Mattis resignation triggered by phone call between Trump and Erdoğan

[nitpicker]

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/dec/21/james-mattis-resignation-trump-erdogan-phone-call

Mattis resignation triggered by phone call between Trump and Erdoğan

Julian Borger in Washington

Fri 21 Dec 2018 18.49 GMT Last modified on Fri 21 Dec 2018 20.52 GMT

The resignation of US defence secretary James Mattis was triggered by a phone conversation between Donald Trump and the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, in which Trump abruptly decided to upend previous US policy and withdraw troops from Syria, according to new accounts of the call.

Mattis went to see the president on Thursday afternoon in a last-ditch attempt to change the president’s mind, and argue for standing by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which have take the lead role in ejecting the Islamic State from its Syrian strongholds.

Mattis had already composed a resignation letter that did not mention the SDF or Syria but repeatedly referred to the importance to US national security of respecting allies, and confronting strategic adversaries.

Trump rebuffed Mattis’s arguments over the course of a 45-minute meeting. Trump had already recorded a video in the White House garden, announcing he was bringing the troops home, and it had been shown to Mattis.

At the end of the meeting Mattis took Trump by surprise by presenting his resignation letter. According to the New York Times, Mattis ordered 50 copies to be made and circulated around the Pentagon on his return to his office.
(snip)

[wishstar]

1. Would not be surprised if Trump talked to Putin recently about Syria too

There have been reports earlier this year that Trump talks with Putin on phone regularly, not just at those highly publicized meetings.

[Scarsdale]

3. Hopefully, those calls

are all being recorded. Maybe we will eventually hear what is being said.

[rockfordfile]

4. Of all of the un-American crap Trump has done, that set him off?

The Russian and Saudi collusion didn't bother him.

[watoos]

6. Trump signed the Kurds death warrant.

The Kurds did the door to door fighting against ISIS while we provided air support. We, our military, Mattis, promised the Kurds that if they partnered with us that we would stand by them. Thanks to Trump we are going to let Turkey, ISIS, Assad,, slaughter them. Our soldiers on the ground in Syria are texting back to people, asking WTF is going on? No country will trust America to keep our promises.

[watoos]

5. Must be nice for dictators,

I wonder what Erdogan promised to give Trump in return? Trump does have a tower in Turkey.

One day the people in Alaska may wake up and find out that Trump has traded Alaska for Trump tower Moscow.

What Trump just did with Turkey deserves impeachment. It had to be a quid pro quo with Erdogan. Trump made a deal with Erdogan over listening to advice from Mattis.

I still believe that Pelosi will wait until Mueller issues his report and then go for impeachment. I still believe that we will get 35-40 Republicans in the Senate to convict. I know that Mattis resigned in protest, an unprecedented act for a Secretary of Defense, but Mattis needs to stay in the spotlight, needs to keep speaking out.

[ucrdem]

7. Here's the problem with the Mattis argument:

Turkey is a US ally and has been a member of NATO since 1952. If Erdoğan wants the US out of Syria then to protest a withdrawal on the grounds of respecting allies is baloney. If it were up to Mattis and many others we'd never withdraw from anywhere and I don't think that's good policy. We'd also be bombing Iran. Not that I give Trump credit for anything but this might be a case of doing the right thing for the wrong reasons.

As for the Kurds, we can exercise diplomatic pressure on Turkey to respect them and I have no doubt that such pressure will have a far greater effect than bombing Syria until we get the regime change we've been itching for which basically means until we've blown the country off the map. That's not good policy either.

[watoos]

11. Erdogan already told us he's getting ready to invade.

He even said he would postpone his invasion until after we got out.

[Martin Eden]

14. Respect is a two-way street

Turkey should show us some respect for the mission to eradicate ISIS, in which the Kurds have played a very important part.

But I'm pretty sure the respect Mattis referred to is how Trump has behaved towards our longstanding Western allies. Do you dispute that Trump has acted like a petulant child and us undermining America's role as leader of the free world?

I doubt very much any amount of "diplomatic pressure" will stop Turkey from going after the Kurds after we leave. It is a high priority national security issue on their border, and we're giving up the best leverage we had for any compromise solution.

Having said all that, I have little regard for those who see most any problem as a nail requiring the military hammer. Mattis is a fool if he wants to bomb Iran, but I read that he opposed abandoning the nuclear deal.

We should not stay in Iraq/Syria beyond a strictly defined time limited mission to train and equip the Iraqis in defeating ISIS. With Russia backing Assad in Syria there is no sense in perpetuating that civil war. Our 2003 invasion of Iraq opened the doors to 15 years of bloodshed and the rise of ISIS. Our military is great at breaking things, but it's insane to think we can fix this.

I agree that Trump is doing this for the wrong reasons and that extricating ourselves from Iraq/Syria and Afghanistan is the right thing, but there are much better ways to handle it.

On the plus side, this could cause some Republicans in Congress to finally abandon their support for their Moron In Chief.

Impeachment may have just gotten more possible.

[duforsure]

8. Erdogan has trump compromised

From trump selling him policies, and intel probably. This is also how putin manipulates him to do anything he wants him to do for him.

[empedocles]

9. trump is a high end prostitute

[Horse with no Name]

10. Nothing high end about trump

He is as low rent as it gets

[empedocles]

12. 'costly prostitute'?

[BBG]

13. Whatever, we can't afford his tricks

Fuck that guy