{"id":44395,"date":"2019-10-16T19:45:14","date_gmt":"2019-10-16T19:45:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/airforcetimes\/uncategorized\/2019\/10\/16\/another-former-centcom-general-weighs-in-with-displeasure-over-trumps-syria-gambit\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T07:56:21","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T07:56:21","slug":"another-former-centcom-general-weighs-in-with-displeasure-over-trumps-syria-gambit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/airforcetimes\/opinion\/commentary\/2019\/10\/16\/another-former-centcom-general-weighs-in-with-displeasure-over-trumps-syria-gambit\/","title":{"rendered":"Another former CENTCOM general weighs in with displeasure over Trump\u2019s Syria gambit"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">One after another, the commanders who oversaw this nation\u2019s battles in the Middle East have <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/flashpoints\/2019\/10\/09\/withdrawing-troops-from-northern-syria-could-not-come-at-a-worse-time-votel-says\/\" target=\"_blank\">expressed their distaste<\/a> for the way that President Donald Trump has handled the long-threatened Turkish invasion of Syria.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Some, like Joseph Votel, the former leader of U.S. Central Command, have been publicly vocal about what he sees as <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/flashpoints\/2019\/10\/15\/russian-and-syrian-troops-fill-void-as-us-pulls-troops-out-of-manbij-syria\/\" target=_blank>a betrayal of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces<\/a>, a key partner in ending the Islamic State caliphate in Syria.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Votel, who co-authored a much more detailed piece in the Atlantic, told me he was <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/opinion\/editorials\/2019\/10\/08\/the-commander-who-oversaw-isis-defeat-is-disappointed-by-syria-withdrawal\/\" target=_blank>\u201cdisappointed in this policy decision&#8221;<\/a> and that there \u201cwas a lot of work undertaken to avoid a decision like this. The SDF have been <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/flashpoints\/2019\/10\/14\/us-leaves-behind-dozens-of-high-value-isis-detainees-as-turkey-rolls-through-syria\/\" target=_blank>exceptional partners<\/a> and we would have not been successful against ISIS in Syria without them. They absorbed nearly 11,000 casualties in that fight. I am concerned what this might mean for future partnerships.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Others have expressed to me in private similar concerns, ranging from our nation\u2019s credibility to Turkish brutality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Earlier this week, another former CENTCOM general officer sat down with me to talk about his concerns. Those concerns are deep and they are troubling and they come from a man who, like all the others I have spoken with, is not a social justice warrior or \u201cNever Trumper\u201d type.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWhat we are seeing in Syria is probably one of the poorest, most uninformed, even arrogant policy decisions I\u2019ve seen by any administration in the last 30 years, and specifically involving this region of the world,\u201d said that retired general officer, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThis one seems so arbitrary, so capricious, so uninformed,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The retired general officer blamed it on Trump dismissing advice and relying instead on his gut instincts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Sometimes that works, he said, applauding some of Trump\u2019s earlier decisions in Syria.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe series of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/pentagon\/2018\/04\/14\/us-launched-105-weapons-against-syria-with-none-intercepted-dod-says\/\" target=_blank>precision strikes on sites<\/a> we believed held chemical weapons on it, an airfield with Russian citizens present, was not something the previous administration would even consider,\u201d he said. \u201cBut it stopped the use of chemical weapons.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But this time, Trump\u2019s gut has needlessly inflamed the region and devastated the Kurds, he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The SDF \u201cwas doing an incredible job as an economy of force on behalf of the coalition,\u201d he said, \u201cfirst in the destruction of ISIS, and then actually in control so they made sure you didn\u2019t have an ISIS resurrection.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He paused for a second or two.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe have lost the ability to do that,\u201d he said, before asking questions of his own.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWho in that region is going to ensure we don\u2019t have a return of ISIS?\u201d he asked, both ruefully and rhetorically. \u201cDo you think the Kurds will do that on their own?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The retired general officer quickly answered his own questions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI think we\u2019ve lost them and I think in doing so, we may have given an opening to ISIS or some other radical Sunni violent extremist element to raise its head,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">On Wednesday, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2019\/10\/16\/trump-says-us-troops-are-totally-safe-amid-growing-chaos-in-syria\/\" target=\"_blank\">Trump doubled down on his gambit<\/a>. Not only are U.S. troops in Syria \u201ctotally safe\u201d thanks to his \u201cstrategically brilliant\u201d moves to<a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/flashpoints\/2019\/10\/14\/us-leaves-behind-dozens-of-high-value-isis-detainees-as-turkey-rolls-through-syria\/\"> pull back American assets in recent days<\/a>, but America\u2019s national security is unaffected.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThey have a problem at the border,\u201d the president said at an oval office event. \u201cIt\u2019s not our border. We shouldn\u2019t be losing lives over it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A day earlier, the retired general officer said there was indeed a U.S. national security interest in supporting the Kurds because this is a region where \u201cthe guy that dominates the population is the guy that has the most guns.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Support for a regional partner like the Kurds \u201chas nothing to do with politics,\u201d he said. \u201cThis is a national security issue.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/flashpoints\/2019\/10\/15\/us-spec-ops-secrets-could-fall-into-hands-of-russians-and-syrians-in-pullout\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"157\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Picture1.jpg_347294.jpg?w=300\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">US special operations secrets could fall into hands of Russians and Syrians in pullout<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">A former U.S. military intelligence operator who spent years working with special operations forces told Military Times that the potential spillover of sensitive tradecraft or information by the SDF was \u201csuper problematic,&quot; but also a symptom of the lack of a genuine strategy in the region.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Video images flowing out of the region showing Russian troops occupying a former U.S. base give the retired general officer pause.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThere was bound to be something that wasn\u2019t destroyed, burned or taken out,\u201d he said, adding that he is also concerned about the potential spillover of sensitive tradecraft or information from the Kurds to their new partners, the Russians and Syrian regime forces.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Far from being a proponent of endless U.S. troop presence in the CENTCOM region, the retired general officer said there are a lot of reasons to scale back significantly in the region. Afghanistan, for instance, costs an estimated $50 billion a year in treasure and, so far this year, 17 U.S. troop deaths.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">From a financial standpoint, U.S. support for the SDF has come at a mere fraction of the human and monetary costs of Afghanistan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThis had been in our self-interest for national security,\u201d he said of support for the SDF. \u201cWe owe that to our people.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">There is another issue, too, said the retired general officer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cIt\u2019s the moral part,\u201d he said, echoing the deep sense of personal loss felt by many, but certainly not all, military personnel who have worked with the Kurds. (Others I\u2019ve talked to say there is never a good time to leave, but it was time to leave).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThis is not the first time, or the second time we have abandoned the Kurds,\u201d he said. \u201cIt is at least the third time that we have walked away from the Kurds as an ally in that region. I think it will be many generations before anyone is willing to trust an American in uniform there. We said, \u2018I\u2019m here to protect you. And we should fight together.\u2019 That piece is the most painful to me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/commentary\/2019\/10\/08\/trump-syria-withdrawal-decision-immoral-and-short-sighted\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/GettyImages-1174183776.jpg.jpg?w=300\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">Commentary: Trump Syria withdrawal decision immoral and short-sighted<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">President Donald Trump\u2019s withdrawal decision is strategically short-sighted because it will damage America\u2019s reputation as a trustworthy ally across the globe, says the author of this commentary.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Asked what he would say to his former Kurdish counterparts, the retired general officer offered this:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe first words out of my mouth would be a pretty humble apology,\u201d he said. \u201cLike any good American, you want to leave the people you are fighting with something uplifting. Carry on. But how do you do that when you know you are going to stand them up against a massive military force like Turkey?\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A former CENTCOM general officer said ordering U.S. troops out of Syria was &#8220;one of the poorest, most uninformed, even arrogant policy decisions I\u2019ve seen by any administration in the last 30 years.&#8221;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":80241,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"single-post-observation-post","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":75,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[75,101,24,89,26,18],"tags":[],"coauthors":[3237],"class_list":["post-44395","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-commentary","category-daily-news-roundup","category-home","category-middle-column","category-newsletters","category-opinion"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"KATRAFDRWJDUREYD4KNVN7JZJU","arc_canonical_url":"\/opinion\/2019\/10\/16\/another-former-centcom-general-weighs-in-with-displeasure-over-trumps-syria-gambit\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"observation-post","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.0 (Yoast SEO v28.1) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Another former CENTCOM general weighs in with displeasure over Trump\u2019s Syria gambit - Air Force TImes<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A former CENTCOM general officer said ordering U.S. troops out of Syria was &quot;one of the poorest, most uninformed, even arrogant policy decisions I\u2019ve seen by any administration in the last 30 years.&quot;\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Another former CENTCOM general weighs in with displeasure over Trump\u2019s Syria gambit\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A former CENTCOM general officer said ordering U.S. troops out of Syria was &quot;one of the poorest, most uninformed, even arrogant policy decisions I\u2019ve seen by any administration in the last 30 years.&quot;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/airforcetimes\/opinion\/commentary\/2019\/10\/16\/another-former-centcom-general-weighs-in-with-displeasure-over-trumps-syria-gambit\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Air Force TImes\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-10-16T19:45:14+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-08-08T07:56:21+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Howard Altman\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Howard Altman\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script 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