No Pullout from Syria Says Bolton
by Stephen Lendman (stephenlendman.org - Home - Stephen Lendman)
US forces come to countries to stay, deployed to over three-fourths of nations worldwide, what major media never explain.
They suppress a whole lot more of what matters most, operating as press agents for Wall Street, America’s military/industrial/security complex, Big Oil, other corporate favorites, and the imperial state.
Pentagon troops will stay in Syria until (US created and supported) ISIS is defeated and Kurds (the US doesn’t give a hoot about) are protected, said Bolton on Sunday, adding:
There’s no timetable for withdrawal. “There are objectives that we want to accomplish that condition the withdrawal. The timetable flows from the policy decisions that we need to implement.”
US forces will remain in illegally controlled areas around al-Tanf, southern Syrian territory bordering Jordan and Iraq, said Bolton - on the phony pretext of countering (nonexistent) Iranian regional expansionism, its advisors aiding Damascus combat US-supported ISIS and other terrorists.
Bolton lied claiming what he called the (flagrantly illegal) legal basis for deployment US forces to Syria, saying it’s justified by the president’s constitutional authority - a bald-faced lie. Nothing of the kind exists.
Trump signaled a likely U-turn, saying “we won’t be finally pulled out until ISIS is gone…I never said we’re doing it that quickly.”
Pre-Christmas he tweeted: “We have defeated Isis in Syria, my only reason for being there during the Trump presidency.”
A separate video posted on Twitter said “(n)ow it’s time for our troops to come back home. They’re all coming back, and they’re coming back now.”
At the same time, White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said “the United States has defeated the territorial caliphate (ISIS). We have started returning United States troops home as we transition to the next phase of this campaign.”
Trump’s pullout remarks created a bipartisan and media firestorm - ignoring US aggression against a sovereign state and illegal US occupation of northern and southern parts of the country.
In Israel on Sunday, Bolton defended the indefensible, supporting undeclared Israeli aggression against Syria, conducting repeated terror-bombing attacks on targets in the country during the ongoing war.
“For the US, (Israel’s) ability to defend itself is the ultimate mark of sovereignty,” Bolton roared, adding:
“President Trump has said repeatedly that he backs Israel’s right to self-defense” - at a time when the Jewish state’s enemies are invented ones. No real ones exist.
Bolton shamefully said “(w)e’ve got the continuing threat of Iran’s quest for deliverable nuclear weapons (sic).”
“And despite getting out of the Iran nuclear deal, despite the sanctions, we have little doubt that Iran’s leadership is still strategically committed to achieving deliverable nuclear weapons” - a bald-faced Big Lie.
The US/Israeli axis of evil is the Middle East’s greatest threat. The presence of US forces in Syria and other regional countries assures forever wars continuing, no prospects for ending them.
The likelihood of US troops leaving Syria appears slim. Clearly they’ll remain in the country for months in the new year, along with neighboring Iraq and elsewhere regionally.
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My newest book as editor and contributor is titled "Flashpoint in Ukraine: How the US Drive for Hegemony Risks WW III."
