General Mattis resigns as secretary of defense.

[Starlight]

I am reminded of a section in the Fire and Fury book (I think it was) that said Trump himself was incredibly strongly against all the wars and would ask his advisers weekly why the troops weren't all out of Afghanistan yet, and his military advisers would patiently explain why there were still troops there etc. Trump didn't seem to understand how he could go about ordering the withdrawal that it was clear he wanted. He appears to have spotted the way to do it is to just announce it on twitter.

Speaking of, it's now coming out that Trump's also ordered about half the troops withdrawn from Afghanistan in addition to the withdrawal from Syria.

[Roy]

You really don't want there to be more Trumps, do you?

I want more No Trumps. I successfully executed six last night.

[Sparko]

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[Mountain Man]

No, I just veri moch engoy agravating the gramaphob.

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[Sparko]

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Jim reminds me of a villian in a cartoon who declares "You will never defeat me!!" just as a big anvil drops on him.

[Sparko]

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It's even weirder! Now all of a sudden the liberals want the troops to remain in Syria.

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Apparently all Trump needs to do is say the opposite of what he really wants if he want the Liberals to get on board. Reverse Psychology.

He should fire someone and say he will NOT build the wall! The the liberals will demand it.

[oxmixmudd]

You've never ceased expressing that opinion, pretty much since the day he was elected [ATTACH=CONFIG]33966[/ATTACH]

Matthis disagrees with Trump's decision to pull out of Syria and is stepping down as a result.

And he left a public letter of protest on the way out the door. I am amazed that so many of you can dismiss that as 'ho hum normal'.

What is means, in no uncertain terms, is that Mattis is so concerned and at odds with Trumps behavior and foreign policy, with his continued actions contrary to the US National Security interests, that he quit AND let EVERYONE know exactly WHY he quit.

But it's just 'ho him, normal' for you guys.

Even though what it actually means in no uncertain terms is that Donald Trump is a serious danger to the stability and security of this nation.

Which is what I've been trying to say for two years now.


Jim

[Sparko]

And he left a public letter of protest on the way out the door. I am amazed that so many of you can dismiss that as 'ho hum normal'.

What is means, in no uncertain terms, is that Mattis is so concerned and at odds with Trumps behavior and foreign policy, with his continued actions contrary to the US National Security interests, that he quit AND let EVERYONE know exactly WHY he quit.

But it's just 'ho him, normal' for you guys.

Even though what it actually means in no uncertain terms is that Donald Trump is a serious danger to the stability and security of this nation.

Which is what I've been trying to say for two years now.


Jim

I agree with Mattis. I think Trump is wrong for withdrawing the troops. He is making the same mistake Obama did. Once Obama withdrew the troops ISIS came in. If Trump withdraws, ISIS or someone worse will rise up in the vacuum.

[rogue06]

And he left a public letter of protest on the way out the door. I am amazed that so many of you can dismiss that as 'ho hum normal'.

What is means, in no uncertain terms, is that Mattis is so concerned and at odds with Trumps behavior and foreign policy, with his continued actions contrary to the US National Security interests, that he quit AND let EVERYONE know exactly WHY he quit.

But it's just 'ho him, normal' for you guys.

Even though what it actually means in no uncertain terms is that Donald Trump is a serious danger to the stability and security of this nation.

Which is what I've been trying to say for two years now.


Jim

What I'm dismissing as "ho hum normal" is little jimmy's knee-jerk, rabid "TRUMP IZ A TЯAITOR" incessant blatherings.

Personally, I tend to agree with Mattis for the most part. That being said IIRC Trump said at the beginning that the primary purpose for going in was to destroy ISIS which has largely (but not completely) been accomplished.

[Mountain Man]

I agree with Mattis. I think Trump is wrong for withdrawing the troops. He is making the same mistake Obama did. Once Obama withdrew the troops ISIS came in. If Trump withdraws, ISIS or someone worse will rise up in the vacuum.

Obama actually funded ISIS, so there was more to it than just leaving a power vacuum.

https://www.breitbart.com/national-s...ders-isis-bet/

Secondly, we can't spread our troops all over the world to keep any number of potentially dangerous regimes from possibly rising up.

Finally, it's up to Congress to declare war if they really think long-term military action is warranted. That's the law.

I think Trump is making the right decision. It's ironic that Democrats called Bush a war monger for attacking Iraq, they called Obama a man of peace despite his love for attacking other countries without an act of Congress, and now they're calling Trump a dictator for ending a largely fruitless military campaign.

[JimL]

It's even weirder! Now all of a sudden the liberals want the troops to remain in Syria.

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Apparently all Trump needs to do is say the opposite of what he really wants if he want the Liberals to get on board. Reverse Psychology.

He should fire someone and say he will NOT build the wall! The the liberals will demand it.

When Obama withdrew the troops from Iraq he erred, not realizing the potential of Isis which was then a relatively small force. Once realizing the error he sent the troops back in. Trump is doing just the opposite, he's not learning from past mistakes, he's repeating them. Although, I don't believe it's a mistake on Trumps part, he's intentionally abandoning our allies at the behest of his fellow despots Putin and Erdogan.

[Starlight]

It's even weirder! Now all of a sudden the liberals want the troops to remain in Syria.

I have indeed been rolling my eyes at the number of so-called "liberals" who have been opposing the decision out of an apparent general support for war.

Speaking for myself, I cautiously welcome the decision. I absolutely and completely support a withdrawal from all troops in the region in theory. My concern is simply a strategic one - Loser Donald doesn't seem to have consulted anyone about the strategy and tactics involved in the withdrawal, so there's the possibility that a sudden withdrawal makes the situation even worse.

[JimL]

I have indeed been rolling my eyes at the number of so-called "liberals" who have been opposing the decision out of an apparent general support for war.

Speaking for myself, I cautiously welcome the decision. I absolutely and completely support a withdrawal from all troops in the region in theory. My concern is simply a strategic one - Loser Donald doesn't seem to have consulted anyone about the strategy and tactics involved in the withdrawal, so there's the possibility that a sudden withdrawal makes the situation even worse.

The whole point is in getting out. We should never have gone into Iraq in the first place, in the second Iraq war, weapons of mass destruction was a ruse, and going in turned the whole middle east upside down. But being that we did go in, and that we set Isis loose on the people, it was really our responsibility to clean up the mess. The problem is always in getting out, not abandoning our allies in the fight and leaving them at the mercy of our despotic foes in the area.

[One Bad Pig]

But being that we did go in, and that we set Isis loose on the people, it was really our responsibility to clean up the mess.

With this I agree.

The problem is always in getting out, not abandoning our allies in the fight and leaving them at the mercy of our despotic foes in the area.

Sort of. In that area, our allies are rarely appreciably less despotic than our foes, and we tend to not want to leave without improving our allies first - whether they want improvement or not.

[Charles]

And he left a public letter of protest on the way out the door. I am amazed that so many of you can dismiss that as 'ho hum normal'.

I am amazed too but then again there has been so many occasions in which they did not hear the alarm so you start to wonder if it is possible to wake them up at all. The body slam statements, family separations, a huge number of lies... But we continue to hear that it is all good. No worries.