Elijah Magnier's below article presents the argument that successive ill thought-out US policy decisions on the Middle East - and more recently, its regime change war in Syria - continue to be counterproductive and hasten the US decline as a Middle eastern power. https://ejmagnier.com/2019/03/21/us...KaQ3nRcqDPlSDzyN5FOHVI_w1eThk5Z_rcSKI5uCw92tE
Yeah... I think Americzilla has turned its head and is now gazing south... I almost feel sorry for South America
This is what was claimed when Obama was president and which allowed them to expand so much. But Trump untied our military's hands and if this was still true, I would think that ISIS wouldn't have lost so much territory in such a short period.
My wife is from Ecuador and watches the news from Venezuela continually........ she is hoping that President Trump and the USA will intervene and put Maduro out of office and perhaps on trial. It is common knowledge that he is cooperating with drug and criminal gangs. I quote one of my wife's friends regarding what has been happening there and in Ecuador over the past couple of years in this thread: Ecuador could become another Venezuela.....
Maduro needs to be pulled down, and if that is Trump, that's OK with me. I have friends from Peru and Ecuador, and they are quite worried about Venezuela's cartel corruption of the government.
While it is true that Obama armed and supported the Islamist Jihadist proxy army in Syria - which was led by Al Qaeda/Al Nusra and ISIS - the idea that Trump was responsible for the demise of ISIS is abject nonsense. Where was some US actions with the Kurds against ISIS near the very end of the war when ISIS and Al Qaeda had already been mostly defeated - ISIS was defeated by the Syrian Army and Russia .. not Trump. The only reason we had some ISIS groups left to attack is because we were preventing the Syrian Army and Russia from getting rid of them.
No, neither Trump nor Obama were protecting ISIS and Al Qaeda. When the fought against Asad, that was fine. When they did not, we killed them. But Giftedone is absolutely correct that it was the Kurds with American and Russian help that defeated ISIS in the end. They are defeated, not eliminated. Trump is making a big mistake in opening those borders.
Ha! Trump changed the rules of engagement that untied our troops hands and allowed our troops to act without worrying that they would be thrown in the stockade for defending themselves. He eliminated the Obama micromanagement which was similar to what Soviet generals had to do, get Stalin's permission for most any action. His only fault is not giving credit to local friendly forces. https://www.newsweek.com/trump-isis-raqqa-isis-capital-687391
Tim15856's answer in the first paragraphh above would fail an exam in any military course on warfare in Syria and Iraq. One of Trump's so many faults is, yes, not crediting local forces friendly to the US.
I do not disagree with any of the above. In addition - Trump wants to get out of the Syrian mess we are in which is good. The fact remains however, that by the time Trump came into office - ISIS and Al Qaeda (the rebel opposition) was already mostly defeated.
