Trump faces foreign policy challenges in Syria and Iran

yota691 · October 19, 2019

“Don’t be a tough guy. Don’t be a fool!”: Read Trump’s wild letter to Turkey’s Erdogan

This is one of the most astonishing letters in diplomatic history.

By Alex Ward@AlexWardVoxalex.ward@vox.com Updated Oct 16, 2019, 5:17pm EDT

President of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdoğan poses for a photo with US President Donald Trump during a dinner hosted by French President for visiting heads of states in Paris, France, on November 10, 2018. Turkish Presidency/Handout/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

President Donald Trump sent a letter to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan last week urging him to make a deal with the Kurds, saying: “Don’t be a tough guy. Don’t be a fool!”

The letter is dated October 9, which means it was written just three days after Trump ordered the withdrawal of US troops from northern Syria. The goal of the letter, it seems, was to convince Erdoğan not to send his forces into Syria to attack the Kurds, who had been the American military’s strongest partner in the fight against ISIS.

“You don’t want to be responsible for slaughtering thousands of people,” Trump writes, before threatening to destroy Turkey’s economy if Erdoğan doesn’t heed his demands. Trump then calls on the Turkish president to make a deal with Kurdish leaders so they don’t fight each other.

“History will look upon you favorably if you get this done the right and humane way,” the letter reads. “It will look upon you forever as the devil if good things don’t happen.”

But, as we now know, Turkey did launch its offensive against the Kurds — on October 9. It’s unclear when Erdoğan received the letter.

EXCLUSIVE: I have obtained a copy of ⁦@realDonaldTrump⁩’s letter to #Erdogan. ⁦@POTUS⁩ warns him to not “be a tough guy! Don’t be a fool!” Says he could destroy Turkey’s economy if #Syria is not resolved in a humane way. Details tonight at 8pm #TrishRegan #FoxBusiness pic.twitter.com/9BoSGlbRyt
— Trish Regan (@trish_regan) October 16, 2019

The letter, first obtained by Fox Business’s Trish Regan on Wednesday and which I confirmed shortly afterward, goes against every tenet of decorum and presidential communication. It’s brash, nasty, and lacking any diplomatic tact whatsoever.

“Having helped draft a few presidential letters to foreign leaders, I want you to know that this is not what they normally look like,” Kelly Magsamen, a former official who worked under both the Bush and Obama administrations at the State Department, Pentagon, and National Security Council, tweeted about the letter.

It also shows that Trump has personally tried to mediate the conflict in Syria that he himself kick-started by withdrawing troops last week, even though on Wednesday he told reporters that the conflict “has nothing to do with us.”

“I view the situation on the Turkish border with Syria to be, for the United States, strategically brilliant,” the president said in the Oval Office.

Vice President Mike Pence and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo are on their way to Turkey now to attempt to negotiate some kind of ceasefire deal between Erdoğan and Kurdish leaders — a deal the Turkish president has vowed not to make.

It’s possible the administration leaked the letter to the friendly network as a way to send a message to Ankara before the talks. Trump also mentioned on Wednesday that the White House might release the letter.

Regardless of how it got out, the letter shows that American foreign policy is firmly in Trump’s hands — and, like it or not, run by his own unvarnished words. But if Erdoğan is upset about this whole thing, perhaps he and Trump can smooth it over on the phone. “I will call you later,” the commander in chief ends the letter.

yota691 · October 19, 2019

OCT. 17, 2019

Read President Trump’s Bizarre Letter to Turkey’s President

By Benjamin Hart @realaxelfoley

A strange guy. Photo: Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images

After President Trump gave Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan the green light to invade northern Syria last weekend, thus unleashing chaos in the region, Trump wrote him a very strange letter. The message, obtained by Fox Business’s Trish Regan, carries a straightforward theme: that Erdogan should show military restraint. But the prose style and phrasing, which includes the lines “Don’t be a tough guy. Don’t be a fool!” are so surpassingly weird in a high-level diplomatic context that many wondered if the note was authentic. It is.

In an unfortunate coda to this surreal episode, the BBC reported that upon receiving the letter, Erdogan dismissed it and promptly threw it in the trash.

Read the whole thing below:

Correction: Due to a transcription mistake, this post initially read that Trump told Erdogan to “be smart.” He actually told him “don’t be a fool.” We regret the error.

yota691 · October 19, 2019

Indraman · October 19, 2019

13 hours ago, Carrello said:

Opinion

Our Republic Is Under Attack From the President

If President Trump doesn’t demonstrate the leadership that America needs, then it is time for a new person in the Oval Office.

By William H. McRaven

Admiral McRaven is a former commander of the United States Special Operations Command.

Oct. 17, 2019

CreditCreditDamon Winter/The New York Times

Last week I attended two memorable events that reminded me why we care so very much about this nation and also why our future may be in peril.

The first was a change of command ceremony for a storied Army unit in which one general officer passed authority to another. The second event was an annual gala for the Office of Strategic Services (O.S.S.) Society that recognizes past and present members of the intelligence and Special Operations community for their heroism and sacrifice to the nation. What struck me was the stark contrast between the words and deeds heralded at those events — and the words and deeds emanating from the White House.

On the parade field at Fort Bragg, N.C., where tens of thousands of soldiers have marched either preparing to go to war or returning from it, the two generals, highly decorated, impeccably dressed, cleareyed and strong of character, were humbled by the moment.

They understood the awesome responsibility that the nation had placed on their shoulders. They understood that they had an obligation to serve their soldiers and their soldiers’ families. They believed in the American values for which they had been fighting for the past three decades. They had faith that these values were worth sacrificing everything for — including, if necessary, their lives.

Having served with both officers for the past 20 years, I know that they personified all that is good and decent and honorable about the American military with genuineness of their humility, their uncompromising integrity, their willingness to sacrifice all for a worthy cause, and the pride they had in their soldiers.

Later that week, at the O.S.S. Society dinner, there were films and testimonials to the valor of the men and women who had fought in Europe and the Pacific during World War II. We also celebrated the 75th anniversary of D-Day, recognizing those brave Americans and allies who sacrificed so much to fight Nazism and fascism. We were reminded that the Greatest Generation went to war because it believed that we were the good guys — that wherever there was oppression, tyranny or despotism, America would be there. We would be there because freedom mattered. We would be there because the world needed us and if not us, then who?

Also that evening we recognized the incredible sacrifice of a new generation of Americans: an Army Special Forces warrant officer who had been wounded three times, the most recent injury costing him his left leg above the knee. He was still in uniform and still serving. There was an intelligence officer, who embodied the remarkable traits of those men and women who had served in the O.S.S. And a retired Marine general, whose 40 years of service demonstrated all that was honorable about the Corps and public service.

But the most poignant recognition that evening was for a young female sailor who had been killed in Syria serving alongside our allies in the fight against ISIS. Her husband, a former Army Green Beret, accepted the award on her behalf. Like so many that came before her, she had answered the nation’s call and willingly put her life in harm’s way.

For everyone who ever served in uniform, or in the intelligence community, for those diplomats who voice the nation’s principles, for the first responders, for the tellers of truth and the millions of American citizens who were raised believing in American values — you would have seen your reflection in the faces of those we honored last week.

But, beneath the outward sense of hope and duty that I witnessed at these two events, there was an underlying current of frustration, humiliation, anger and fear that echoed across the sidelines. The America that they believed in was under attack, not from without, but from within.

These men and women, of all political persuasions, have seen the assaults on our institutions: on the intelligence and law enforcement community, the State Department and the press. They have seen our leaders stand beside despots and strongmen, preferring their government narrative to our own. They have seen us abandon our allies and have heard the shouts of betrayal from the battlefield. As I stood on the parade field at Fort Bragg, one retired four-star general, grabbed my arm, shook me and shouted, “I don’t like the Democrats, but Trump is destroying the Republic!”

Those words echoed with me throughout the week. It is easy to destroy an organization if you have no appreciation for what makes that organization great. We are not the most powerful nation in the world because of our aircraft carriers, our economy, or our seat at the United Nations Security Council. We are the most powerful nation in the world because we try to be the good guys. We are the most powerful nation in the world because our ideals of universal freedom and equality have been backed up by our belief that we were champions of justice, the protectors of the less fortunate.

But, if we don’t care about our values, if we don’t care about duty and honor, if we don’t help the weak and stand up against oppression and injustice — what will happen to the Kurds, the Iraqis, the Afghans, the Syrians, the Rohingyas, the South Sudanese and the millions of people under the boot of tyranny or left abandoned by their failing states?

If our promises are meaningless, how will our allies ever trust us? If we can’t have faith in our nation’s principles, why would the men and women of this nation join the military? And if they don’t join, who will protect us? If we are not the champions of the good and the right, then who will follow us? And if no one follows us — where will the world end up?

President Trump seems to believe that these qualities are unimportant or show weakness. He is wrong. These are the virtues that have sustained this nation for the past 243 years. If we hope to continue to lead the world and inspire a new generation of young men and women to our cause, then we must embrace these values now more than ever.

And if this president doesn’t understand their importance, if this president doesn’t demonstrate the leadership that America needs, both domestically and abroad, then it is time for a new person in the Oval Office — Republican, Democrat or independent — the sooner, the better. The fate of our Republic depends upon it.

www.nytimes.com

Quote: "And if this president doesn’t understand their importance, if this president doesn’t demonstrate the leadership that America needs, both domestically and abroad, then it is time for a new person in the Oval Office — Republican, Democrat or independent — the sooner, the better. The fate of our Republic depends upon it."

I love how these never Trumpers insinuate that President Trump is so evil, so immoral, that something needs to be done right now to remove him from office. TRUMP-RUSSIA COLLUSION GATE, UKRAINE GATE, STORMY DANIELS GATE, NORTH KOREA MADMAN GATE...get over the idea that some Impeachment Hearing for some manufactured 'GATE' will bring down this President.

The Democrat Clown Car Party is your only hope for beating this president at the 2020 Presidential Election, and right now things are not looking very good for the Democrat Clown Car Party to even field a viable candidate to beat President Trump.

Pocahontas...not likely!

Sleepy, handsy, Ol'e Joe Biden...nope, to much Scandal with his son Hunter Biden!

Bernie Sanders...not after his heart attack!

The Democrat Clown Car Is Broken And Only Steers LEFT!

Indy

Edited October 19, 2019 by Indraman

Synopsis · October 19, 2019

12 hours ago, Carrello said:

How is it, Synopsis, that you know more than generals that commanded our military in the Middle East for years? Men that have commanded thousands of men and women? Are you a general too or a military person at all? Or are you just another "stable genius?"

Have you seen to photos today of the Kurdish children burned, their skin peeling off the bodies, crying in pain? The Turks are using illegal napalm reportedly. Gee this is fun.

BTW don't you tell me, Rhona, or anyone else for that matter, that we don't think for ourselves. EVER.

YOU, Carrello AND Rhona AND OTHER LIKE MINDED PEOPLE, DO NOT THINK FOR YOURSELVES INDIVIDUALLY AND/OR COLLECTIVELY - EVER!!!

So, WHY, pray tell, Carrello, are YOU NOT over THERE in Syria AVERTING YOUR "crisis" saving Turdish, er, Kurdish children from being burned with THEIR skin peeling off the bodies AND crying in pain???!!!