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Trump’s Syria Decision, and Mattis’s Resignation

Some readers view the president’s move as “ill advised” and “impulsive.” One quotes from “Dr. Strangelove”: “War is too important to be left to politicians.”

Credit...Delil Souleiman/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

To the Editor:

ReU.S. Ends Mission in Syria as Trump Pulls 2,000 Troops” (front page, Dec. 20):

Although the extrication of our soldiers from Syria is a laudable goal supported by most Americans, there is every reason to believe that the president’s action to pull our troops out of that country now is ill advised. It is ominous that the pullout is being heralded by mischief-making nations like Russia.

President Trump seeks to justify this action as something that is warranted because of the vanquishing of ISIS in Syria. His declaration of victory over the terrorist organization may well prove to be every bit as credible as his ludicrous assertion that through one meeting with North Korea’s dictator, Kim Jong-un, the threat of nuclear conflict had vanished.

Mr. Trump has told us that he receives his intelligence from shows like “Fox and Friends” and, in an insult to the top brass of the military, that he knows more than the generals.

It is striking that Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, a retired Marine general, elected to go through the revolving door of administration officials, clearly stating his disagreement with the president on the Syria withdrawal as he tendered his resignation on Thursday, departing with honor.

I believe that we are likely to find out how absurd it is to place faith and authority in Mr. Trump to direct our foreign policy.

Oren Spiegler
South Strabane Township, Pa.

To the Editor:

Predictably, President Trump’s opponents and perpetual hawks oppose the announced withdrawal of our forces from Syria. They maintain that continued deployment of American military strength is a prerequisite for world peace.

Since the end of World War II, the United States has repeatedly engaged in military intervention based on dubious premises, with disastrous results. The cost of Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan in blood and money should serve as a guide for the future.

Military deployment is justifiable only as a deterrent to a credible threat to our national interests. It’s time to abandon our tenuous role as global cop.

Arnie Mori
Fairport, N.Y.

To the Editor:

President Trump has decided it is time to get out of Syria against the advice of his defense secretary and the Pentagon. He has now entered the “Dr. Strangelove” territory in which a rogue general, Jack D. Ripper, explains to a British captain, Lionel Mandrake, why he launched B-52s armed with nukes against the Soviet Union.

General Ripper explained Clemenceau’s view of war to an astounded British officer: “He said war was too important to be left to the generals. When he said that, 50 years ago, he might have been right. But today, war is too important to be left to politicians. They have neither the time, the training, nor the inclination for strategic thought.”

General Ripper could have been talking about our strategically clueless president, who scares the heck out of me.

Stephen F. Desmond
Providence, R.I.

To the Editor:

This is a Trump diversion. Change the conversation, change the headlines. What he excels at. The master media manipulator.

Marilyn Peterman
Amherst, N.H.

To the Editor:

Withdrawal Recalls Obama and Iraq” (news analysis, front page, Dec. 20) compares President Barack Obama’s withdrawal from Iraq with President Trump’s decision to withdraw American forces from Syria. The article does not mention that Mr. Obama’s withdrawal was complying with a three-year timetable that was negotiated between the Bush administration and the Iraqi government.

To compare Mr. Trump’s impulsive decision to unilaterally withdraw American personnel from Syria within 30 days with the Bush-negotiated, Iraqi-approved and Obama-executed multiyear project is absurd.

Jeremy Meyer
Wynnewood, Pa.

To the Editor:

I cannot believe that no one is seeing why our president is pulling out of Syria. He will say that the money we save by not having to keep 2,000 soldiers in Syria can now be used to build the wall on the Mexican border!

Nilesh Amin
New York

A version of this article appears in print on  , Section A, Page 26 of the New York edition with the headline: Trump’s Syria Decision, and Mattis’s. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe

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