it plays out. The decision process is ongoing and you have to wait a bit to see how it turns out because everyone talks before their turn. Trump wanted out one time, second time got something moving. Announcements are not grounded in consensus, not even hierachical consensus.
Then he’s sold on the idea of holding on to the oil. Then some people say ok that means we can bring in a brigade. Then Trump says ‘wait that was not what I meant, call it off’. Maybe he’ll give up on the idea of getting tanks in there, or maybe not. Maybe they bring in the tanks and after two months decide that it was a really stupid idea.
Trumps motto “if you can get away with it, get away with it”. If the poor man could keep his mouth shut he would be far better off. The problem is a leader sets the example and the American people are far better then the example mister Trump sets.
That’s just so off base….the American people are responsible for Trump/Obama/Clinton/Bush.
Not a single one of those presidents received votes from more than 25% of “the American people.” Why would the other 75% be “responsible” for them?
Morally not. But who again is responsible for getting rid of them if not the citizens? I hold no truck with group responsibility for individual actions and vice versa. That said the aggregate individual decisions of Americans have lead us to here. The boulder doesn’t care if you deserve to be crushed….you figure out how to stop it, how to move out the way or you get smashed. The boulder doesn’t care if your neighbors and ancestors broke your legs and back and arms…..
All fair points.
“But who again is responsible for getting rid of them if not the citizens?”
That would be the 20% directly under the oligarch bankster crowd who were intentionally excluded from the consequences of the largest transfer of wealth from the bottom to the top in world history.
You know, the “professional” class…..
That’s who is in control of the narrative right now. That’s who’s still gaining economically.
That’s who is valued within society even by those who have gotten the shaft by the oligarchs and their delusional world view.
Either that or we can just vote harder……
I voted for Trump because he presented himself as the opposite of Clinton and promised to put America first. It is not my fault that he betrayed me and millions of other voters. Now that he’s revealed himself as a murderous, anti-American traitor and war criminal, anyone who votes for him again shares the moral responsibility for his crimes. (Fool me once shame on you…)
It’s about time to realize you won’t be represented in our electoral process Harold.
Even if someone well intended accidentally slides into office, they won’t be allowed to change the system.
Get a yellow vest my friend, you and your kids lives depend upon it.
What I realize is that nobody “well intended” (if such a political aspirant exists in the first place) will be allowed anywhere near the levers of power in the hopelessly corrupt U.S.
Welcome back to Khe Sanh.