Yahoo News is reporting today that according to two U.S. Senators the United States, by ceding influence to Russia and Iran, has made possible a resurgence of the Islamic State in parts of Syria.
Comments made by Senators Bob Corker of Tennessee and Lindsay Graham of South Carolina were less than reassuring when they emerged from a military briefing by the Pentagon. Both took issue with the "hands-off" approach of this administration as Caesar Disgustus "signals the US could be headed for the exits there". (1)
"A frustrated corker spoke after exiting a classified briefing by Secretary of Defense James Mattis and top generals, who explained the Pentagon's strategy to lawmakers following last weekend's missile strikes on Syria.
" We may be at the table, but when you're just talking and have nothing to do with shaping what's happening on the ground, you're just talking " a somber Corker, Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee said, adding "Syria is Russia and Iran's now. They will be determining the future." (2)
Senator Graham was more pungent in his criticism saying: "All tweet, no action".(3)
Graham, like Corker, has been on-again/off-again critics of tRUMP. Generally supporting his domestic policies, they have voiced, at times, strong criticisms of both his foreign policies and his behavior in the White House—especially as it pertains to the ongoing investigations swirling about the numerous scandals engulfing this administration. Graham pointed out the rather obvious fact that "There is no military strategy on the table to deal with the malign influence of Iran and Russia" adding "Everything in that briefing made me more worried, not less". (4)
There is no military strategy because there is no strategic thinking in this White House. There is no strategic thinking because the 'twit' in the presidential chair has an attention span measured in nanoseconds. Strategy involves thinking long term, thinking several moves ahead in the chessboard. Caesar Disgutus only reacts and reacts only to the moment. This is an administration where judgment has been replaced with reaction, reason with rage. As a result, everything is quixotic, with a sense of neither permanence nor purpose. Witness last weekend's farce involving Disgustus' actions in the aftermath of the missile strikes on Syria. Beating his chest and rattling his sabre, Disgustus solemnly announced that we had fired over three score cruise missiles. A "perfect" strike in his words. Everything he does is always couched in superlatives. The White House then announced through UN Ambassador Nikki Haley that a new round of stiff sanctions would be forthcoming against Russia for its failure to help rid the Assad regime of these weapons. Then the backpedaling began and by mid-week Disgustus has backed down. The question doggedly remains: Why?
Citing the report of Colonel Ryan Dillon, "a spokesman for the US-led coalition" ISIS forces have been able to retake some of the territory it has lost including "some of the neighborhoods in Southern Damascus"(5). Additionally, Yahoo reports that many of the Kurdish fighters engaged against ISIS have withdrawn to fight an incursion by Turkey aimed at driving Kurdish fighters out of the City of Afrin, further stalling efforts against the Islamic State.
As noted in previous posts, this administration's response to the fighting on the ground has be obsequious in its approach to the Kremlin and its interests to the point of all but withdrawing from the field. The behavior of this administration and the likely consequence on our emerging international posture has not been lost on the Congress. Democratic Senator Chris Coons explained: "if we completely withdraw, our leverage in any diplomatic resolution or reconstruction, or any hope for a post-Assad Syria, goes away"(6).
Precisely.
"An Br'er Putin, he jus' laugh and laugh"
Impeach and Imprison.
_________
(2). Ibid
(3). Ibid
(4). Ibid
(5). Ibid
(6). Ibid
(7). Ibid
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