What are your thoughts on US backing out from Syria and Afghanistan?

I support a well-thought-out withdrawal from both countries. One that is clearly planned for as many contingencies as possible, and with coordination by the Pentagon.

It’s just as well. The mighty superpower flummoxed after stumbling stupidly into a region it never understood. Eighteen years of pointless casualties and squandered billions while its citizens sleep on sidewalks back home.

It shows our allies that we can’t be trusted to finish the fight. All the bad guys have to do is wait us out, then we leave and they win (and possibly give us another 9–11).
The US is having a hard enough time living down our Viet Nam legacy. We don’t need to show any more unreliable flakey-ness.
I don’t support it.

This is relevant.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/trump-move-pull-u-s-troops-syria-opens-way-turmoil-n950711

I think both areas are basically unstable anyway. We should never have gone into Afghanistan (or Iraq for that matter) especially if all we supposedly wanted was to get Bin Laden. That is on Bush II. And we should never have gone into Syria. That was a scam and congress never approved it. That was on Obama. Personally, I feel that whether we are in these areas or not, they are unstable and violent. Let them battle it out amongst themselves. Pull our folks out.

The suddenness of the decision coming from trump, giving putin comfort and aid smells of the worst kind of scam there is.

@seawulf575 Obama sending US military to help Syrians. Probably saving lives. How is that a scam? Or are you just lying?

These are troubling decisions as they were made without any consultation with America’s allies or even its own Department of Defense. In Syria, it leaves the way open for the Russians, Assad and Turkey to take over and America’s ally the Kurds has been thrown to the wolves. In Afghanistan the Taliban are stronger than ever and where there were around 15,000 insurgents in the country a decade ago there are now estimated to be 60,000. Just a year ago Trump unveiled a new strategy for Afghanistan, vowing that the US would “fight to win”. Now he’s pulling out. The greatest military power the world has ever known looks weak and uncertain under Trump’s leadership.

I support it. Never should’ve been there. We will not turn the tide of the war. Assad is winning and really only has one province left to conquer. Our being there won’t stop it.

We’ve been in Afghanistan for almost two decades now and accomplished what, exactly?

I’m glad we are leaving both places.

I am happy. The states can not afford to police the world. At least not alone . The policing is ticking off the world anyway. Can be a valuable first step towards peace. Maybe the world should get rid of standing army’s, and go back to pre-world war one levels?

I’m amazed how people who have no frikking clue about Middle East geopolitics all of a sudden have opinions now. It is an absolutely horrible idea at the worst possible time. But that’s Trump for you.

@Caravanfan Well the question was what are your thoughts. No expertise needed. If anyone is that level of expertise would most likely be not be on Fluther, but rather in the government or high up. Unless Trump or Blitzer both have an account on Fluther?

@RedDeerGuy1 And I posted my thoughts. Thanks.

@Caravanfan Well, if you’re so sure that any opinion on this that isn’t in line with yours is unenlightened, how about you enlighten us with your intricate knowledge of Middle East geopolitics?

Fighting terrorist organizations is just different than other wars.
You need to finish the action without creating more enemies.
Withdrawing from Syria is to abandon it to Russia and Iran.
Withdrawing from Afghanistan is surrendering while we are ahead.
And neither pull out is well planned.

@mazingerz88 Let’s review the Obama scam. First, he made 2800 bombings in Syria and Iraq, none of which were approved by Congress. Congress never did authorize force in those areas for Obama. Secondly, he armed and trained the Syrian “rebels” who were mainly al-Qaeda. You know…the terrorists that flew jets into the twin towers and the Pentagon? Yeah, those guys. And shortly after arming and training them, a large group of these “rebels” broke off to form ISIS. And we have been battling them ever since. Maybe “scam” isn’t the proper word. Maybe “dumbass move”? Or how about “criminal act”?

@Demosthenes don’t hold your breath waiting for that intricate knowledge to appear.

@seawulf575 As I expected. Total BS explanation as to why it’s a scam. It’s not a scam. Nor a stupid move by Obama. The only stupid thing here is how you view his actions

@mazingerz88 I’m equally as disgusted by Obama’s moves in Syria. He screwed the pooch and it was the low point in his foreign policy.

@mazingerz88 so what would you call an unconstitutional action that resulted in the creation of ISIS? I’d love to hear this!

You continue to persist with the stupid accusation put forth by the fool that Obama is somehow the creator of Iraq. That crap goes hand in hand with the accompanying and equally ridiculous declaration of Obama as some arch villain devoted to defiling the Constitution. It’s poppycock and it’s STUPID, and such claptrap underlies the entire bulwark of asinine ideas shrilly promulgated by right wing dufus goblins who find a megaphone on the internet. No one with a lick of sense takes that nonsense seriously, and you should wise up and at least pretend some semblance of credible discussion.

^^Exactly. Thank you!

There is one man who loves it

What I “admit” is that the Congress has not declared a war since 1941, and there has therefore not been a President since Roosevelt that has not been technically in violation of the Constitution. “Creator of Iraq” was a mistake on my part. I meant “creator of Isis” which is an absurd accusation. Even the fool was compelled to retract that absurdity. The growth and maturation of Isis is another direct consequence of the catastrophic decision to invade Iraq. It was the stupid decision to disband the Iraqi army and render a huge cadre of professional soldiers vulnerable to the retributions of their Shiite enemies that resulted in the recruitment of those American trained and equipped professionals to the Isis camp. And as for the bombing in Syria, Obama was required to notify the Congress of his military intentions. He was NOT required to either seek nor obtain Congressional approval.

Actually, he IS required to get their approval. He can take military action but has to get their approval within 60 days of the first action. Congress controls the purse strings. They have to give their blessing. And you are partially correct with the POTUS getting congressional approval, but mainly incorrect. While Congress has not declared war since 1941, they have approved resolutions to pay for the conflicts.The Meng resolution paid for Korea, the Gulf of Tonkin resolution paid for Viet Nam, The Iraq Resoution paid for the Iraq war. Funny…I don’t see a resolution paying for Obama’s continued activity in Syria. So he is the ONLY president to ignore the law and do what he wants.

So his real crime is to not arrange the picking up of the check?

So his real crime was overstepping the authority of the office. The POTUS doesn’t get to decide which of Congress’ powers they get to exercise and which he can unilaterally decide to take on when he wants.

@ragingloli nailed it, as usual.

I agree completely with pulling out our troops.
Hold on to your britches though.
Women’s intuition tells me he possibly has plans for that manpower elsewhere soon. I think the pullout is a strategic rest period. Our forces are filled with weary men and women. PTSD and suicide rates are on the rise.
If a force came at us on home soil, our readiness is at a serious low. I mean, they might even have to call ME back, and that would be scraping the bottom of the barrel. I can fire a weapon as well as i ever did, but it is tough to take cover behind my walker.

@filmfann, I do disagree with you on this, but I was distracted from that by your cute little Santa costume. Props.