OPINION:
Having been in combat, I have a serious problem with those Trump-bashing armchair warriors who wanted our troops to stay in Syria. These people include my senator, Lindsey Graham, who knows exactly nothing about being in combat.
Many people were saying that if our military were in Syria, it would deter Turkey from invading. What makes anyone think that Turkey would send thousands of troops to invade Syria — and then stop because we were there?
Mr. Graham and those supporting him are dead wrong for wanting us to stay in Syria with the Russians to support the Kurds. I am a former Marine squad leader in 60 mortars in Vietnam (now on a 100 percent disability from that war). We captured Russian surface-to-air-missiles and killed Russian advisers supporting North Vietnam. Trusting them would have been like asking a bank robber to guard a bank.
Further, according to news reports Turkey houses 50 of our nukes, and thanks to President Obama’s cowardice there are Syrian factions, Russians, Iranians, the Islamic State, the Kurds and now the Turks all in one arena. Two of our supposed allies in NATO are Russia and Turkey. So I ask: With whom were we supposed to side in order to protect the Kurds?
What nobody else saw (or didn’t want to see) except Mr. Trump was an untenable situation that would have stuck us in the middle of chaos. From my perspective, staying in a battle zone with so many factions and untrustworthy countries would have been a disaster. Mr. Trump made his adjustment to take our military out of harm’s way. If Mr. Graham and the other fools can’t understand that, they should don flak jackets and helmets and put boots on the ground in a combat zone — then tell us all about war.
GREGORY J. TOPLIFF
Warrenville, S.C.
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