Wesley Clark on Trump's Syria withdrawal: 'Did Erdogan blackmail the president? Was there a payoff?

[left-of-center2012]

Wesley Clark on Monday questioned whether Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan blackmailed President Trump into his decision to remove U.S. troops from Syria.

"There doesn’t seem to be any strategic rationale for the decision. And if there’s no strategic rationale for the decision then you have to ask, why was the decision made?" the retired U.S. Army general and former NATO commander said on CNN's "New Day."

"People around the world are asking this and some of our friends and our allies in the Middle East are asking, did Erdogan blackmail the president? Was there a payoff or something? Why would a guy make a decision like this? Because all the recommendations were against it," he added.

Clark, a frequent Trump critic, said on CNN that Trump's decision should be of concern to the U.S. because of what it indicates about the country's foreign policy. "What does this say about the foreign policy of the United States? That we're not reliable? That we make strategic decisions based on no strategic logic? What kind of person is driving the helm? That’s the issue," he said.

Read more: https://thehill.com/policy/defense/422717-wesley-clark-on-trumps-syria-withdrawal-did-erdogan-blackmail-the-president

[ansible]

1. Probably the Khashoggi audio tape to protect the saudis

Would explain why Turkey wouldn't just release the audio

[UniteFightBack]

2. Well if this is the case, which makes perfect sense....it's gonna come out. nt

[Gothmog]

3. I fear that General Clark is correct and that trump is compromised by Turkey

trump is compromised and in the control of Saudi Arabia and Russia. It appears that we can add Turkey to this list

[duforsure]

4. Turkey's Erdogan

Knows trump's sold policies for profit to him and to the UAE, and maybe others, and has him compromised, plus other personal issues they know about on him. Maybe he has huge debts with them too, like he does with putin.

[kentuck]

5. Good question!

Trump has two Towers in Turkey and General Flynn was in business with Turkey. So there may be much more that we do not know?

[Hermit-The-Prog]

6. simple: Baby Donald is stupid and ignorant

[Roland99]

7. Quid pro quo. Mueller will eventually know

[NCjack]

8. Maybe Putin has gotten all he wants from Trump, so he sold his

Trump Kompromat to Erdogan.

[B Stieg]

9. Trumo Tower Istanbul? nt

[DFW]

10. Wes Clark is a very much been-there-done-that type guy

Trump knows less about the military than he knows about Tibetian calligraphy.

[Ilsa]

11. I was so hoping Gen. Clark would

make a public appearance or comment. Not only does he understand foreign policy, he was commander of NATO Allied Forces. He has a degree in Economics, IIRC.

I wish he would run for president again.

[GoCubsGo]

12. I was just about to post the same thing.

I wish he would run, too. And, if he doesn't, I hope the next Democratic president will strongly consider him for a cabinet position.

[Gothmog]

13. From my Twitter feed

Link to tweet

?s=20