“When one treats people with benevolence, justice and righteousness, and reposes confidence in them, the army will be united in mind and all will be happy to serve their leaders.”- Sun Tzu
By Glen Reaux
“When one treats people with benevolence, justice and righteousness, and reposes confidence in them, the army will be united in mind and all will be happy to serve their leaders.” This is the wisdom from the most revered book on military knowledge and leadership, “The Art of War” by Sun Tzu. This lesson is taught in military academies and war colleges across the globe including West Point and the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland. However, this lesson means nothing to men and women in arms when their Commander in Chief kisses the behind of the very leader of the foreign nation that attacked and tried to kill them. The Battle of Khasham in northern Syria proved to our American troops that Donald Trump does not treat his soldiers with benevolence, justice and righteousness, nor reposes confidence in them. Hence, our military forces are not united in mind and are not happy to serve their leader, so-called President Trump. In reality, the US Military has and continues to suffer horrific abuses under Donald Trump and the fact that “Russian Troops Attacked US Military Forces In Syria While Trump defended Putin” is a prime example of such abuse and there are many more.
In February of 2018, just 5 months before so-called President Trump embarrassed himself and our great nation on the world stage by denouncing the American intelligence community which includes military intelligence agencies in favor of siding with and kissing Vladimir Putin’s butt at a press conference in Helsinki, Russian forces attacked America troops near Khasham in northeastern Syria. How demoralizing was this to American troops. This unprecedented public butt-kissing by an American Commander In Chief happened after American soldiers were attacked by Putin’s forces in Syria.
On February 7, 2018, a coalition of the US and Kurdish forces were attacked by Russian mercenaries in a four-hour battle. The battle involved a column of Russian tanks and approximately 500 pro-Syrian government forces. By the end of the battle, approximately 200-300 of the attacking forces were dead after retreating under heavy airstrikes from American Forces. US air assets used in the attack were Reaper drones, F-22 stealth fighter jets, F-15E Strike Fighters, B-52 bombers, AC-130 gunships and AH-64 Apache helicopters. The small outpost in northeastern Syria which was tasked with guarding a Conoco gas plant was manned by approximately 40 American special operators, none of which were hurt. One partnering Kurdish soldier was injured. Russian military officials said they had no control over the fighters. On the contrary, US surveillance equipment monitoring radio transmissions revealed the ground force was speaking in Russian. The troops have been identified as members of the same Russian mercenary unit that has been involved in attacks in eastern Ukraine and Crimea. The mercenaries were most likely a part of the Wagner Group, a company often used by the Kremlin to carry out objectives that officials do not want to be connected to the Russian government. Wagner’s mercenaries are trained at the Russian Defence Ministry’s base and their officers have been known to receive awards from the Kremlin.
The Battle of Khasham is not the only time that Russian and American forces have clashed in Syria. According to Ambassador James Jeffrey, U.S. Special Representative for Syria Engagement, as of November 2018, US and Russian forces had clashed more than a dozen times. Each battle has been denied by Putin’s Kremlin. This means that the attacks continued long after the July 16th butt-kissing that Commander in Chief Trump gave to Putin in Helsinki.
In a further embarrassing performance of poor leadership, horrible strategic planning and lack-of-loyalty to American military allies, on October 7th, Trump ordered American special operators fighting beside our Kurdish allies in eastern Syria to abandon the Kurds that we have fought side-by-side with for ten years. According to Trump, it was time for our forces to come home leaving the Kurds at the mercy of Turkey which immediately began ethnic cleansing of Kurds from the region. Turkish President Erdogan immediately declared that Turkey will be taking control of a 20 mile by 250 mile stretch of Syria which is the Kurdish homeland. Erdogan stated that he will be resettling the land with three million Syrian refugees.
On October 13th, Trump ordered all American troops out of Syria. After stating that the troops will be coming home, Pentagon reports contradicted Trump stating that the troops were being transferred to Saudi Arabia as part of a contingent sent there to protect Saudi oil refineries. Point-of-fact, a few years after the end of the Persian Gulf War in 1991, Saudi Arabia ordered the closing of all American military bases and the exit of all American military forces. Currently, we are not military allies with Saudi Arabia and are not obligated to defend their oil fields or refineries. However, Trump sided with the Saudi Royal family in the death of the Washington Post Journalist Jamal Khashoggi who was murdered and dismembered in the Saudi Arabian embassy in Turkey. The Saudi royal family has also invested millions in the form of booking stays at Trump Hotels.
Now that American troops are pulling out of Syria, Russian troops are moving in to occupy American military bases. Many American troops see this action as a betrayal of our Kurdish allies. As of October 21st, Russia and Turkey have entered into an agreement dealing with the disposition of the newly acquired Syrian territory. Once again, like in Helsinki, Trump has given Putin what he wanted. After fighting in Syria for more than 10 years and battling with the Russians that launched unwarranted attacks against them, many American troops feel betrayed by their Commander In Chief, Donald Trump.
Trump’s betrayal of our military allies is not a new phenomenon. On October 19, 2018, without consulting Korean experts, intelligence agencies or the Pentagon, Trump canceled all joint military exercises with our South Korean allies. The joint military exercises have been a mainstay in our defense of South Korea against North Korean aggression since the 1960s. The drills are considered by the Pentagon to be an integral component needed to safeguard North Korea and to protect American military personnel. The Pentagon also considers the joint exercises to be necessary to defend our Japanese allies against possible missile attacks by North Korea which over the past two years has breached Japanese air apace with its ballistic missile launches.
North Korea and Russia share a border. Russia is North Korea’s ally and biggest supporter. Russia has been documented as a violator of sanctions placed against North Korea by the United Nations. This is another example of Trump betraying our military in favor of a Putin ally.
Another betrayal of an America military ally has come to light due to the discovery of the Trump extortion of the President of Ukraine for political dirt against Joe Biden, Trump’s leading contender for the 2020 election. The well-publicized conspiracy on the part of the Trump administration which involves Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Attorney General William Barr, Secretary of Energy Rick Perry, European Union Ambassador Sondland and many others revolves around Trump’s withholding of military aid to Ukraine which has been in a war Russia. In 2014 when Russia invaded Ukraine and captured Crimea. Since then, Ukraine has been battling Russian mercenaries, Russian separatists and traditional Russian forces. Aside from demanding that President Zelenskyy investigate his political rivals, Trump has pressured the Ukrainian president to end the war with Russia. On October 1st, Zelinsky signed the Steinmeier Formula, which is a plan for ending the war with Russian-backed separatists in the eastern part of his country.
An even less publicized betrayal is that of our military allies in Africa. Chad is an ally of Africom which is an allegiance of 53 African Nations united under American military command for the purpose of fighting terrorism in Africa. Active terrorist organizations in Africa are ISIS and Boko Haram. Chad is considered to be the most effective African force against terrorist forces. But, despite our military alliance, in January of 2017, without any proof of Muslim terrorist activities in the country, Trump placed Chad on his Muslim Travel ban list where it remained until April of 2018. At the time that Chad was placed on the travel ban, Chad was in a legal dispute with Exxon Mobil whose former CEO was Rex Tillerson, Trump’s Secretary of State at the time. The dispute involved a $74 billion fine the country had placed on Exxon Mobil. In June of 2017, Exxon Mobil agreed to pay $819 million in overdue royalties which ended the suit.
During the time period that Chad was on the travel ban, it withdrew from Africom which many American generals believed led to a rise in terrorist groups in the Chad, Niger, and Mali region. On October 4, 2017, 4 American Green Berets were ambushed and killed while on patrol near Tongo Tongo, Niger. The attacking force was the Islam State in the Great Sahara (ISGS). Although the attack took place in Niger hundreds of miles away from Chad, Chad had developed a reputation as the leading force against ISGS. And, if they had not been placed on the Muslim travel ban, they may have been able to prevent the attack.
While it appears obvious that Trump has a track record of betraying our military in favor of Vladimir Putin, his betrayals don’t stop there. Currently, there are 15,000 transgender people serving in the US military. In January of 2017, by twitter, Trump announced that the country would no longer “accept or allow” transgender Americans to serve in the military, citing “tremendous medical costs and disruption.” In January of this year, in a 5-4 vote, Republican Justices on the Supreme Court allowed Trump’s transgender ban.
On September 4, 2019, the Pentagon announced the full list of $3.6 billion in military construction projects that will get shelved to help build Trump’s wall along the U.S. – Mexico border. The list includes $1 billion in projects from 24 states. The balance of the money will come from American bases in US Territories and bases in foreign countries. Projects that will lose funding include everything from maintenance to military housing, schools, roads, ammunition storage to training facilities. The complete list as provided by the Pentagon is provided below. Trump’s former Secretary of Veteran Affairs, David Shulkin implemented an active campaign to privatize the Veterans Administration Health System before being forced to leave office in 2018 due to a scandal involving the attempted privatization of audio and hearing services for veterans.
50-States-and-Territories-Projects
Trump has openly bragged that through funding initiated by him; he has completely rebuilt the military and made it much, much better. But, common knowledge dictates that on average it takes more than a decade to research, design and build new weapons systems. Funding for weapons systems are appropriated by Congress and signed into law by the president years in advance of the actual completion of the weapons systems. It is a fact that the amount of time needed to build a single navy destroyer is 5-6 years. When these facts are taken into account, it stands to reason that our new and better military is a direct product of the Obama administration. So, once again you can include this claim by Trump as one of his many 12, 000 lies and counting. However, one of his most infamous lies is one of obvious concern to our American soldiers. That lie being that Trump was unable to serve his country during the Vietnam War because he suffered from bone spurs.
On February 26, 2019, in testimony before Congress, Michael Cohen, a former Vice President of the Trump organization and Trump’s personal lawyer testified that Trump’s medical deferment was based upon a lie about bone spurs. According to Cohen:
“Mr. Trump claimed (his medical deferment) was because of a bone spur, but when I asked for medical records, he gave me none and said there was no surgery,” Cohen told members of the House Oversight Committee. “He told me not to answer the specific questions by reporters but rather offer simply the fact that he received a medical deferment.
“He finished the conversation with the following comment: ‘You think I’m stupid, I wasn’t going to Vietnam.”
Cohen’s story was later confirmed by the daughter of the deceased podiatrist that provided the documentation as a favor to Trump’s father. Trump received 5 deferments during the height of the Vietnam War. Four were for Education and one was for medical reasons. In closing, Cohen apologized to Congress for his actions:
“I am ashamed that I chose to take part in concealing Mr. Trump’s illicit acts rather than listening to my own conscience… I am ashamed because I know what Mr. Trump is. He is a racist. He is a conman. He is a cheat.”
“Donald Trump is a man who ran for office to make his brand great, not to make our country great,” Cohen said. “He had no desire or intention to lead this nation, only to market himself and to build his wealth and power.”
Copyright © 2019, Glen Reaux, all rights reserved
