{"id":11586,"date":"2018-12-21T14:55:58","date_gmt":"2018-12-21T22:55:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/?p=11586"},"modified":"2018-12-21T14:55:58","modified_gmt":"2018-12-21T22:55:58","slug":"the-departure-of-mattis-and-engagements-in-the-middle-east","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/the-departure-of-mattis-and-engagements-in-the-middle-east\/","title":{"rendered":"The Departure of Mattis and Engagements in the Middle East"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Victor Davis Hanson \/\/ National Review<\/p>\n<p>The near-destruction of ISIS in a matter of months (losing 99 percent of its landed caliphate), the restoration of sound defense budgeting, a reestablished sense of deterrence, and stable recalibration with allies were the signature achievements of James Mattis. And it seems a mistake not to have him finish a four-year stint at Defense.<\/p>\n<p>No doubt continued U.S. deployments in both Afghanistan and Syria loomed large in Trump\u2019s sudden decision to leave the latter even if it would cause Mattis\u2019s departure, as well as the sense that as 2020 looms he wants MAGA orthodoxy throughout the cabinet.<\/p>\n<p>The abrupt pulling of U.S. troops out of Syria is likely a mistake \u2014 given that for the size (about 2,000 troops on the ground) and cost of the deployment (few casualties), we were keeping ISIS moribund, somewhat checking Iran as well as Russia, and protecting the Kurds and what was left of the democratic Syria resistance. True, Syria was a mess, unlike a relatively stable Iraq in late 2011 (see the comments of Vice President Biden and President Obama), when the U.S. likewise abruptly left and opened the door for ISIS.\u00a0 Yet Syria\u2019s future now is either going to be much more of a mess or soon a calmer colony of Russia and Iran.<\/p>\n<p>No doubt the U.S. will likewise be reexamining the soon to be 18-year-long slog in Afghanistan.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nationalreview.com\/corner\/james-mattis-departure-and-engagements-in-the-middle-east\/\">Read the full article here.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Victor Davis Hanson \/\/ National Review The near-destruction of ISIS in a matter of months (losing 99 percent of its landed caliphate), the restoration of sound defense budgeting, a reestablished sense of deterrence, and stable recalibration with allies were the signature achievements of James Mattis. And it seems a mistake not to have him finish [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[1102,1092,1],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p466Sb-30S","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":12022,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/kurdish-syrian-and-turkish-ironies\/","url_meta":{"origin":11586,"position":0},"title":"Kurdish, Syrian, and Turkish Ironies","author":"victorhanson","date":"October 16, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Victor Davis Hanson \/\/ National Review Outrage met Donald Trump\u2019s supposedly rash decision to pull back U.S. troops from possible confrontational zones between our Kurdish friends in Syria and Recep Erdogan\u2019s expeditionary forces. Turkey claims that it will punish the Syrian Kurds for a variety of supposed provocations, including aiding\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":9862,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/the-three-headed-hydra-of-the-middle-east\/","url_meta":{"origin":11586,"position":1},"title":"The Three-Headed Hydra of the Middle East","author":"victorhanson","date":"February 16, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"by Victor Davis Hanson\/\/ National Review Trump has inherited a matrix of problems that primarily stem from Iran, Russia, and ISIS. The abrupt Obama administration pre-election pullout from Iraq in 2011, along with the administration\u2019s failed reset with Russia and the Iran deal, created a three-headed hydra in the Middle\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;ISIS&quot;","block_context":{"text":"ISIS","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/isis\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":11034,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/trumps-generals-are-too-valuable-to-be-dismissed\/","url_meta":{"origin":11586,"position":2},"title":"Trump&#8217;s Generals Are Too Valuable to Be Dismissed","author":"victorhanson","date":"March 1, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Victor Davis Hanson \/\/ Town Hall Near-daily gossip surrounds Donald Trump's three marquee generals. The media sometimes blare out rumors that Gen. John Kelly, the White House chief of staff, is proving to be a loose cannon and might soon be fired. Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster, Trump's national security adviser,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Donald Trump&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Donald Trump","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/donald-trump\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":7922,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ruins-of-the-middle-east\/","url_meta":{"origin":11586,"position":3},"title":"Ruins of the Middle East","author":"victorhanson","date":"October 14, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Obama shuns our friends and courts our enemies. by Victor Davis Hanson \/\/ National Review Online Obama\u2019s unfortunate Middle East legacy was predicated on six flawed assumptions: (1) a special relationship with Turkey; (2) distancing the U.S. from Israel; (3) empathy for Islamist governments as exemplified by the Muslim Brotherhood\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;The Middle East&quot;","block_context":{"text":"The Middle East","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/the-world\/the-middle-east\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"(Win McNamee\/Getty Images)","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/pic_giant_101414_SM_Barack-Obama-G-500x291.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":9679,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/9679-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":11586,"position":4},"title":"From An Angry Reader: Victor\u2026","author":"Megan Ring","date":"December 19, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"From An Angry Reader: Victor \u00a0Your gloating and myopic column pillorying President Obama's foreign policy legacy was simple minded and juvenile. Why write something so stupidly one sided????? \u00a0When Obama came into office we were losing 100 service people per month in a stupid war and as he leaves office,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Angry Reader&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Angry Reader","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/angry-reader\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":10455,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/mcmaster-and-mattis-are-rare-assets-not-deep-state-liabilities\/","url_meta":{"origin":11586,"position":5},"title":"McMaster and Mattis Are Rare Assets\u2014Not Deep State Liabilities","author":"victorhanson","date":"August 7, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"By Victor Davis Hanson American Greatness There is a larger context concerning the recent controversies among the architects of Trump\u2019s national security team and agenda, and the criticism of National Security Advisor H.R. McMaster. Recall first that the foreign policy of Barack Obama, Ben Rhodes, Susan Rice, and Hillary Clinton\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;McMaster&quot;","block_context":{"text":"McMaster","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/mcmaster\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11586"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11586"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11586\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11588,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11586\/revisions\/11588"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11586"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11586"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11586"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}