[Peace] NPR: “US military withdrawal caused Turkish invasion”

[Robert Naiman]

The alarm went off at 6 AM, and *Fair and Balanced* National Pentagon Radio
“informed” me that the cause of the Turkish invasion of northern Syria was
that Trump withdrew U.S. troops from northern Syria  [U.S. troops whose
presence Congress never authorized, U.S. troops whose presence was
therefore unconstitutional.]

This is the story that pro-war, pro-Empire legacy US media are selling to
the American people right now. See, we told you so. Withdraw the US
military from anywhere, catastrophe will ensue. This is the Blob worldview.
This is the neocon worldview. This is the Richard Haass-John Bolton-James
Stavridis-Paul Wolfowitz-Nikki Haley-Samantha Power-Dennis Ross-Lindsey
Graham-Eliot Engel worldview. The solution to every problem is more US
military power. “If all you have is a hammer, every problem is a nail.”
Anyone who wants to withdraw US military power from anywhere is an
uncaring, heartless, John Bircher isolationist. This is why these people
hate Article I of the Constitution. This is why these people hate the War
Powers Resolution. These people see the Constitution and the War Powers
Resolution as annoying obstacles which might interfere with the hegemony of
their worldview that the solution to every problem is more US military
power.

We few, we happy, happy few, know that the Blob-neocon-NPR story is a lie.

Brett McGurk is no pacifist. Brett McGurk is no isolationist. Brett McGurk
is no hippy-dippy flower child, no latte-sipping liberal surrender monkey,
no latter-day Neville Chamberlain.

Brett McGurk was Trump’s envoy to the coalition against ISIS. Brett McGurk
believes in what he considers to be the appropriate use of US military
power. Brett McGurk believes in international military alliances.

In 2018, Brett McGurk, knowing that Trump wanted to get out of northern
Syria – as he had promised the American people he would do as a candidate -
pushed for the Administration to help the US’ Syrian Kurdish military
partners negotiate a deal with the Syrian government and Russia. Exactly
the thing that former Obama official Rob Malley, now [again] with the
International Crisis Group, says the Trump Administration should have done,
that’s exactly what Brett McGurk wanted to do. Brett McGurk behaved exactly
the way an Administration official is supposed to behave in such a
situation. The democratically elected US President sets the broad
direction. Administration officials try to figure out how to implement the
broad policy that the President has established in a way that maximizes
benefit and minimizes harm.

Why did Brett McGurk fail? Because he was sabotaged by John Bolton and the
neocons, who didn’t want a deal, because the thing they cared about wasn’t
protecting the Kurds. The thing that the neocons cared about was their
geopolitical chess game with Russia and Iran. The question neocons ask
themselves isn’t, “What’s good for America?” The question neocons ask
themselves is, “What would do the most to hurt ‘U.S. adversaries?’” –
where, of course, the neocons get to unilaterally determine who the ‘U.S.
adversaries’ are in the situation – even if the neocons’ proposed U.S.
policies would also hurt America, more than real diplomacy with ‘U.S.
adversaries’ [i.e. the neocons’ adversaries] would.

What is the moral of this story?

“Personnel is policy.”

What did neocons Donald Rumsfeld and Paul Wolfowitz do when they saw Colin
Powell as an obstacle inside the Bush Administration to their efforts to
invade Iraq and overthrow its government? They created a “cabal” inside the
Bush Administration – that’s what it was called, “the cabal,” I’m not the
one bringing the word “cabal” to the conversation – to push for war with
Iraq, and excluded Colin Powell from it. They saw U.S. intelligence
agencies as an obstacle to their desired war, so they created their own
“intelligence” apparatus inside the Pentagon. That was the genesis of the
Valerie Plame–Joe Wilson–Scooter Libby scandal. Valerie Plame, a CIA
employee who was an expert in WMD, tried to push back against Rumsfeld and
Wolfowitz’ cabal, that had determined that they wanted to invade Iraq by
any means necessary, and was determined to “fix the intelligence” to
engineer the outcome that they wanted. In a way, Valerie Plame belongs in a
higher circle of heaven than Joe Wilson. Joe Wilson was a whistleblower.
Valerie Plame was just trying to do her job as a U.S. government employee,
defending America from Donald Rumsfeld and Paul Wolfowitz’ “cabal.”

What is the moral of this story?

“Personnel is policy.”

If the POTUS wants to withdraw U.S. military power from anywhere, if the
POTUS wants to pursue real diplomacy with Blob-defined, neocon-defined
‘U.S. adversaries,’ the POTUS needs to populate a Blob-free, neocon-free
Administration. There is no “half-pregnant” when it comes to populating
your Administration with neocons and Blob loyalists. The right number of
neocons in any Administration is zero. The right number of Blob loyalists
in any Administration is zero. When Sheldon Adelson = Haim Saban comes and
says, “You need to hire this person, you need to hire John Bolton = Dennis
Ross,” the POTUS needs to say,

“I take no delight in your feasts, to the melody of your harps I will not
listen…”

It makes no difference to this matter who we elect as President, as long as
we don’t purge the neocons and the Blob loyalists.

===

Robert Naiman
Policy Director
Just Foreign Policy
www.justforeignpolicy.org
naiman at justforeignpolicy.org
(202) 448-2898 x1
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