Wednesday, April 5, 2017

Trump’s Syria Tweets Have Been Consistently Anti-Intervention Since 2013, What Happened?

We Are Change

As the globalist neoconservatives and former “anti-war” liberals bang the drums of war with Syria, President Donald Trump appeared to change his previously anti-intervention tone on Wednesday — much to the dismay of many of his supporters.

For the past four years, Trump has repeatedly demanded that the US stay out of Syria, so…

Here is a timeline of all of his tweets containing the word “Syria” since May, 2013:

On May 27, 2013, five days after the US Senate panel backed arming the rebels, Trump tweeted a question as to why Senator John McCain was in Syria — as well as what became his campaign slogan.

Two days later, on May 29, 2013, Trump tweeted, “Obama wants to unilaterally put a no-fly zone in Syria to protect Al Qaeda Islamists,” and stated that “Syria is NOT our problem.”

On June 15, 2013, the day after the US announced increased “military support” to rebels, Trump tweeted that they are as bad as the current regime — and that we should stay out of Syria. He also expressed his non interventionist “America first” policy by noting that we would gain nothing from what would cost billions of dollars, as well as our citizen’s lives.

On August 18, 2013, Trump quoted a tweet that mocked then-President Barack Obama for golfing as Syria, Egypt, and Iraq were burning.

On August 28, 2013, the week that rebel forces took full control of Ariha In Idlib Province as well as captured the village of Khanasir, Trump tweeted a reminder that the “freedom fighters” that the US has armed “want to fly planes into our buildings.”

The next day, on August 29, 2013, Trump sent out seven tweets involving Syria. The first once again mocked Obama, saying that he wouldn’t attack Syria on the same day of his commemorating the 50th anniversary of Martin Luther King’s ‘I have a dream’ speech.

This was also the day that British Parliament decided not to take military action.

In the next several tweets, Trump pondered why it needed to be announced at all if we attacked, noting that the element of surprise would be better.

He also called Obama “stupid.”

The next tweet stated that the Arab League should be dealing with Syria, and if we had to get involved, they should at least be paying for it.

Trump went on to again question what we would get out of intervening in the nation’s affairs, noting the potential for long term conflict, and stated that Obama needed to obtain Congressional approval.

On August 30, 2013, Obama decided to refrain from attacking until he obtained approval from Congress. The US also deployed their sixth warship to the Mediterranean. Trump responded on Twitter in a series of tweets questioning US leadership.

He noted that civilian casualties from a US attack would make the nation look “very bad.”

Again expressing his desire to stay out of Syria.

As well as commenting that the US can’t actually afford the cost of an intervention.

He also expressed his belief that while the government may be committing atrocities — so are the rebels that the US was funding.

The next day, August 31, 2013, Obama gave a speech announcing his desire to seek Congressional authorization to intervene in the civil war. He made it clear that he was prepared to give the order for a strike. He claimed intervention was necessary due to chemical attacks — though it was never proven who had launched them. It has been openly questioned by many if the crime was committed by the rebels that the US had armed.

Trump tweeted that all of Obama’s talking has given his targets a chance to prepare.

On the first day of September, 2013, Trump expressed his relief that Obama’s weakness may have been a blessing.

This was also the day that a Twitter user asked Trump how he would handle the situation if he was president. Trump responded that he would let them fight each other while focusing on the US.

Trump again expressed his annoyance with the Arab League.

As well as with the fact that the administration was being so open with their plans.

The next day, September 2, 2013, Trump again expressed his frustration with the fact that the administration has been so public with their strategies.

September 3, 2013, he stated that “the great GENERALS MacArthur and Patton, real leaders and fighters, are spinning in their graves as we give Syria info & time to prepare.”

He also once again urged the nation to stay out of Syria.

Again, expressing his outrage over the loss of the element of surprise.

On September 4, things escalated once again as the United States Senate Committee on Foreign Relations approved the Authorization for the Use of Military Force Against the Government of Syria to Respond to Use of Chemical Weapons. The bill forbid putting boots on the ground, but if passed, would give the president power to take “direct action” and engage in intervention for 90 days. It still needed to pass through the Congress and Senate.

Trump tweeted: “Many Syrian ‘rebels’ are radical Jihadis. Not our friends & supporting them doesn’t serve our national interest. Stay out of Syria!”

The next day, on September 5, 2013, Trump tweeted about the infamous “red line” comment made by Obama, and claimed it was the only reason he actually wanted to intervene.

He also questioned if we should stop Iran’s nuclear capabilities while everyone was focused on Syria.

…and made himself very clear in all-caps.

He also noted that members of the Bush administration shouldn’t even be commenting, since the Iraq War was a “waste of blood and treasure.”

Trump, even then, worried about needless conflict with Russia.

He also expressed concern about terrorists calling themselves rebels, and therefore being armed by the US.

On September 6, 2013, Trump joked that Obama destroy Syria by exporting Obamacare.

Saturday, September 7, 2013, Trump referred to the civil war as a “politician’s war.”

Again, urging Obama to stay out of Syria, telling him to “save your “powder” for another (and more important) day!

That Monday, September 9, 2013, the day after rebels, including al-Nusra Front, took control of the historic Christian town of Maalula, Trump continued his rants that we need to stay out and focus on making the US strong and great again.

Continuing to show his anti-needless war stance, he again brought up the failings of the Iraq War.

September 10, 2013, he noted that the Russians were making the US look bad by playing a “very smart game.”

At this point, Trump backed off his quest to stay out of Syria, not tweeting the name of the nation again until June 26, 2014. This was the day after the Syrian Air Force killed at least 57 civilians by bombing the Islamic State in Iraq.

On August 25, 2014, Trump called it “ironic” that “we will now be helping Syria and Iran by attacking ISIS.” The day before, ISIS forces had captured the Tabqa airbase from the Syrian military.

On September 4, 2014, Trump stated that “any American who fights w/ ISIS in Iraq or Syria should have their passport revoked. If they try to come back in, send them to Gitmo.”

Sixteen days later, on September 20, 2014, he expressed doubt that the US was really sure they were arming “moderate” rebels.

On September 23, 2014, he mocked the administration for saying that Syria borders Saudi Arabia.

On June 15, 2015, Trump announced his candidacy for president, and the live-tweeting of the Syrian Civil War calmed for a while.

On November 4, 2015, Trump quoted Sean Hannity’s tweet about how the US needs to be less predictable when it comes to Syria.

On November 17, 2015, Trump expressed his concern about the refugees coming from Syria potentially having ties to ISIS.

March 24, 2016, Trump tweeted that “Europe and the U.S. must immediately stop taking in people from Syria. This will be the destruction of civilization as we know it! So sad!”

When Russian President Vladimir Putin and Obama failed to make a deal regarding Syria on September 5, 2016, Trump noted that the US president was not a good deal maker.

Two weeks later, September 19, Trump quoted a tweet about how refugees coming from Syria were not being properly vetted.

A week after that, on September 26, he noted that Hillary Clinton’s interventions around the world, including Syria, were failures.

October 4, 2016, he expressed a similar sentiment.

Five days later, on October 9, 2016, Trump called Clinton out on her involvement once again.

Getting to the current year, on January 15, he tweeted about the “red line” and “fake news.”

On February 12, after his executive order impacting immigration from seven nations, including Syria, Trump tweeted that 72% of refugees came to America from those countries.

On April 5, 2017, following a chemical attack that reportedly killed at least 72 people, Trump seemed to change his tune, calling the act an “affront to humanity” and asserting that his views on “Syria and the Assad regime have changed.”

Trump refused to say what he would do in response, however, again ridiculing the Obama administration and the military for announcing ahead of time that they intended to recapture Mosul.

Many others have questioned whether or not this was actually the act of another group, like the rebels. It appears questionable that Assad would commit such an atrocity on his own people after the White House had asserted their only goal in Syria was to combat Islamic terrorism, and not enact regime change.

“It makes no sense, even if you were totally separate from this and take no sides of this and you were just an analyst, it doesn’t make sense for Assad under these conditions to all of the sudden use poison gasses. I think it’s zero chance that he would have done this deliberately,” Ron Paul said on Wednesday.

The post Trump’s Syria Tweets Have Been Consistently Anti-Intervention Since 2013, What Happened? appeared first on We Are Change.



from We Are Change https://wearechange.org/trumps-syria-tweets-consistently-anti-intervention-since-2013-happened/
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