Speaking during a visit with Turkey’s President Erdogan, President Trump sought to simplify the US role in Syria, saying Turkey’s issues over the border were thousands of years in the making.
“We’re keeping the oil, we have the oil, the oil is secure,” Trump insisted in comments, adding that “we kept troops in Syria only for the oil.” This is in keeping with Trump’s talking points of recent weeks, which emphasize the idea that the US is going to take Syria’s oil.
The insistence that the US is there “only for the oil,” however, is a critical point, because it runs directly contrary to every comment made by anyone else in the administration in recent weeks.
Pentagon officials have played up the idea of the US fighting with Syrian troops, Russian troops,and ISIS as reasons for staying in the country. Some have been dismissive of the idea that the US would be keeping the oil at all, despite President Trump very clearly, repeatedly saying that’s exactly what he intends to have happen.
Whether this represents an actual split in policy understanding or not is unclear, as Pentagon officials may just be slightly more conscious of the illegality of occupying part of a country explicitly to loot its natural resources, and may be hoping to invent a narrative where that’s either not happening, or at the very least isn’t all that’s happening.
Defense Secretary Mark Esper says what US troops remain in northeast Syria will be out in another “week or so.” These are only troops that remain positioned in the Turkey-claimed safe zone, and not the US troops engaged in the occupation of Syrian oil.
Getting US troops away from Kobani, where Turkish troops were killing Kurdish protesters, may remove the US directly from that matter, though it’s also liable to attract further attention to the Trump idea that this is a war for oil, nothing more and nothing less.
Doesn’t Trump think Syria might not need their oil to furnish fuel to rebuild their country after everybody has been bombing them the last few years .
Trump promise no regime change so he can’t keep troops in Syria for regime change. Therefore we have to keep them there to steal oil. and never mind then it’s going to cost us more to have the troops there then we’re going to get in the oil. after all Trump usually saves cost by just stiffing his contractors so maybe we’ll make profit on the oil by just not paying the troops. and to be honest we shouldn’t pay these troops because they’re not exactly you know protecting the Constitution
eric,,BiBI won’t allow it, and Prez. is his BUTT BOY.
US forces anywhere in the world are ONLY for RESOURCES for corporations, been going on a long time. Read Smedley Butlers 1937 “War is a Racket”. Since then its merely grown to gargantuan proportions.
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad stated Thursday that the U.S. administration was similar to Nazi Germany because the country is just stealing oil from Syria.
“The U.S. is a state, based like any regime of gangs of bandits. The US president doesn’t represent the country, he is just an executive director of a company that has its board of directors, who represent other companies that in fact owns the country,” Assad said.
Assad gets it exactly right – except for the part about the President being an “executive director” – because in the case of Trump, he’s got next to zero power. It’s the people around him who are actually running things.
He could have the power, but never wanted the workload. He is content to rubber stamp whatever the gop sends his way, as long as they cover his ass in congress.
Dave,,such hate…so sad….:(
He knows Rotchschild interests landed the contracts years ago, this has been planned for a long time. Trump is just a temp under contract. His family will bank tens of billions from Presidency when it’s all said and done. https://pftw.worldpeacefull.com/genel-rothschild-and-oil-revenues-vital-to-kurdish-independent-state/
Antar, you must be talking about obama and clinton! LOL!!!
“President Trump very clearly, repeatedly saying that’s exactly what he intends to have happen.”
Oh, please. The Orange Mophead never says anything “very clearly” – and how often he says it doesn’t mean anything, either. And what he “intends to have happen” rarely does. Add to that the fact that he’s a born liar and it’s pretty much meaningless to even bother to discuss anything he says.
Oil profits fund jihadists,
securing the oil, deprives ISIS styled groups from mischief while
Turkey, Kurds, Syrians, Russians and Iranians figure out their collective future.
Yes short term victories against terrorists, not that I’m conceding that’s involved here, is worth presenting as bandits. Really, we should just always pursue the short term over any long game like basic power balancing, limited scope of governmental powers, diplomacy, functional rule of law and constitution. All that’s just fantasy anyways so let’s just go full Caesarism and be done with Republicanism.
ISIS was behind the attacks at the Pulse dance hall,
the San Bernadino Christmas party massacres and inciting wild fires in the western US.
They were attacking us,
using those oil fields to back them financially.
Now,
the US has destroyed their caliphate,
killed their leader and
deprived them from expropriating revenue from those fields.
Smart.
“the US has destroyed their caliphate,”
It was the Russians from fall of 2015 into 2016 who destroyed ISIS. The US had been (allegedly) bombing for a year before – and ISIS kept advancing. Within six months, Russia had them on the run – partly by bombing those very oil truck caravans rolling into Turkey.
The US has only destroyed some “caliphate” the Langley marketing division said existed. What the US destroyed, was the infrastructure required to support the millions of refugees from the Iraq wars.
Incorrect, Russia was a bit player and largely ineffectual.
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/isis-timeline-caliphate-iraq-syria-territory-defeated-a8782351.html
From Wikipedia’s article on the Russian intervention:
Quote:
Assessments of effectiveness
By late February 2016, the Russian Air Force conducted around 60 airstrikes daily, while the American-led coalition averaged seven.[412] These Russian airstrikes have reportedly proven particularly effective against ISIS oil trade and supply routes in the Syrian Desert.[413] An estimated 209 Syrian oil facilities were destroyed by the airstrikes, along with 2,000 petroleum transport equipments. By the time of the withdrawal of the “main part” of its forces in mid-March, Russia had conducted over 9,000 sorties over the course of five and a half months, while helping the Syrian Army capture 400 towns and acquire 10,000 square kilometers of territory.[414]
The Russian military followed the Chechnya Counter-Insurgency model, and “a revanchist Russia, even with a stagnated mono-industrial economy surprised the international community with the pace of attack and will to sustain the operation.”[415]
In January 2016, a few months after Russia’s involvement in Syria, diplomat Ranjit Gupta wrote, in an article published by The Commonwealth Journal of International Affairs, that the Russian reinforcement was “godsend for Assad, greatly boosting the regime’s sagging morale and that of its armed forces.”[416] Gupta continued:
With robust air cover provided by Russian airstrikes Assad’s forces can start liberating and holding territory, particularly in the extremely strategically vital corridor connecting Damascus and Aleppo. Russian help provides Assad’s military
the distinct possibilities to regain the upper hand in the conflict, particularly in northwestern and western Syria at least.[416]
In February 2016, Professor Fawaz A. Gerges of the London School of Economics opined the Russian military intervention had turned out to be a game-changer in the Syrian Civil War:[417]
″Mr Putin’s decision to intervene in Syria and shore up Mr Assad with new fighter jets, military advisers and advanced weapons stopped the bleeding of the Syrian army and allowed it to shift from defence to offence.″[417]
Vincent R. Stewart, Director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, stated in February 2016 that the “Russian reinforcement has changed the
calculus completely” and added that Assad “is in a much stronger negotiating position than he was just six months ago”.[418]
Western media and analists conclude that Russia intervention in Syria kept Assad in power or shifted the balance of power to his side.[419][420][421]
End Quote
The Independent article you cite barely even mentions Russia – which is not surprising, given the paper’s stance.
Yes, Russia save Assad from being over run by ISIS.
Further the US in 2016 was still hobbled by 0bama’s neutering RoE.
However, in 2017 the tide turns with the addition of 2 US Marine artillery units and a hell on wheels air campaign operating under new Trump RoE.
The Independent “barely” mentions Russia because their prime objective was saving Assad. The US objective was to destroy the caliphate and decapitate their leadership. Russia didn’t get Bag-daddy.
Which the US didn’t come close to doing it even though they allegedly started in *214* – and ISIS kept on overrunning Assad’s forces *until* Russia entered in fall, 2015. Six months later, the tide turned. But according to you, it was *two years later* when the US “destroyed the caliphate.”
Bullcrap. You just want to believe Trump defeated ISIS – just like Trump bragged in his maniacal Cabinet meeting minutes I referred to previously on this site. Trump took all the credit – and you’re dumb enough to believe him.
https://www.investors.com/politics/editorials/raqqa-victory-means-trump-defeated-isis-in-months-after-years-of-excuses-from-obama/
Aha! So by blaming Obama for *not* defeating ISIS, you make my point that it was only *after* Russia entered the fight that ISIS was put on the run. And *then* Trump comes in and, according to you, “defeated ISIS.” Which means the US did *not* defeat ISIS until *after* Russia put a hurt on them- which is not the same thing as “Russia was ineffectual” – that is just Trump’s BS story.
You can’t even comprehend how you make my point for me, can you?
Just another Trump supporter afflicted with “Trump Savior Syndrome.”
Russian military intervention in the Syrian Civil War
The
Russian military intervention in the Syrian Civil War began in
September 2015, after an official request by the Syrian government for
military aid against rebel groups. The intervention initially involved
air strikes by Russian aircraft stationed in the Khmeimim base against
targets primarily in north-western Syria, and against Syrian opposition
militant groups opposed to the Syrian government, including the Syrian
National Coalition, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, al-Nusra
Front and the Army of Conquest.WikipediaProtecting QAssad
Protecting Assad, the priority.
And a chronology of ISIS WAR events by Axios, notice, not much Russia.
https://www.axios.com/timeline-the-rise-and-fall-of-isis-in-iraq-and-syria-1513303977-89d37ceb-f243-4c30-9a44-7c0c2fdc5f34.html
hardily a Trump support group.
And the coup de gras,
it was only the US (not Kurds, Russkies, Syrians or Turks),
that dogged–L-bag-daddy, ran him down and killed him.
Who cares about the alleged ISIS leader?
I reiterate the Wikipedia quote I quoted before:
“By late February 2016, the Russian Air Force conducted around 60 airstrikes daily, while the American-led coalition averaged seven.[412]
These Russian airstrikes have reportedly proven particularly effective against ISIS oil trade and supply routes in the Syrian Desert.[413] An estimated 209 Syrian oil facilities were destroyed by the airstrikes, along with 2,000 petroleum transport equipments. By the time of the withdrawal of the “main part” of its forces in mid-March, Russia had conducted over 9,000 sorties over the course of five and a half months, while helping the Syrian Army capture 400 towns and acquire 10,000 square kilometers of territory.”
Russia deprived ISIS of its oil money by conducting 9-10 times more airstrikes than the US did against ISIS.
Stop wasting my time with your delusions and pointless “time lines”. I’m not buying it and neither does anyone else who followed the war from the beginning.
You need links to back your hallucinations.
Here is a list (from wikipedia), with the entire conflict history,
add the Russian contributions vs the US contributions,
in defeating the ISIS caliphate.
You still are utterly unable to see the point, you just keep posting lists – and this time there isn’t even a list in your post.
I think we’re done here.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_wars_and_battles_involving_ISIL
The number of military servicemen’s lives lost, not just combat from increase cancer and desease rates, increase suicide rates. Not even mentioning the live lost to middle easterners. Besides we already deprived them of use of the oil fields by bombing the crap out of them which is why it would cost so much to make them financially viable making the project a farce c to begin with.
US military KIA were minimal as locals (Kurds, Yazdis etc.)
provided the round troops.
Controlling those oil fields, insures they won’t be used against us.
We arn’t fighting, we are waiting for the fighting to end.
I fail to see how any of this is even relevant to my original point that losing ground on fundamental principles of our governmental system is not worth a temporary gain against groups who’s only threat too us could be drawing us into missions that are simply not feasible; and setting trip wires for further conflict with potential thermonuclear fallout.
Neutralizing extremists groups who threaten our country and allies,
is a given.
The fact that congress fails to pass a declaration of war
yet funds these conflicts, is on them.
No it’s on everyone…and all have and will continue to pay the cost
Mostly it was the Kurds that paid the cost.
No, humanity, again, paid the bill
The tab was created by ISIS’s inhumanity to the Kurds.
By helping the Kurds to defeat ISIS, humanity was served.
Ah, “our allies”…
Another Israeli troll…as well as a delusional Trump supporter…
ISIS was tearing up Europe, our allies.
“We aren’t fighting,”….and you know this because the pentagon told you ?
Currently, in Syria, nothing large scale,
nobody reports it differently.
Don’t suppose you heard any reporting on where the 100ooo 155mm artillery shells landed in Syria, or, what happened when they did between 2017-2018.
US military has essentially adopted the formula from the texas tower mass murderer from the 60s.
Actually stoke, I’ll tell you how I see it…the US military is no different than Sqeaky Fromm, slaughtering people for no reason, simply following orders, either from Charlie Manson, or some perverted officer.
Dave, you would never have the BALLZ to repeat that in front of a combat veteran. 🙂
You mean like the time I threatened the 2 marine recruiters with citizens arrest in the mall ? Recruiting my minor son, aiding and abetting delinquency of a minor. Actually, tho stunned at first, they were very respectful, cause they are ordered to be so.
Dave, of course I would expect that of you, I can just picture that,,,citizen arrest,,,LOL!! Now, will you repeat what you have said in front of a combat veteran, or even a Marine, Army, recruit out of basic training, ? Well,, will you tough guy? 🙂
Lol, never pretended to be a tough guy. I’ll get right on that after you grab your guns, and go to war against every nation which has legal abortion, which you assert is murder. Jay ? You gonna let everyone “murder” babies ? Or, are your guns just a fetish ?
Dave, you are deceived, it IS murder, and when you grow up you will come to realize that, until then you remain a HYPOCRITE. 🙁
Combat veterans have been known to muse to the same effect among themselves.
My comments are about the situation now.
Dane, school him, you know all the answers! LOL!!
Barlow,,since when do “lives” mean anything to the DC GHOULS?
Barlow, does that mean we can hang all the DC GHOULS??
What nonsense. There isn’t even any oil. Those fields are wrecked, and have been since our bombers got done with them a long time ago.
US reasons are to keep bases, meant to be used in further aggression.
Mark,,not in this case.
What a circus. Oil wells are in disrepair, and will need major investment. And it is clear that US (whoever the decision maker is) has made a hasty return to Iraqi-Syria border, and parked a small unit there. Now, it seems like Turkey is not amused, and soldiers will be moved out. The area is in security zone, and Syrian Army controls Qamishli. Keeping some soldiers there in the security zone, could have easily become a trip wire. That is — IF they are actually withdrawn — the circus goes on.
Oil “wealth” circus, along with SDF assisting is a most transparent, primitive ploy to have a leverage in upcoming political negotiations of the Constitution Committee. Now that the Committee has been agreed upon, the process moves to Geneva under UN auspices. US will hang in there in order to press for getting a deal for Kurds,
To me — Trump’s rather nice treatment of Erdogan signifies a proposed deal. Whatever it is, I doubt Turkey can accept Kurdish autonomy of any kind. Trump even had gone this far as to suggest that Turkey has a deal with Kurds. Virtue signaling— Trump style.
So, it is sitting inside Syria for “oil”, for as long as needed. And what Israel needs is Kurdish autonomy even if it amounts to one county of Kobane. Because Kurds are still one and only game left, if US is to secure tensions on four borders — Syria, Turkey, Iran and Iraq.
This is the best example of how a foreign country can affect US political and military decisions — in situation of NO American national interest. And the main reason we continue with hysterics over Turkey killing Kurdish civilians. Sure, Turkey has no other objective but kill civilians. What is next? Km ed hospitals and schools, mass graves, mass rapes. One can practically write it all in advance.
We will soon find out exactly what US wants from the political outcome in Geneva. Kurds have some major decisions to make.
Bianca, at this point either a major US military loss or a major crash of it’s economy causing wide and bloody riots and looting and killing, will ever change the course of USA policy, and then it will be too late. Take the guns from USA citizens so when the SHTF the guns are only pointed in one direction, towards the USA citizen,,and people think it is about the children…what a crock LOL!! 🙁
The Pentagon should be told to shut it’s mouth or lose their ranks and be put on the front line in Afghanistani!!! But Prez. lacks the ballz to do that, let alone say it.