U.S. should withdraw our troops from Syria and Iraq

[Tom Paine 1949]

US troops in Iraq and Syria aren't 'keeping the peace'

We need to let go of the conceit that without their deployments, security in those regions would collapse.

The regional reverberations of the Israel-Gaza war demonstrate why the White House should scrap, not reinforce, America’s outdated and unnecessarily provocative troop presence in Syria and Iraq.

President Joe Biden should redeploy these forces to a safer position offshore and leave it to self-interested Syrians and Iraqis to prevent ISIS from reemerging. As Biden’s own policy on Afghanistan demonstrated — and as I observed on the ground earlier this fall — withdrawing U.S. soldiers and Marines can bolster American security by turning the fight against Islamic State over to well-motivated local belligerents while freeing up U.S. personnel to serve in more vital areas.

Likewise, pivoting out of Syria and Iraq will not make Americans any less safe, but it will deny local militias, and their presumptive patrons in Iran, the chance to use unneeded outposts for leverage over our national strategy.

Since October 17, some 900 U.S. troops in Syria and 2,500 in Iraq have been taking fire from Iran-linked militias and, subsequently, drawing retaliatory air support, including an attack by a C-130 gunship that killed eight members of the Kataib Hezbollah group in Iraq last week. The U.S. service members are the lingering footprint of Operation Inherent Resolve, which began in 2015 to defeat the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq and succeeded in 2019 in eliminating the physical ISIS caliphate, thereby reducing ISIS to “a survival posture” without territory.

Rather than taking the win and packing up, the Trump and Biden administrations kept in place some troops, who have become a recurring target of opportunity for Iran and its surrogates during moments of tension. In the past five weeks, the Iran-linked militants’ rockets and one-way attack drones have injured over sixty of these Americans….

US troops in Iraq and Syria aren't 'keeping the peace'


***

In my opinion the above article is essentially correct.

 

[Orangecat]

Yes. Not our circus, not our monkeys.

 

[surada]

US troops in Iraq and Syria aren't 'keeping the peace'

We need to let go of the conceit that without their deployments, security in those regions would collapse.

The regional reverberations of the Israel-Gaza war demonstrate why the White House should scrap, not reinforce, America’s outdated and unnecessarily provocative troop presence in Syria and Iraq.

President Joe Biden should redeploy these forces to a safer position offshore and leave it to self-interested Syrians and Iraqis to prevent ISIS from reemerging. As Biden’s own policy on Afghanistan demonstrated — and as I observed on the ground earlier this fall — withdrawing U.S. soldiers and Marines can bolster American security by turning the fight against Islamic State over to well-motivated local belligerents while freeing up U.S. personnel to serve in more vital areas.

Likewise, pivoting out of Syria and Iraq will not make Americans any less safe, but it will deny local militias, and their presumptive patrons in Iran, the chance to use unneeded outposts for leverage over our national strategy.

Since October 17, some 900 U.S. troops in Syria and 2,500 in Iraq have been taking fire from Iran-linked militias and, subsequently, drawing retaliatory air support, including an attack by a C-130 gunship that killed eight members of the Kataib Hezbollah group in Iraq last week. The U.S. service members are the lingering footprint of Operation Inherent Resolve, which began in 2015 to defeat the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq and succeeded in 2019 in eliminating the physical ISIS caliphate, thereby reducing ISIS to “a survival posture” without territory.

Rather than taking the win and packing up, the Trump and Biden administrations kept in place some troops, who have become a recurring target of opportunity for Iran and its surrogates during moments of tension. In the past five weeks, the Iran-linked militants’ rockets and one-way attack drones have injured over sixty of these Americans….

US troops in Iraq and Syria aren't 'keeping the peace'


***

In my opinion the above article is essentially correct.

It makes a lot of sense.

 

[Rambunctious]

Elected dems do not want to bring our troops home....

 

[Votto]

It makes a lot of sense.

 

[Manonthestreet]

Remember when the Generals disregarded Trump's order to wind it down and then bragged about it.....libs thought that was so cool .

 

[surada]

Elected dems do not want to bring our troops home....

Who specifically?

 

[pknopp]

I've been saying this for years.

 

[sparky]

declare victory, and get out.......~S~

 

[Dekster]

We should get out of a lot of places, but we won't....

 

[Lemmi]

We keep our troops in places like Syria and Iraq for the purpose of being able to give any little tin horn dictator in the region a bloody nose in real time.

 

[luiza]

US troops in Iraq and Syria aren't 'keeping the peace'

We need to let go of the conceit that without their deployments, security in those regions would collapse.

Running the Deep State operation I would use Syria,and to a less extent Iraq , to fool gullible US into involvement .
All out attacks on US bases and positions .
Then Bingo . You have trapped the rats into supporting Israel openly on the ground .
Incited by the Houthis in the south and Hezbollah /Iran from the north .
Conclusion
Israel more likely to be obliterated than the Freedom Fighters and the US stuck in the middle with no strategy and nowhere to run -- except back home , humiliated again .

 

[Tom Paine 1949]

Remember when the Generals disregarded Trump's order to wind it down and then bragged about it.....libs thought that was so cool .

I supported a complete U.S. troop withdrawal, especially from Syria, after ISIS was defeated.

By December 2017 the ISIS caliphate had lost 95 percent of its territory, including its two biggest cities — Mosul, Iraq's second largest city, and the northern Syrian city of Raqqa, its nominal capital. The Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al Abadi declared victory over the Islamic State in Iraq on December 9, 2017.

Actually, the generals easily convinced Trump to keep troops in Syria by persuading him that we could “keep the oil” produced by a few dilapidated wells in its all but unpopulated Eastern desert region and along the main road(s) connecting Iraq and Syria (and Iran).

Of course their reasoning was in reality much more complex, but the fool Trump repeated this awful argument publicly and even bragged about it — which of course played into the hands of all our enemies in the region.

Back in 2017 the situation was more complex vis-a-vis ISIS, the Kurds, the border regions with Turkey, and remaining ISIS holdouts, but this is 2023, almost 2024, and now the need to get out of Syria is even more obvious.

At least in Iraq our presence is condoned by the government … or parts of it. But our 2,500 “boots on the ground” there should be pared down to nothing. Truth is most of the work of “training” and intelligence work is and can be done by less obvious “contractors” and American Embassy personnel.

 

[gipper]

Running the Deep State operation I would use Syria,and to a less extent Iraq , to fool gullible US into involvement .
All out attacks on US bases and positions .
Then Bingo . You have trapped the rats into supporting Israel openly on the ground .
Incited by the Houthis in the south and Hezbollah /Iran from the north .
Conclusion
Israel more likely to be obliterated than the Freedom Fighters and the US stuck in the middle with no strategy and nowhere to run -- except back home , humiliated again .

Certainly a nice little false flag attack on US bases in the ME will have a nice effect, if you’re a Zionist like Bibi. Mossad?

 

[Rambunctious]

Who specifically?

All of them.... democrats have joined forces with the neo cons who want perpetual warfare... they can't make money off of peace....

 

[gipper]

All of them.... democrats have joined forces with the neo cons who want perpetual warfare... they can't make money off of peace....

Nothing is more bipartisan than war. War enriches and empowers the MIC and via kickbacks, the two crime families.

 

[Oddball]

Should withdraw the troops from Europe, Korea, Japan, and every other nation where the war has been over for more than half a century.

 

[luiza]

Certainly a nice little false flag attack on US bases in the ME will have a nice effect, if you’re a Zionist like Bibi. Mossad?

I would not bat an eyelid if exactly that happened, although I see Nutty Yahoo more as an integral Deep State lieutenant .

Obviously Russia probably looks at that scenario daily in its computer war analyses and it would be interesting to know the ramifications if the US allowed itself to be drawn in and scammed .
That would be the easy part .
Gauging that effect then on Russia as it became involved , albeit initially through proxies I guess , might be the key matter .

 

[Deadstick]

US troops in Iraq and Syria aren't 'keeping the peace'

We need to let go of the conceit that without their deployments, security in those regions would collapse.

The regional reverberations of the Israel-Gaza war demonstrate why the White House should scrap, not reinforce, America’s outdated and unnecessarily provocative troop presence in Syria and Iraq.

President Joe Biden should redeploy these forces to a safer position offshore and leave it to self-interested Syrians and Iraqis to prevent ISIS from reemerging. As Biden’s own policy on Afghanistan demonstrated — and as I observed on the ground earlier this fall — withdrawing U.S. soldiers and Marines can bolster American security by turning the fight against Islamic State over to well-motivated local belligerents while freeing up U.S. personnel to serve in more vital areas.

Likewise, pivoting out of Syria and Iraq will not make Americans any less safe, but it will deny local militias, and their presumptive patrons in Iran, the chance to use unneeded outposts for leverage over our national strategy.

Since October 17, some 900 U.S. troops in Syria and 2,500 in Iraq have been taking fire from Iran-linked militias and, subsequently, drawing retaliatory air support, including an attack by a C-130 gunship that killed eight members of the Kataib Hezbollah group in Iraq last week. The U.S. service members are the lingering footprint of Operation Inherent Resolve, which began in 2015 to defeat the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq and succeeded in 2019 in eliminating the physical ISIS caliphate, thereby reducing ISIS to “a survival posture” without territory.

Rather than taking the win and packing up, the Trump and Biden administrations kept in place some troops, who have become a recurring target of opportunity for Iran and its surrogates during moments of tension. In the past five weeks, the Iran-linked militants’ rockets and one-way attack drones have injured over sixty of these Americans….

US troops in Iraq and Syria aren't 'keeping the peace'


***

In my opinion the above article is essentially correct.

It's nothing to do with security, it's about control, they have been asked to leave Iraq and they have no business in Syria, they are illegal there, no one asked them in the first place, and they have been stealing oil and helping terrorists against the Syrian State.

 

[Tom Paine 1949]

It's nothing to do with security, it's about control, they have been asked to leave Iraq and they have no business in Syria, they are illegal there, no one asked them in the first place, and they have been stealing oil and helping terrorists against the Syrian State.

I agree, basically, but perhaps with a somewhat different perspective.

Almost everybody was involved in the Syrian civil war, from Wagner & the Russian military, to the Kurds, Iranians, Turks, Saudi and Gulf Oil state-financed militias, and ISIS friendly groups — some of which we supported at different times. Of course the U.S. was aiming to destroy Assad yet also sought to destroy ISIS after it seized huge areas of both countries and its genocidal character was revealed for the whole world to see.

I agree with you it was a bloody shit show in Syria and the U.S. long invasion and occupation of Iraq was too. At different stages even the Iranian-financed or led militias and the U.S. had de facto agreements not to attack each other but concentrate on defeating ISIS. Our troops and air support were probably necessary to finish off ISIS. But the Iranian-trained & financed Iraqi militia were key to stopping the ISIS march on Baghdad when the U.S.-trained army collapsed and fled.

My OP is about the more recent situation since ISIS was defeated and the Assad regime re-stabilized control over all the main cities. The Iraq situation is different, since we never tried to overthrow but rather tried to build up the present government and military there. Large popular groups in the Iraqi parliament have certainly said they want us out, but the actual government and military leaders need and want U.S. financial support, though their increased oil output recently makes them somewhat more independent at present. The Iranian influence in the country can almost certainly better be opposed without the present small U.S. military presence there.