I’ve had bosses before who always seemed to do everything they could to disrupt our team’s progress, either through interjecting nonsense or making decisions that impacted the project without thinking things through. In the end, if we still managed to pull it off, the guy would humbly try to take all of the credit for his great “leadership”. Thankfully, these guys usually didn’t get beyond middle management, where they were stuck due to the Peter Principle.
It’s very rare to excel to a high-level position without demonstrating any sort of talent for the job, or at least a baseline of leadership and competence. Unfortunately, the presidency is one of those few exceptions where a fake reality star with just the right amount of easily-impressed dupes from strategic, backwater areas can amass enough delegates to win our archaic Electoral College. Thus, a man with no moral compass, no concept of service, no experience or knowledge of anything related to the military or government, and the literal temperament of a 4-year old can be exalted to the highest government official and become Commander-in-Chief.
Case in point: Trump. After being browbeaten on the phone by Turkey’s strongman, Recep Erdogan, Trump impulsively submitted to all of his demands. Trump agreed to immediately pull our troops out of Syria and deploy them elsewhere in the Middle East, pleasing our enemies and putting our allies in danger. Erdogan instantly prepared for bombing raids, and Bashir al-Assad and Vladimir Putin sent forces into Kurdish territory.
Trump told no one of this, not even his closest sycophants like Lindsey Graham. He just did it.
When the Pentagon found out, officials were livid. They had several operations planned in the area, including the one to kill al-Bahgdadi, where intelligence was being provided directly by Kurdish intelligence officials.
Losing control of the area put the Pentagon in a serious dilemma. According to military officials, they decided to go with a “risky, night raid before their ability to control troops and spies and reconnaissance aircraft disappeared”:
Mr. al-Baghdadi’s death, they said, occurred largely in spite of Mr. Trump’s actions.
Thankfully, due to the competence and adaptability of our special forces, they were able to pull it off despite Trump jeopardizing the mission. Pentagon officials also had significant praise for Kurdish intelligence, who helped the C.I.A. even after Trump decided to abandon them to fight Turkey and their insurgent-backed forces.
Think about that: the Iraqi and Syrian Kurds provided intelligence that directly led to the whereabouts of al-Bahgdadi and even loaned a facility to practice the raid. They did this as Trump was stabbing them in the back and insulting them. Trump had forgotten that it was the Peshmerga who achieved full territorial victory against ISIS---something he had recently promised he’d never forget.
Trump did mention the Kurds when he was thanking people, other than himself, during his “big announcement”. Yet he did it in the most snarky way possible. Trump chided them for not participating directly in the raid militarily—failing to mention that they are in the fight of their lives thanks to Trump. However, even he had to acknowledge that the information they provided “turned out to be helpful”. Because he’s that much of an ass.
In fact, as Pentagon officials admit, without the Kurds, this victory would not have happened:
The Syrian and Iraqi Kurds, one official said, provided more intelligence for the raid than any single country.
The president did profusely thank Russia in his announcement, however. Even though they too did not participate militarily, Trump sickeningly gushed and fawned all over them. What’s worse, he heaped praise on Putin’s army even before once mentioning the US troops who conducted the operation.
This was surprising, since Russia said they had nothing to do with the raid.
Our military should be highly praised for conducting a flawless raid, despite the executive interference. At least Trump was able to get his photo-op...sort of. However, I would also like to thank our allies, the Kurds, for once again helping our country and our military. The Russian asset in the White House consistently goes out of his way to do harm to both.
Trump could really learn something about American patriotism from the Kurds.