UPDATED: Should Pompeo Be Gone ASAP?
As I've indicated before, I have no use for Mike Pompeo--I see him as undermining President Trump's foreign policy goals at every turn. The latest events in Syraq are reinforcing not only my misgivings but those of many others. Here's one long analysis at Zerohedge: Did Pompeo Go Off Reservation In Iraq Attack? Note the silence of Trump. Has he finally decided, as with Bolton and McMaster and the others, that he can't be president with Pompeo around?
Here is Mark Steyn with a Colonel Macgregor. As Steyn notes at the beginning, America has blown trillions on its wars with nothing to show for it. How long can this go on? How can Trump tolerate insubordination? Can he get reelected if his anti-war platform is yanked out from under his feet?
UPDATE 1: Maybe it would be a good idea to have, like, a national conversation on matters of fundamental importance--like war and peace--before the SecState goes off half-cocked trying to start major land wars in Asia? We could discuss concepts like ... why? Or, Are there alternatives?
U.S Embassy in #Baghdad#Iraqpic.twitter.com/BC4k2pjpc2
— Steven nabil (@thestevennabil) December 31, 2019
UPDATE 2: I'm not a reflexive Buchananite by any means, however Pat offers some thoughts here that are worth pondering: How Trump Can Derail His Own Reelection - Stumble Into War . My view is that Making America Great Again begins at home, and having Trump as president for as long as possible is our best hope for making significant progress toward that goal. We have enough problems to solve right here in America. That doesn't mean abandoning our legitimate role in the world--as if that could be done. But it does mean avoiding own goals, such as stupid wars. Buchanan:
Trump is eager to make good on his promises and remove many of the 14,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan before Election Day. Yet such a move is not without risks. Given the strength of the Taliban, the casualties they are able to inflict, the inability of the Afghan army to hold territory, and the constant atrocities in the capital city of Kabul, a Saigon ’75 end to the Afghan war is not outside the realm of the possible.
Nor is a shooting war with Iran that rivets the nation’s attention.
Yesterday, U.S. F-15s, in five attacks, hit munitions depots and a command center of the Iran-backed Kataib Hezbollah militia in Syria and Iraq, a retaliatory raid for a rocket attack on a U.S. training camp that killed an American contractor and wounded four U.S. soldiers.
“For those who ask about the response,” warns a Kataib Hezbollah spokesman, “it will be the size of our faith.”
One has to expect Iran and its militia in Iraq to respond in kind.
They have a track record. During 2019, with its economy choked by U.S. sanctions, Iran and its allies sabotaged oil tankers in the Gulf, shot down a $130 million U.S. Predator drone, and shut down with missiles and drones half of Saudi Arabia’s oil production.
In former times, a confrontation or shooting war often benefitted the incumbent, as there was almost always a rallying to the flag. Those days are gone. This generation has had its fill of wars.