Urgent: US official - the situation on the ground is deteriorating rapidly in Syria. Extremist...

[demmiblue]

Urgent: US official - the situation on the ground is deteriorating rapidly in Syria. Extremist Turkish proxies have advanced. US Forces at risk of being isolated. increased risk of confrontation between Turkish proxies and US Forces unless Turkey halts their advance immediately.

Link to tweet

[demmiblue]

1. On @MeetThePress, @RichardEngel said that Turkish forces have been working with extremist militias-

On @MeetThePress, @RichardEngel said that Turkish forces have been working with extremist militias—including al Qaida.

Link to tweet

[FirstLight]

2. I'm confused

Don't these military decisions have to go through Congress...what about the Pentagon?

How can this stupid idiot be allowed to put so many in danger?

[Lochloosa]

3. Commander in Chief....short answer. No.

[Igel]

10. Trump cannot declare war, that's reserved for Congress.

(Of course, if the Constitution is living, let's just say that Trump can't say he's going to war--"declare" war--but say he can engage in "coordinated, planned hostile acts involving the killing of presumably hostile forces and the taking and keeping of territory", as long as he doesn't declare war.)

Under the War Powers Acts, he can make several kinds of attacks as long as he reports to Congress within so many days. As though if he attacked a country and landed troops, there'd be a real good outcome of either saying, "Sure, prez" or "we order you to get them out, and if it means 10,000 troops die and the population's massacred, well, that's not really *our* fault, is it?"

There's the AUF, authorization to use force, which was intended to be used against AQ in Afghanistan, was worded in a way to fight AQ anywhere, and was used for Iraq and for Syria. All the arguing that "ISIS is really AQ" because then we could blame Bush II for ISIS, when ISIS differed in so many ways from AQ, *justified* sending in US troops into Syria because the implicit and often unrecognized assertion that if the US could fight AQ in Afghanistan, it could fight it in Syria.

But in this case the military decision isn't declaring war or using forces. It's strategic and foreign affairs, and the Constitution really lists those as enumerated powers of the president. And if Trump makes peace and a treaty is involved, then it's the Senate's jurisdiction to approve or reject it.

You know, the same Constitution that enumerates among the House's authority the power to impeach and the power to set its own rules. House doesn't even have a say over treaties.

Don't like it, but there you go.

[The Blue Flower]

11. And this wasn't an attack

It's a retreat.

[shanti]

12. You think that's going to stop him?

When has he ever respected anyone's rights?

[Newest Reality]

4. Well,

It looks like that decision was like tossing a match in gasoline. One wonders if he knew that Erdogan would escalate this into a potentially major conflict?

I don't see that situation stabilizing at all and it looks like it could really get out of hand now.

It seems that Anal Nero is fiddling while this happens. What a great Commander in Chief.

[triron]

5. You mean Putin?

[Newest Reality]

6. Both Trump and Putin

appear to have some important "interests" in that region.

I think Putin and Russia are the one's to watch as this continues in regards to actions taken there. There are vast oil and gas reserves in Syria, which, to me, are always a factor in the game.

[KentuckyWoman]

14. Don isn't smart enough to know where Syria is on a map

He's doing someone else's bidding. All this is by design.

[scarytomcat]

7. who could have predicted nt

[triron]

8. Many of us could have.

[scarytomcat]

9. many of us did

[roamer65]

13. Time to get all of our nukes, equipment and personnel out of Turkey.

If they kill our troops then we start by bombing Erdogan residences.