• About
    • Bashar Al Assad
    • Bashar Al Assad
      • 1 August 2012.President al-Assad to Syrian Army
      • President Bashar Al Assad’s Speech
      • Syrian Army
      • Syrian Support for the Army
      • The Syrian People Love Assad – the USA and Terrorists Lie and Spread FAKE News
    • Dr. Bashar Al Jaafari
      • Al-Jaafari: States Interested in the Success of Annan Plan Should Stop Arming and Embracing Terrorists
    • Support for Bashar Al Assad
      • 10 Million Show Their Support in One Rally
      • Aleppo Show Their Love for Bashar Al Assad
      • Candlelight Vigil for Syria Federal Building June 9, 2012
      • Demonstrations Against US and France
      • Syrians Love Assad
      • Support Around the World
        • Argentina
        • Australia
        • Berlin
        • Berlin 2012
        • Montreal
        • Paris
        • Turkey
        • USA
    • The Facts About This Site
    • UN Security Council
      • Staffan de Mistura, and Bashar Al-Jaafari about ISIS, Turkey, Syria, Saudi, Jordan, and Western plans for Syria.
      • Syria – Bashar al-Jaafari about Saudi Fatwas: Just Reflection of a Terrorist Wahhabi Kingdom
      • Syria: Bashar Ja’afari Syria and US observers on the Syrian presidential elections Press Conference
      • [8/5/2012] UN HQ: Bashar Al Jaafari kicks asses and takes names
    • Webster Tarpley
      • The Real Story from Inside Syria November 2011
  • Destabilising Syria
    • Chemical Weapons
      • Chemical Weapons – 2013
      • Syrian Rebels Aim to Use Chemical Weapons, Blame Damascus
    • Christians
      • Nun Hatune Dogan About the Biased Western Media.
      • USA Support the Killing of Christians
    • Destruction of Holy Sites
    • Enemies of Syria
      • Al Qaeda
        • Al Qaeda On the Up?
        • CIA Agent Exposes How Al-Qaeda Dosen’t Exist
      • Arab League Report Provides Evidence CIA, MI6, Mossad Behind Violence in Syria
      • Britain Support Terrorists and Terrorism
      • Israel’s Plot To Take Down Syria I
      • Muslim Brotherhood
      • The Plan to Destabilise Syria
      • U N Security Council
      • US Admits Israel is Arming and Training Terrorist Groups to Commit Terror
      • USA Admit to Funding Terrorists
      • Who is Behind the Protest Movement?
    • Houla Massacre
      • Another Witness of Al-Hula Massacre
      • The Houla Massacre – Media Lies
      • The Houla Massacre Committed by The West’s “Free Syrian Army” But They Accuse Syrian Gov’t
    • Media Lies
      • Al Jazeera
        • Al Jazeera Journalist Explains Resignation over Syria and Bahrain Coverage
        • How They Fake The Films
        • Media – West proxy to fuel Syria conflict
      • Al Jazeera Chief Linked to the CIA
      • BBC
        • BBC – Caught for their Lies
      • BBC Lies
        • Media Lies and Cover Up over Princess Diana’s death
      • Evidence of Lies
      • Exposing Fake Films
      • Reuters Appologises to Syria for Lies
      • The Distortions by the Guardian
      • TV Minimum Detection Disinformation
      • Why Nobody Trusts the Mainstream Media
    • Only in America
      • 90 year old arrested for feeding the homeless in U.S.
    • Terrorists
      • America’s Reaction to Wiki Leaks
      • Peaceful Human Rights Activists?
        • A Father and 3 Children Killed in Homs by the Terrorist
        • Burning Cars
        • More Terrorist Killing, Filming and Then Trying to Blame it on The Army
        • SYRIA: (Warning) “Peaceful Protesters” kill civilian (Homs, 15-July-2011)
        • The Existence of Terrorist Gangs in Hama
        • Warning!!! Graphic
      • Terrorist Confessions
        • Confessions of Terrorist Elements in Deir Al-Zou
        • Terrorist confessed
      • Terrorists Arrested
        • 1st April 2011
      • Terrorists trying to drive a tank
    • USA
      • D.U.M.B.s Deep Underground Military Bases
      • Hillary Clintons War Budget
      • Obama
      • Torture USA Style
      • US Lies, To Justify War
      • USA Fund Terrorists
      • USA Lies Again to Invoke War
      • USA Train the Terrorists
    • Who is Funding Terrorists
      • Who’s behind the Syrian Support Group?
    • WW III
      • US risks war with China and Russia – World War III
  • Documentaries
    • BBC Correspondent – Israel’s Secret Weapon
  • Donations
  • Fake Films
    • BBC Fake Documenteries to Justify War
    • BBC Staging FAKE Chemical Attack
    • CCTV Stating Fake Attack
    • CNN Crew Blow Up Syrian Pipeline To Blame on Government
    • More CNN Fake Films
    • Omran
    • Preparations for another FAKE video
    • The Truth about Syria and Western Lies
    • Using Fake Blood
    • Wag The Dog – Media Caught Faking Syria News Reports
  • Friends of Syria
    • I LOVE SYRIA Jewellery
    • Nakba Day
    • Shame On You
  • Home
  • Real Syria
    • The Truth
      • British Troops Training Terrorists
      • Fares Shehabi Tells Western Journalist Why Assad still in power
      • Interview with Janna Jihad & Ahed Tamimi
      • Kevork Almassian – What is Really Happening in Syria?
      • Syrian News
        • 13th February 2013
        • April 2013
          • 3rd April 2013
        • August 2012
          • 4 August 2012.Al-Jaafari: Resolution on Syria Hysteric & Misleading,Syrian Journalist shot
          • 6 August 2012.Decrees on Dismissing Riyad Hijab, Blast inside syrian Radio and TV
          • 7 August 2012,al-Assad Receives Dr. Saeed Jalili, Nasrallah: US Israel to Destroy Syria
          • 8 August 2012. Army Take Control of Salah Eddin, terrorists receive training in Turkey
          • 9 August 2012.Al-Assad: Dr. Wael al-Halqi Prime Minister, untrue media report
          • Syria News 5 August 2012. Chasing Gulf and Turkish Militias in Aleppo, three snipers killed
        • December 2012
          • 10th December 2012
          • 15th December 2012
          • 17th December 2012
          • 1st December 2012
          • 22nd December 2012
          • 23rd December 2012
          • 24th December 2012
          • 27th December 2012
          • 29th December 2012
          • 2nd December 2012
          • 5th December 2012
          • 6th December 2012
          • 8th December 2012
        • January 2013
          • 20th January 2013
          • Monday 28th January
        • June 2012
          • 2 June 2012
          • 21 June 2012. Contact Lost with MiG-21 Aircraft that Was on a Training Flight
          • 28 June 2012. Terrorist Blast inside the Parking of Justice Palace Damascus.
          • 3 June 2012
          • 4 June 2012
          • 5 June 2012
          • Witnesses to al-Houla Massacre: 1 June 2012
        • March 2013
          • 19th March 2013
        • May 2012
          • 20 May 2012
          • 21 May 2012
          • 22 May 2012
          • 23 May 2012
          • 24 May 2012
          • 26 May 2012
          • 27 May 2012
          • 28 May 2012
          • 29 May 2012
          • 30 May 2012
          • 31 May 2012
        • News Sunday 17th March
        • November 2012
          • News 11/11/2012
          • Syria News 12.11.2012
      • Syrian People Support President Assad
      • Voices of the Syrian People
        • 10th August 2012
        • 10th August 2012
        • 10th November 2012
        • 15th October 2012
        • 19th October 2012
        • 1st November 2012
        • 21st November 2012
        • 21st October 2012
        • 26th October 2012
        • 29th October 2012
        • 30th October 2012
        • Christmas Message from Syria Citizens in Damascus
        • Damascus 19th July 2012
        • Heartbreaking True Stories from Syria 14th October 2012
        • I Am A Syrian Living in Syria: “It was Never a Revolution nor a Civil War. The Terrorists are Sent by Your Government!”
        • I Am So Proud of My Country
        • It is the Children that are Paying the Price for US Terrorism
        • Life in Syria 14/09/2012
        • Man Nearly Dies to Protect His Books
        • To the World: I am SYRIAN, and the COALITION does NOT represent me!
        • Unhappy Syrian
        • Voices from Damascus January 2013
        • Voices from Syria – 20th July 2012
        • What Freedom is This
        • You Don’t Know What You Have Until It’s Gone

Friends of Syria

~ revealing the truth

Friends of Syria

Tag Archives: bashar al assad

Bolton’s memoir reveals what Trump really thinks about Syria

23 Tuesday Jun 2020

Posted by friendsofsyria in US War Crimes

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

al qaeda, Al-Nusra, bashar al assad, Bolton, Donald Trump, FSA, ISIS, syria, USA, YPG

by Shawn Carrié
Former National Security Advisor John Bolton listens while US President Donald Trump speaks to the press on May 13, 2019. File photo: Brendan Smialowski / AFP

Former National Security Advisor John Bolton listens while US President Donald Trump speaks to the press on May 13, 2019. File photo: Brendan Smialowski / AFP

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — John Bolton’s bombshell book, “The Room Where It Happened,” hasn’t been released yet — but it is already making waves in Washington. 

The much-anticipated book is causing such a stir that the White House sought a court ruling to block its release on the grounds that it contained sensitive information harmful to US national security — an argument that failed to convince a judge, who allowed the book to proceed with release next week.

Rudaw managed to acquire an advanced copy of the memoir, which divulges much about US President Donald Trump’s strategy in Syria at a critical juncture in the war, revealing an intricate game of political chess between Trump, Turkey, America’s Kurdish allies in Syria, and Iran.

The memoir is a tell-all expose of events within Trump’s inner circle. A staunch conservative seen as a “hawk” in the foreign policy arena, Bolton served as Trump’s national security advisor — a highly influential position close to the American president – from 2018 to 2019. Inside closed-door meetings, joining the president on Air Force One, and listening in on phone calls with heads of state, Bolton’s book recounts navigating a cutthroat world of influence-peddlers competing for the president’s attention – one Bolton eagerly plays along in, confessing that he had aspirations of becoming Secretary of State.

Frequently close to Trump’s ear, Bolton paints himself as putting out fires caused by an erratic and irrational president in the lead up to the withdrawal of US troops from northeast Syria in October 2019.

“It is difficult beyond description to pursue a complex policy in a contentious part of the world when the policy is subject to instant modification based on the boss’s perception of how inaccurate and often-already-outdated information is reported by writers who don’t have the Administration’s best interests at heart in the first place,” Bolton describes in chapter seven. “It was like making and executing policy inside a pinball machine, not the West Wing of the White House.”

In Bolton’s telling of events, he is the architect of a policy strategy that tried, and ultimately failed, to maintain the US as a key player in Syria. He advised Trump through a critical period of the Syrian war, from April 2018 to September 2019 — spanning the height of battle against Islamic State (ISIS) to Trump’s surprise decision to withdraw American troops, imperiling their Kurdish allies in the country’s northeast.

Syrian Kurdish factions led by the People’s Protection Units (YPG) fought alongside American forces since 2014, when Coalition air power came to the rescue of embattled YPG forces at the critical battle for the city of Kobane in northern Syria. This helped turn the tide that made the YPG, a leading continent of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) created in 2015, a crucial US ally.

Bolton describes Trump as focused intently on keeping his campaign promise of an “America first” foreign policy, which comes to a critical juncture in late 2018. With ISIS mostly defeated, and Turkey threatening to launch an invasion over its southern border into northeast Syria to target Kurdish factions it views as terrorists, the situation was a powder keg waiting to explode.

“This is our Mexico border on steroids,” Bolton said of the political tension over Turkey’s increasing threats to go after Kurdish forces in Syria.

Speaking of Ankara’s relationships with the Kurds, Bolton describes Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan as “purportedly interested in destroying the caliphate, but his real enemy was the Kurds, who, he believed with some justifications, were allied to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK.”

Bolton recalls several attempts to dissuade Trump from allowing a Turkish invasion, describing it as a “personal crisis” for him — not out of any fealty to Syrian Kurds, who for the first time in their history of persecution under the regime of Syrian dictator and US enemy Bashar al-Assad, had risen to a position of power and prominence —  rather, Bolton argued that maintaining an American troop presence in Syria would combat Iran, whose forces factor prominently in the Syrian conflict and would be waiting in the wings to fill the gap if the SDF were to disintegrate.

But the president was not convinced. Bolton recalls Trump saying: “I want to get out of these horrible wars [in the Middle East].” Bolton continues: “He said his advisors were divided into two categories, those who wanted to stay ‘forever,’ and those who wanted to stay ‘for a while.’ By contrast, Trump said, ‘I don’t want to stay at all. I don’t like the Kurds. They ran from the Iraqis, they ran from the Turks, the only time they don’t run is when we’re bombing all around them with F-18’s.”

Insisting on a rushed withdrawal of American forces from Syria, the American military had no choice but to faithfully follow the orders of the commander-in-chief, even if their carefully-studied plans of the situation on the ground are thrown to the wind in favor of Trump’s political whims.

Bolton, for his own part, also viewed the US alliance with the SDF as a “strategic partnership” and little more.

“Why we were affiliated with one terrorist group in order to destroy another stemmed from Obama’s failure to see Iran was a much more serious threat, now and in the future. Many parties to this conflict opposed ISIS […] Tehran, however, unlike Obama, was also focusing on the next way, the one after ISIS was defeated,” he wrote.

“It was complicated, but what was not complicated was the strong sense of loyalty to Kurds who had fought with us against ISIS, and fear that abandoning them was not only disloyal but would have severely adverse consequences for any future effort to recruit allies who might later be seen as expendable,” Bolton added.

A critical moment in the shift away from America’s ascendancy in Middle East power dynamics came in December 2018. While attempting to negotiate a “safe zone” along the Syria-Turkey border that would satisfy America’s NATO ally and also stave off the renewed warfare US officials feared would result between Turkey and the Kurds, Trump called Erdogan to negotiate a deal.

Bolton recalls the phone conversation:”Trump said that, first, he wanted Erdogan to get rid of ISIS, and that we would provide assistance if Turkey [sic] need it. Second, he pressed Erdogan not to go after the Kurds and kill them, noting that a lot of people liked them for fighting with us for years against ISIS. Turkey and the Kurds should go after the remaining ISIS forces together. Trump acknowledged that such a strategy might be a change for Erdogan, but he stressed again how much support there was for the Kurds in the United States,” he writes in chapter seven.

Erdogan gave Trump all the assurances he wanted to hear, Bolton recalls: “Erdogan took pains to say he loved the Kurds and vice versa, but added that the YPG-PYD-PKK (three Kurdish groups in Turkey and Syria) were manipulating the Kurds, and did not represent them, […] and had no intention of killing anyone but terrorists. We had heard all this before, and it was standard Erdogan regime propaganda.”

Weeks later, planes full of American officials were all set to visit Ankara to negotiate a grand bargain with the Turks. Bolton’s contingent was prepared to go to bat for their Kurdish allies, but it didn’t hold all the cards. Bolton describes James Jeffrey, a former ambassador to Turkey under President George W. Bush, as being close to Ankara’s sensibilities, and having “no lost love for the Kurds.”

The SDF, represented by General Mazloum Abdi, had little sway in the talks. But Bolton thought “Mazloum’s options were quite limited, and that he might as well consider some insurance now,” estimating that YPG would go along with the plan if the US could get Ankara to agree.

For Ankara, any compromise with forces led by Abdi, a 20-year veteran of the PKK, was a non-starter. Ahead of the crucial meeting staffers from the White House, the State Department, and Department of Defense scrambled to get on the same page to present a unified front to their Turkish counterparts. Then, Trump’s envoy to Syria entered with a surprise curveball.

“Contrary to the statement of principles, Jim Jeffrey circulated a color-coded map showing which parts of northeastern Syria he proposed to allow Turkey to take over and which the Kurds could retain,” Bolton writes.

At the meeting, Ambassador Jeffrey — who succeeded staunch YPG ally Brett McGurk in his position — ended by handing out the draft of the agreement to be presented to the Turks. Dissatisfied, Bolton writes: “I added a new sentence to make clear we didn’t want to see the Kurds mistreated and took pains to show we didn’t accept a Turkish presence, military or otherwise, in northeastern Syria.”

But the meeting never took place. At the last moment, Erdogan canceled the state visit, set to take place on January 8, 2019  and instead gave a fiery speech to parliament vowing that compromise with the US position on Syrian Kurds was impossible.

When push came to shove, Bolton writes in his memoir, Trump had no desire to take the issue to task with Erdogan, whom he saw as primarily focused on domestic politics. He quotes Trump as saying: “We don’t want to be involved in a civil war. They’re natural enemies. The Turks and the Kurds have been fighting for many years. We’re not getting involved in a civil war, but we are finishing off ISIS.”

The SDF eventually did push through on a “safe zone” in northeast Syria by August 2019. Kurdish forces pulled back 5 km from the border and destroyed their own fortifications, while US-Turkish joint patrols filled in the gap.

The next month, in September, John Bolton was fired from his job as national security advisor.

source

Share this:

  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to email this to a friend (Opens in new window)
  • Click to print (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Skype (Opens in new window)

Like this:

Like Loading...
← Older posts

Please Donate to Keep us Free of Ads. every little helps

TRANSLATE TO YOUR LANGUAGE

I Love Syria

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

RSS News from Syria

  • Health Ministry: 78 new coronavirus cases recorded, 71 cases recover, 6 pass away January 23, 2021
  • Oriental Churches’ Council calls on Biden to remove US sanctions on Syria January 23, 2021
  • Alouk water station re-operated after one-week cut off by Turkish occupation January 23, 2021
  • A woman and 2 children martyred ,7 others injured in Turkish occupation shells attack in Aleppo countryside January 23, 2021
  • Ice formations in Bloudan January 23, 2021
  • Life returns to ancient Souf (wool) market in old Aleppo city January 23, 2021

Follow us on Twitter

My Tweets

Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 34,755 other followers

Facebook has closed our page, so sign up to get the latest news

Facebook has closed our page, so sign up to get the latest news

Recent Posts

  • 18, 000 Syrian Children have had their Organs Harvested Over the Last 6 Years
    18, 000 Syrian Children have had their Organs Harvested Over the Last 6 Years
  • In pictures: ISIS beheads captured Iraqi Army soldiers (+18 graphic)
    In pictures: ISIS beheads captured Iraqi Army soldiers (+18 graphic)
  • About
    About
  • IT’S OVER: Hillary’s ISIS Email Just Leaked & It’s Worse Than Anyone Could Have Imagined…
    IT’S OVER: Hillary’s ISIS Email Just Leaked & It’s Worse Than Anyone Could Have Imagined…
  • Mainstream media silent as Jeremy Corbyn wins International Peace Prize
    Mainstream media silent as Jeremy Corbyn wins International Peace Prize
  • Assad Сurse Strikes Again: Dutch Official Embarrassed
    Assad Сurse Strikes Again: Dutch Official Embarrassed
  • ARIJ: Israeli settlers racing against time to commit as many crimes as possible against native Palestinians
    ARIJ: Israeli settlers racing against time to commit as many crimes as possible against native Palestinians

Archives

  • 5,866,731 hits

Follow Us

  • Facebook
  • Twitter

Syria

  • Register
  • Log in
  • Entries feed
  • Comments feed
  • WordPress.com

RSS Feed RSS - Posts

RSS Feed RSS - Comments

Follow Friends of Syria on WordPress.com

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Categories

Follow the truth

  • Democratic Syria
  • Friend of Syria
  • Global Research
  • Human Rights Activists
  • INFOWARS.COM
  • Israel: The State of Terror Behind the Mask of Victimization
  • Live Leaks
  • NSNBC
  • Real Syria Updates
  • sabinachiaburu
  • Spiegel Online
  • Syria
  • Syria News
  • Syrian Perspective
  • The Truth Serum
  • Translated Videos
  • Voltaire Net

loading Cancel
Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
Email check failed, please try again
Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.
Cancel
%d bloggers like this: