Veterans For Peace Statement on Withdrawal of U.S. Troops from Syria

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Veterans For Peace @VFPNational Dec 21
A continued U.S. presence in Syria would only prolong a policy that has been disastrous for all the peoples of the region, who have already suffered way too much... https://t.co/M0tLXyIIEp

Veterans For Peace is pleased to hear that President Trump has ordered a total withdrawal of U.S. troops from Syria, where they had no legal right to be in the first place. Whatever the reasoning, withdrawing U.S. troops is the right thing to do.

It is incorrect to characterize the U.S. military intervention in Syria as “fighting terrorism,” as much of the media is doing. Although the U.S. fought against the ISIL Caliphate (aka “ISIS”), it also armed and trained Islamist groups, including al-Qaeda aligned forces, who are seeking to destroy the secular, multi-religious Syrian state and establish a harsh fundamentalist order of their own.

Furthermore, the U.S. aerial bombardment of the city of Raqqa, Syria, similar to its bombardment of Mosul, Iraq, was itself terror in the extreme, causing the deaths of tens of thousands of civilians. These are huge war crimes.

A continued U.S. presence in Syria would only prolong a policy that has been disastrous for all the peoples of the region, who have already suffered way too much as a result of years of U.S. intervention and occupation on their soil. It would also be a disaster for the troops who are being asked to carry out this impossible burden.

In these moments when those in power advocate for remaining at war, Veterans For Peace will continue holding true to our mission and understanding that war is not the answer. We sincerely hope that the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Syria will be total, and will be soon. We hope this will also lead to the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan, where the U.S. government is currently in talks with the Taliban and an end to U.S. involvement in the Saudi-led war in Yemen, which is causing the death by starvation of tens of thousands of innocent children.

Veterans For Peace knows that the U.S. is a nation addicted to war. At this time of uncertainty, it is critically important that we, as veterans, continue to be clear and concise that our nation must turn from war to diplomacy and peace. It is high time to unwind all these tragic, failed and unnecessary wars of aggression, domination and plunder. It is time to turn a page in history and to build a new world based on human rights, equality and mutual respect for all. We must build momentum toward real and lasting peace. Nothing less than the survival of human civilization is at stake.

https://www.veteransforpeace.org/our-work/position-statements/veterans-peace-statement-us-troops-withdrawal-syria

Link to tweet

[Hugin]

1. "... who are seeking to destroy the secular, multi-religious Syrian state"

Hmm, kind of a revisionist description of Assad. Wouldn't you say?

I'd like to see the chain of hands this statement passed through. Seems kind of propagandaish.

Y'know, trust, but, verify.

[Eliot Rosewater]

3. ding ding ding, we have a winner

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4. I'll make a note of your complaint

..Vets for Peace are "kinda propagandish."

Got it.

(Had to check to see if I was still at DU)

[Hugin]

8. Good job on the broad brush there...

I wasn't speaking of the organization, I was speaking to the origin of this statement allegedly put forward by the organization.

If you'll check, you'll find using established groups as a front to float propaganda by those with an agenda is a classic technique of misinformation.

And, since it has been established that the Russians and others have and are interfering with our national discourse, it is always important to be alert.


Attack those questioning the potential propaganda... I give you high marks on that one, comrade.

[Cal Carpenter]

9. The link in the OP is directly to the Vets for Peace website

And the statement is totally consistent with VfP's general platform. It's not that complicated.

[Hugin]

10. So, the Vets for Peace don't think the Kurds are worth supporting.

Assad's brutal regime (including chemical warfare against Syrians), Putin's, and Tayyip Erdoğan's interests are worth supporting. Seems kind of complicated.

[bigtree]

13. you're actually defaming Vets for Peace

..by suggesting they can't draft their own views into a statement.

This message is entirely consistent with everything they've advocated previously, even before Trump was a glint in POutin's eye.

[Eliot Rosewater]

2. How many thousands of innocents will die now...oh well, sure. uh huh

[pwb]

5. You think innocents stopped dying. Or are we not being told about it anymore?

The media pulled out because Trump thinks its o k to kill them and our enemies know it. We just don't here about it.

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6. what's being lost is the long held understanding that U.S. involvement isn't some beneficence

...There is no overriding U.S. national security interest in Syria. Neither Assad, nor ISIS, poses a direct threat to the United States.

This republican administration, like the previous ones, is looking for a military wedge inside Syria to effect much the same idealistic set of political aims in that country and the region that the Bush leadership was obsessed with. It's carried forward by this self-important notion that the U.S. is in a position to dictate to other nations it's own versions of opportunistically constructed democracies which serve to elevate one U.S.-interested ideal over other equally pernicious and malicious ones.

Trump has quietly deployed hundreds of U.S. troops on the ground in Syria, directing numerous airstrikes against 'ISIS targets.' We're already bombing Syria under a loose definition of our 'national security.'

We are undone, as progressives; as Americans; by capitulation to U.S. military activity and assaults across sovereign borders to effect these political goals wrapped in fearmongering nonsense about the threat to us by ISIS. We will scarcely hope to restrain this republican administration as they prosecute war, and, in accepting military strikes and involvement in Syria as just, we will have lost every instinct or instigation away from the precipice that Obama took the nation to in 2013 and pulled back from; one that almost certainly Trump failed to recognize or acknowledge when he launched Tomahawks into the nation.

It should be fine if destabilizing the Assad regime enables the ascent of Sharia law in Syria? Right?

[Cal Carpenter]

7. K & R

And to people who seem confused about this, understand that VfP is an independent organization and is very consistent on their stances. This is *exactly* what I would expect from them and I am glad to see it.

What I'm not glad to see is the fucked up cognitive dissonance on this board about this. Appears a lot of people are all about party over principle, turning pro-war all of a sudden. Real fucked up shit. 'We can't just leave or x, y, z...' as though what we are doing there is *helping* x, y and z? Give me a fucking break. None of this new and it is bigger than Trump. It's only an accident that he's pulling us out - I don't care what his motivations are, a stopped clock, etc etc....

We couldn't just leave Vietnam without some kind of 'winning', remember? How long that nightmare dragged out.... How soon we forget there IS NO FUCKING WINNING

[gratuitous]

11. For a guy who went broke owning a casino

I don't know that I trust Trump to oversee an orderly withdrawal of troops from Syria. Hell, he'll probably forget he did that at all by January 5.

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12. I agree

...'orderly withdrawal' is going to take some intervention from the generals.