'My Great and Unmatched Wisdom': Trump Ignores Warnings on Syria Retreat, Threatens to 'Destroy' Turkish Economy

https://time.com/5694735/my-great-and-unmatched-wisdom-trump-ignores-warnings-on-syria-retreat-threatens-to-destroy-turkish-economy/

In the run-up to his Oct. 6 call with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, aides repeatedly warned President Donald Trump about the dangers of abandoning America’s Kurdish allies in Northern Syria, according to three administration officials familiar with the conversations. Erdogan had long wanted to launch a military offensive against the U.S.-backed Kurdish militias across the border in Syria. And the U.S. had for months promised the Kurds, who have been a vital partner in the five-year war against ISIS, ongoing U.S. support.

But Trump did it anyway.

The Humiliation of Lindsey Graham

https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2019/10/07/trump-lindsey-graham-syria-kurds-turkey-229541

“President Trump may be tired of fighting radical Islam,” he wrote pointedly of his good friend. “They are NOT tired of fighting us.” And he commented on the signal Trump’s decision sent to the world: “By abandoning the Kurds we have sent the most dangerous signal possible — America is an unreliable ally and it’s just a matter of time before China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea act out in dangerous ways.“

In his cruelest cut of all, he compared Trump with Barack Obama. “No matter what President Trump is saying about his decision,” wrote Graham on Twitter, “it is EXACTLY what President Obama did in Iraq with even more disastrous consequences for our national security.”

Graham’s disappointment was palpable, but understandable, given all that he has given up to avoid this moment.

For the past several years, Graham has transformed himself from one of Trump’s fiercest critics, into one of his most reflexive defenders. Even by the cynical and shape-shifting standards of Washington, Graham’s metamorphosis has been a thing of wonder. The senator once known as John McCain’s best friend in the Senate, transformed himself into Trump’s shinebox, willing to ingratiate himself with rationalizations and praise even as Trump became increasingly erratic.

President Donald Trump speaks to reporters outside the White House

FOURTH ESTATE

Why Trump Can’t Tweet His Way Out of This

By JACK SHAFER

At first, it was a mere curiosity. During the 2016 campaign, Graham had called Trump a “nutjob” and a loser,” as well as a “race-baiting, xenophobic, religious bigot.” He predicted that if the GOP nominated him, “we will get destroyed … and we will deserve it.”

But as McCain faded from the scene, Graham seemed to shift his affections to the man who so publicly insulted McCain.

Graham and Trump became a thing. They played golf. They talked on the phone. And an alliance of the oddest imaginable bedfellows was born.

In moments of candor, Graham tried to explain the deal he thought he was making. When Mark Leibovich asked him earlier this year what had happened to him, Graham explained:

“Well, OK, from my point of view, if you know anything about me, it’d be odd not to do this,” he said.

I asked what “this” was.

“ ‘This,’ ” Graham said, “is to try to be relevant.” Politics, he explained, was the art of what works and what brings desired outcomes. “I’ve got an opportunity up here working with the president to get some really good outcomes for the country,” he told me.

Like many others in his party, staying “relevant” was central to their political calculations. Capitulating to Trump meant that Graham would become a rock star in the increasingly Trumpist party and virtually assured of reelection in South Carolina next year.

Sen. Graham warns Syria withdrawal would be 'big win for ISIS,' compares Trump's strategy to Obama

https://www.foxnews.com/media/donald-trump-syria-lindsey-graham-obama

"If I didn’t see Donald Trump’s name on the tweet I thought it would be Obama’s rationale for getting out of Iraq," Graham told Fox News.

"This is going to lead to ISIS' reemergence. [There's] nothing better for ISIS than to create a conflict between the Kurds and Turkey. The Kurds will now align with [Bashir al] Assad because they have nobody to count on because we abandoned them. So this is a big win for Iran and Assad -- a big win for ISIS."

"ISIS is not defeated," he said. "The biggest lie being told by the administration [is] that ISIS is defeated. The caliphate's destroyed, but there's thousands of fighters over there. And no, the caliphate would not have been destroyed without the Kurds, and I applaud the president for getting the Kurds and the Arabs to do most of the fighting. The casualties destroying the caliphate was very low. We've got less than 1000 troops now in Syria.

Gen. Jack Keane: Trump's Syria withdrawal is a 'betrayal' and would be a 'strategic blunder'

https://www.foxnews.com/media/trump-syria-withdrawal-isis

As President Trump prepares to draw down U.S. troops from northeastern Syria to extricate America from what he called "endless wars," Gen. Jack Keane said the move is a "betrayal" of the Kurdish people, and strongly advised against it, on "America's Newsroom" Monday.

"There's one word that describes this for me, betrayal," he said. "I think it's a strategic blunder that will have significant implications... We went into eastern Syria to defeat ISIS. The Syrian democratic forces, which the Kurds were a part of, had 60,000 ground troops. We provided 2,000 to help them. It took us two years. We fought every single day to defeat ISIS. The Syrian Kurds, who we're talking about here, lost over 11,000 in that fight.

LINDSEY GRAHAM, NIKKI HALEY ON TRUMP'S SYRIA PLAN: DISASTER IN THE MAKING

https://www.jpost.com/Middle-East/Trump-says-too-costly-to-back-Kurdish-forces-in-Syria-603970

The Trump administration's move, which opens the way for a Turkish strike on Kurdish fighters long aligned with Washington, runs counter to the positions of even some of Trump's top allies in his own party.\

Lindsey Graham, a Republican senator who is generally a vocal Trump supporter, wrote in a series of Twitter posts that he was trying to set up a call with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and would introduce a Senate resolution opposing the withdrawal decision and calling for it to be reversed.

DONALD TRUMP'S SYRIA WITHDRAWAL COULD HELP ISIS STAGE MASS PRISON BREAKS, EXPERTS SAY

https://www.newsweek.com/donald-trump-syria-withdrawal-isis-mass-prison-breaks-erdogan-kurds-1463566

ISIS has not been defeated, despite Trump's repeated erroneous statements claiming otherwise. Though weak, scattered and deprived of any contiguous "caliphate," thousands of fighters remain active in Iraq, Syria and further afield. A new Turkish front against the Kurds will ease the pressure on ISIS and could see the group recover its potency.

The looming Turkish offensive will weaken Kurdish forces and sow chaos that could be exploited by the prisoners and local ISIS cells, both in the immediate area of operations and other Kurdish-held territory.

As historian and academic Shiraz Maher explained on Twitter, "Trump may actually be on the cusp of creating on the worst national security crises of our time by—albeit inadvertently—fuelling the very circumstances in which all these ISIS prisoners escape. It's absolutely astonishing."

Brett McGurk, who served as the special presidential envoy for the anti-ISIS coalition until he resigned over Trump's Syria strategy in December 2018, warned that Turkey is unable and unwilling to take on responsibility for the largest detention centers in the area.

Trump goes against the consensus of experts and abandons the Kurds our allies fighting ISIS steps aside for Turkey to invade northern Syria, crush Kurds

https://www.timesofisrael.com/us-says-turkey-to-invade-northern-syria-sparking-fears-over-kurds/

The White House said Sunday that US forces in northeast Syria will move aside and clear the way for an expected Turkish assault, essentially abandoning Kurdish fighters who fought alongside American forces in the years-long battle to defeat Islamic State militants.

For months, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has threatened to launch the military assault against Kurdish forces across the border he views as a threat to his country. US Republicans and Democrats have warned that allowing the Turkish attack could lead to a massacre of the Kurds, sending a troubling message to American allies across the globe.

TRUMP GIVES GREEN LIGHT TO TURKEY TO TAKEOVER SYRIA, DISPLACE U.S. PARTNERS


https://www.jpost.com/Middle-East/Trump-gives-green-light-to-Turkey-to-takeover-Syria-displace-US-partners-603927


The extraordinary reversal of US policy is part of an overall series of changing US policies that have left allies of the US wondering what Washington is doing and left adversaries knowing that pressure works with Washington. 

Former Trump Organization executive says she expects Trump will resign

'Peculiar, irrational, self-destructive': Trump's week of impeachment rage

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/oct/05/trump-impeachment-inquiry-finland-china-tweets

As the walls of an impeachment inquiry closed in, Trump’s incoherent statements renewed fears about his fitness for office

The eye of a storm is deceptively calm. At the White House this week the sun was shining, a bust of Ronald Reagan reposed outside the West Wing office of the press secretary, a US marine saluted the president as he boarded Marine One and scores of African American millennials cheered him in the east room.

But inside Donald Trump’s head, there was no calm. The storm was a firestorm.

The president’s behaviour broke boundaries so stupendously that the fact he congratulated communist China on its 70th birthday, reportedly demanded alligators or snakes and flesh-piercing spikes for his border wall and wrote the unpresidential word “BULLSHIT” on social media were soon relegated to historical footnotes.

Instead, as the walls of an impeachment inquiry closed in, it will be remembered as Trump’s week of rage. His incoherent, wacky statements raised new fears over his state of mind. His brazen invitation to foreign powers to interfere in American elections raised new fears over his moral nihilism.

“It is without parallel,” said Larry Jacobs, the director of the Center for the Study of Politics and Governance at the University of Minnesota. “I have never seen a president behave in such a peculiar, irrational and self-destructive way as Trump in the last week.”

New Haven rabbi guilty on 4 felony counts, posts $750,000 bond

https://www.nhregister.com/news/article/New-Haven-rabbi-guilty-on-4-felony-counts-bond-14467686.php

NEW HAVEN — Rabbi Daniel Greer today was handcuffed by judicial marshals and led away to lock-up after a jury found him guilty on all four counts of risk of injury to a minor.

Greer, dressed in a black suit, red tie and yarmulke, remained stoic as the verdict was announced. His wife, Sarah, seated behind him in the courtroom, also showed little emotion but she tried to speak with him before he was led off. A marshal said she could not have contact with him.

“I want to see my wife,” Greer told the marshals. But his attorney, William Dow III, told him: “These guys control the show.”

The outcome of the trial was a dramatic comedown for Greer, 79, who has long been a respected rabbi in New Haven and a community leader who helped revitalize the Edgewood neighborhood.

But the prosecutors convinced the six jurors that in 2002-03 Greer repeatedly had illegal sexual contact with Eliyahu Mirlis, then 15, at Yeshiva New Haven. This was the school founded by Greer, who taught there and was its dean.

Revealed: US diplomat's wife, 42, who 'ran over and killed' British teen outside RAF base before fleeing and claiming diplomatic immunity is named

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7544167/US-diplomats-wife-42-ran-killed-British-teen-named.html

Mrs Charles, 44, told the Daily Mail: 'We would ask Boris Johnson himself, if he hasn't already, to call President Trump and urge him to right this wrong. It's inhumane what has happened to us. Please. I'm begging you. Please help us. We won't be able to grieve and move on and try put the pieces of our shattered lives together until we get justice for Harry.' 

5,000-YEAR-OLD NYC-STYLE METROPOLIS UNCOVERED IN NORTHERN ISRAEL

https://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/5000-year-old-NYC-style-metropolis-uncovered-in-northern-Israel-603854

The ruins of a 5,000-year-old megalopolis were uncovered in northern Israel, the Antiquities Authority announced on Sunday.

A Second Whistleblower on the Ukraine-Trump Call Has Come Forward, Lawyer for First Whistleblower Confirms

https://time.com/5693833/second-whistleblower-trump-ukraine/

A second whistleblower with first-hand knowledge of the accusations about President Donald Trump’s communications with Ukraine has come forward, an attorney for the original whistleblower confirmed on Sunday.

The second official, who is also a member of the U.S. intelligence community, has “first-hand knowledge” of some of the allegations outlined in the original whistleblower’s report, Mark Zaid, a lawyer for the two whistleblowers, wrote on Twitter. The first whistleblower’s complaint, which the House Intelligence Committee released on Sept. 26, alleged that President Trump pressured the Ukrainian President to investigate one of his leading Democratic rivals, Joe Biden, and Biden’s son, Hunter, and that the White House tried to keep records of a call between the two Presidents a secret.

FOX NEWS ANCHOR CONFRONTS GOP REP WITH DIPLOMATIC TEXTS AFTER HE INSISTS TRUMP HAD NO QUID PRO QUO WITH UKRAINE

https://www.newsweek.com/fox-news-chris-wallace-gop-rep-diplomatic-texts-quid-pro-quo-1463445

Fox News anchor Chris Wallace confronted Republican Congressman Chris Stewart with text messages between U.S. diplomats discussing what many critics of the president see as clear evidence of a quid pro quo after the representative insisted no such expectation existed.

Stewart, who represents Utah and sits on the House Intelligence Committee, told Wallace during an interview on Fox News Sunday that Trump never linked his request that Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky investigated Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden to military aid. "It's never even mentioned," the representative said, referring to a controversial July 25 phone call between the two leaders. "He [Trump] doesn't ever offer a quid pro quo."

But Wallace, later in the segment, pointed to text messages between American diplomats working with Ukraine that suggested Trump would only grant the $391 million in military aid and a meeting with Zelensky if the investigation into Biden was opened.