Former Bush-Obama Security Expert: Islamic State Defeated, Trump’s Strategy ‘Solid’

[GunsOfFrankEaton]

Douglas Ollivant, former Iraq director at the National Security Council under President’s George W. Bush and Barack Obama, said on Friday that the Islamic State (ISIS) is defeated and President Donald Trump has a “solid strategy” and is on the “right path” to confront the remaining terror threat.

After playing a soundbite from the president saying that even if the U.S. withdraws troops from Syria, they will remain in Iraq, National Public Radio (NPR)’s David Greene pressed Ollivant about Trump’s claim that ISIS has been defeated.

“Well, they’ve been defeated,” Ollivant said. “We use some different terms here in military speak. Defeated means you can’t do what you were trying to do before.”

 

[hollywood]

Guns,

I never want to hear you criticize Obama for leaving Iraq again.

https://newrepublic.com/article/98863/iraq-withdrawal-maliki-stability-violence

This article was defending the removal of US Troops from Iraq, written by the same person you are citing now.

 

[GunsOfFrankEaton]

Guns,

I never want to hear you criticize Obama for leaving Iraq again.

https://newrepublic.com/article/98863/iraq-withdrawal-maliki-stability-violence

This article was defending the removal of US Troops from Iraq, written by the same person you are citing now.

History will judge Obama harshly for a number of things, but probably not for leaving Iraq.

 

[COWBOYintheUK]

Being retired Military I have a few opinions on this.....whether it is the correct thing to do or not withdrawing the troops) , The Commander and Chief should not just wake up one morning and announce something like this without consulting his Secretary of Defense, his National Security advisory and Council, our intelligence agencies and first and foremost ...our allies.......ISIS is not defeated , they just killed several people in Iraq with a suicide bomber.........I probably shouldn't go here, but its been long enough.......I have personally worked along side the Kurd's, they are fantastic people that support our goals with great enthusiasm and with great sacrifice. WE have to have our allies, in today's world, we cannot even complete even relatively small operations without our allies, let alone anything major, and just the damage that has been done the last two years between us and our allies will take years to fix

 

[aix_xpert]

Being retired Military I have a few opinions on this.....whether it is the correct thing to do or not withdrawing the troops) , The Commander and Chief should not just wake up one morning and announce something like this without consulting his Secretary of Defense, his National Security advisory and Council, our intelligence agencies and first and foremost ...our allies.......ISIS is not defeated , they just killed several people in Iraq with a suicide bomber.........I probably shouldn't go here, but its been long enough.......I have personally worked along side the Kurd's, they are fantastic people that support our goals with great enthusiasm and with great sacrifice. WE have to have our allies, in today's world, we cannot even complete even relatively small operations without our allies, let alone anything major, and just the damage that has been done the last two years between us and our allies will take years to fix

There are less than 2000 ISIS fighters (estimated) in the whole of Syria and they have zero territory remaining (which was my layman's understanding of the mission). So unless you truly believe we are the world's police and we should remain there as a security force against the threat of lone bombers, we should be leaving Syria. BTW, if you don't think we should be leaving, then by what criteria do you consider ' victory achieved' and the acceptance of bringing our troops home.

 

[Alpha Poke]

Being retired Military I have a few opinions on this.....whether it is the correct thing to do or not withdrawing the troops) , The Commander and Chief should not just wake up one morning and announce something like this without consulting his Secretary of Defense, his National Security advisory and Council, our intelligence agencies and first and foremost ...our allies.......ISIS is not defeated , they just killed several people in Iraq with a suicide bomber.........I probably shouldn't go here, but its been long enough.......I have personally worked along side the Kurd's, they are fantastic people that support our goals with great enthusiasm and with great sacrifice. WE have to have our allies, in today's world, we cannot even complete even relatively small operations without our allies, let alone anything major, and just the damage that has been done the last two years between us and our allies will take years to fix

Don't worry we didn't leave the cupboards bare we tagged the Fighting Frogs in, they've had plenty of practice with these guys at home and need the oil from the region so, no harm no foul.

 

[COWBOYintheUK]

There are less than 2000 ISIS fighters (estimated) in the whole of Syria and they have zero territory remaining (which was my layman's understanding of the mission). So unless you truly believe we are the world's police and we should remain there as a security force against the threat of lone bombers, we should be leaving Syria. BTW, if you don't think we should be leaving, then by what criteria do you consider ' victory achieved' and the acceptance of bringing our troops home.

We are the world's police force and have been since the end of WWII..........it has paid great dividends in our National Security and our ability too call on Allies when they are needed. There are only two other countries in the world which have the capability to take that role over from us and both are more than willing to step in. The Kurds are our strongest and most dependable allies in the region and too just up and abandon them after telling them 3 weeks ago that we would stand by them until the end would just be another signal to the world of why would anyone trust the US any longer..........I have no problem withdrawing forces from the area , as I said, it just should not be the Commander in Chief waking up one morning and deciding to do it, there is a process

 

[Ponca Dan]

We are the world's police force and have been since the end of WWII..........it has paid great dividends in our National Security and our ability too call on Allies when they are needed. There are only two other countries in the world which have the capability to take that role over from us and both are more than willing to step in. The Kurds are our strongest and most dependable allies in the region and too just up and abandon them after telling them 3 weeks ago that we would stand by them until the end would just be another signal to the world of why would anyone trust the US any longer..........I have no problem withdrawing forces from the area , as I said, it just should not be the Commander in Chief waking up one morning and deciding to do it, there is a process

I know I promised to stay away until after the new year, but I simply can’t let this go without a response. Your notion that Trump woke up one day and decided to pull out of Syria without consultation with his security team is pure balderdash. Trump has told his generals he wants the military out of Syria, and mostly out of the Middle East since the first day of his presidency. Early in 2018 he met with the entire defense staff and reiterated that goal. His staff, made up of neocon and establishment operatives insisted it would be a mistake to leave at that time. He relented, but told them to have a withdrawal plan on his table in 6 months. They said they would do so, but in realty they dragged their feet and made no effort toward obeying that order. Six months came and went with no plan. Then Trump made his announcement, which caught them totally off guard. They thought they were in charge, contrary to the constitutional law of the land. Their public reaction, swallowed whole by the Trump-hating media, was to say they were never consulted. They looked right into our eyes and lied to us. They are blood thirsty militant war-loving homicidal maniacs in my opinion. Good riddance to Mattis, a man that directly disobeyed his commander. The whole bunch of them should be ushered out the door.

You can hate on Trump all you want. But for God’s sake it is not necessary to contribute to lies about the man.

 

[Alpha Poke]

 

[HighStickHarry]

@COWBOYintheUK why are the Kurds not separatists and terrorists In the eyes of turkey and Iraq? They’ve been at this a long time and their historical memories aren’t five minutes like ours are.

Being the world’s police has been good for us? That is such a simpleton thing to say. That’s a lot of death on both sides to add up like that. Why did bin laden attack us? Because he hated our freedom? Did bush and Cheney tell you that? It’s interventionist policies is why they hate us. It’s a modern day problem of defeating and not conquering. Are you familiar with how the Middle East got its current borders after ww2? Where they got their leaders/governments? The west has puppeted, ****ed with and tried to step parent those cavemen since Napoleon.

In my opinion we need to conquer them and show them the life of Reilly that the west can bring or isolate them and let the Sunnis and Shias decide once and for all who the true lineage of Mohammad is. Sell them the weapons to speed the process and protect Israel during the fireworks. Jordan can withdraw. Arab Emirates can withdraw. Egypt can withdraw. Send all the fighters to the middle and let’s see who wins inshallah.

 

[CSCOTTOSUPOKES]

I know I promised to stay away until after the new year, but I simply can’t let this go without a response. Your notion that Trump woke up one day and decided to pull out of Syria without consultation with his security team is pure balderdash. Trump has told his generals he wants the military out of Syria, and mostly out of the Middle East since the first day of his presidency. Early in 2018 he met with the entire defense staff and reiterated that goal. His staff, made up of neocon and establishment operatives insisted it would be a mistake to leave at that time. He relented, but told them to have a withdrawal plan on his table in 6 months. They said they would do so, but in realty they dragged their feet and made no effort toward obeying that order. Six months came and went with no plan. Then Trump made his announcement, which caught them totally off guard. They thought they were in charge, contrary to the constitutional law of the land. Their public reaction, swallowed whole by the Trump-hating media, was to say they were never consulted. They looked right into our eyes and lied to us. They are blood thirsty militant war-loving homicidal maniacs in my opinion. Good riddance to Mattis, a man that directly disobeyed his commander. The whole bunch of them should be ushered out the door.

You can hate on Trump all you want. But for God’s sake it is not necessary to contribute to lies about the man.

Why do you think he wants troops out of Syria? Think about it real hard and get back to me...

 

[HighStickHarry]

Why do you think he wants troops out of Syria? Think about it real hard and get back to me...

1980 called.

 

[Medic007]

Why do you think he wants troops out of Syria? Think about it real hard and get back to me...

Because we shouldn't have had troops in Syria to begin with? Because trying to accomplish regime change in Syria was a stupid move by Barry? Because we've had CIA backed rebels fighting Pentagon backed rebels? Because Barry made the situation worse by arming the terrorists AGAIN, just like he did in Libya?

Remember when Barry told us repeatedly that there'd be no boots on the ground in Syria? Why are there boots on the ground in Syria?

 

[Ponca Dan]

Why do you think he wants troops out of Syria? Think about it real hard and get back to me...

I can think of several reasons. Perhaps because our troops are there in violation of international law. Or perhaps it’s because they are there contrary to the legal requirements of our own constitution. Or maybe it’s because the confluct in Syria has absolutely nothing to do with protecting our own country. Maybe it’s because he sees us draining billions upon billions of dollars and needlessly killing or maiming our own young people in the conflict, not to mention slaughtering thousands of innocent Syrian civilians chasing after the enemy. Maybe he realizes that almost two decades of nonstop warmaking is too much. Then, as has been discussed before, it might be because the publicly stated purpose of the mission was to destroy ISIS, and that mission has been accomplished, all that remains is mop-up duty, which can be accomplished by our ally Turkey. (Even John Bolton, who has never seen a bloodletting with which he has disagreed has admitted as much. I’ll give you a link.). Those are all excellent reasons. It may be only one of them, a combination, or all of them together, I’ll leave it for you to decide.


https://www.antiwar.com/blog/2018/12/28/two-strikes-on-bolton-why-wait-for-a-third/

 

[CSCOTTOSUPOKES]

I can think of several reasons. Perhaps because our troops are there in violation of international law. Or perhaps it’s because they are there contrary to the legal requirements of our own constitution. Or maybe it’s because the confluct in Syria has absolutely nothing to do with protecting our own country. Maybe it’s because he sees us draining billions upon billions of dollars and needlessly killing or maiming our own young people in the conflict, not to mention slaughtering thousands of innocent Syrian civilians chAsing after the enemy. Maybe he realizes that almost two decades of nonstop warmaking is too much. Then, as has been discussed before, it might be because the publicly stated purpose of the mission was to destroy ISIS, and that mission has been accomplished, all that remains us mop-up duty, which can be accomplished by our ally Turkey. (Even John Bolton, who has never seen a bloodletting with which he has disagreed has admitted as much. I’ll give you a link.). Those are all excellent reasons. It may be only one of them, a combination, or all of them together, I’ll leave it for you to decide.


https://www.antiwar.com/blog/2018/12/28/two-strikes-on-bolton-why-wait-for-a-third/

“Draining billions and billions”...sooooo, the next defense budget will be significantly slashed then...I’ll believe it when I see it lol