Tag: Syria

Trump faces growing GOP revolt on Syria

The Hill logoRepublicans are in a full-out revolt against President Trump over his decision to withdraw troops from northern Syria, a move broadly seen as putting the lives of Kurdish allies at risk.

The overwhelming opposition from GOP lawmakers is putting increasing pressure on Trump to reverse course. And it comes at a time when Democrats are moving full steam ahead with an impeachment inquiry.

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), one of Trump’s loudest congressional supporters, on Tuesday demanded a senators-only briefing on the Syria move, which he said betrayed the Kurds and would make it tougher for the U.S. to build alliances going forward.

View the complete October 9 article by Alexander Bolton on The Hill website here.

State orders EU ambassador not to testify before House

The Hill logoA key witness in the House impeachment inquiry was ordered not to appear at a scheduled deposition on Tuesday, ramping up tensions between congressional Democrats and the Trump administration.

The State Department instructed Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland not to appear for the deposition, according to his counsel.

House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) later lashed out at the State Department, saying Sondland has messages on a personal device that are relevant to the impeachment inquiry. He and the chairmen of two other House panels said they would issue a subpoena to Sondland.

View the complete October 8 article by Cristina Marcos and Alicia Cohn on The Hill website here.

Trump Claims Poll Numbers Have Zoomed 17 Points As He Defends Abandonment Of Kurds

And the U.S. military “did not have ammunition” when he “took over,” he explained.

In a fractured White House news conference Monday, President Donald Trump claimed poll numbers supporting him have jumped 17 percentage points. That’s despite an impeachment inquiry and the uproar over his decision Sunday night to draw down U.S. troops as Kurdish allies face a Turkish incursion into Syria.

It’s not known which poll, if any, Trump was citing.

Trump also insisted that the U.S. military had no ammunition when he “took over” as commander in chief, and he characterized the Kurds and the Turks as “natural enemies.”

View the complete October 7 article by Mary Papenfuss on the Huffington Post website here.

Experts warn of persistent ISIS threat after suicide bombing B

The suicide bombing in Syria this past week at a restaurant said to be popular among U.S. service members put into focus the persistent threat from the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), experts said.

The town in northern Syria where the bombing took place was considered a success story for stabilization after it was retaken from ISIS in 2016. As recently as July, U.S. senators toured the area without body armor.

But Wednesday’s blast in Manbij’s bustling city center shattered that perception at a time when President Trump has been touting the decimation of ISIS and plans to withdraw U.S. troops from Syria.

View the complete January 20 article by Rebecca Kheel on The Hill website here.

Pence Claims Credit For Defeating ISIS On Same Day ISIS Kills U.S. Troops

Yesterday, on the same day ISIS claimed credit for an attack that killed U.S. troops in Syria, Pence once again claimed the Trump administration had defeated ISIS. This administration’s distortion of reality is dangerous.

Today, ISIS claimed credit for an attack that killed U.S. troops in Syria.

CNN: “ISIS has claimed responsibility for a deadly explosion that killed US service members in the Syrian city of Manbij on Wednesday.”

Hours later, Pence once again claimed credit for defeating ISIS.

Pence: “The caliphate has crumbled, and ISIS has been defeated.”

Despite being told by military leaders on the ground in Syria that ISIS was not entirely defeated, Trump and his administration continues to lie to the American people.

CNN: “During his surprise visit to Iraq on December 26, Trump was warned by military commanders that — despite his claims — ISIS was not entirely defeated in Syria.”

Contradicting Trump, Bolton says no withdrawal from Syria until ISIS destroyed, Kurds’ safety guaranteed

White House national security adviser John Bolton on Sunday outlined conditions for a U.S. troop departure from Syria that appeared to contradict President Trump’s insistence less than a month ago that the withdrawal would be immediate and without conditions.

Speaking during a visit to Israel, Bolton said that certain “objectives” must be achieved before a pullout could take place. “The timetable flows from the policy decisions that we need to implement.”

Bolton acknowledged that pockets of the Islamic State remain undefeated and that a quick U.S. pullout could endanger U.S. partners and allies in the region, as well as U.S. forces themselves.

View the complete January 6 article by Karen DeYoung and Karoun Demirjian on The Washington Post website here.

Trump’s military moves accelerate GOP search for next McCain

President Trump’s sudden announcements to pull U.S. troops out of Syria and dramatically reduce combat forces in Afghanistan have Republicans wondering who will fill the void left by the late John McCain, a prominent authority on national security willing to speak for the nation’s military commanders.

McCain’s absence was strongly felt last week when Trump unexpectedly announced his decision to pull U.S. troops out of Syria. While there was general pushback in the Senate, some observers said the GOP’s criticism of the commander in chief did not match the authoritative voice of McCain, who was a prisoner of war in Vietnam.

“We miss his voice and his actions,” said John Weaver, a longtime political adviser to McCain. “Can you imagine if John was still the chairman of the Armed Services Committee? It would have been rather dramatic.”

View the complete December 27 article by Alexander Bolton on The Hill website here.

Trump’s chaos in Syria gets praise from Putin — and no one else

President Trump in the Oval Office. Credit: Andrew Harnik, AP

Trump’s sudden announcement on Syria confused American agencies and leaders. But Vladimir Putin praised it loudly.

Seemingly out of nowhere, Trump announced that America would be withdrawing the 2,000 troops in Syria. The major foreign policy initiative came as a surprise to both the Department of Defense and the State Department, the two departments who would be tasked with executing Trump’s whims.

Defending his latest amateurish blunder on foreign policy, Trump tweeted, “Russia, Iran, Syria & many others are not happy about the U.S. leaving, despite what the Fake News says.”

But Putin does like it. A lot. Speaking to reporters, the Russian leader said Trump had made “the right decision,” and went on to slam the actions of American soldiers on the ground in the region.

View the complete December 20 article by Oliver Willis on the ShareBlue.com website here.

Anger, confusion greet Trump’s surprise decision on Syria

Senate Republicans uncharacteristically lashed out at President Trump on Wednesday for announcing a sudden and immediate withdrawal of U.S. troops from Syria, a decision that came without consulting Congress and seemed to catch the Pentagon off guard.

Several lawmakers said Congress received no advance notice of Trump’s announcement, leaving them fuming and scratching their heads.

“I don’t know what they’ve done, but this is chaos,” Sen. Lindsey Graham(R-S.C.), a staunch Trump ally and Armed Services Committee member, told reporters, adding that he planned to discuss the matter with Defense Secretary James Mattis.

Here’s what Trump’s own State Department said about U.S. troops in Syria just one week ago

This is awkward.

The Trump administration is planning for a full withdrawal of U.S. troops from Syria on Wednesday, defense officials have confirmed. The announcement came just hours after President Donald Trump declared in a tweet that the Islamic State (ISIS) has now been defeated.

“We have defeated ISIS in Syria, my only reason for being there during the Trump Presidency,” Trump tweeted.

White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders later confirmed in a statement that “we have started returning United States troops home as we transition to the next phase of this campaign.”

View the complete December 19 article by Adrienne Mahsa Varkiani on the ThinkProgress.org website here.