Democratic Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA) told CNN’s Jake Tapper what Donald Trump really means when he talks about Assad and Syria. Here’s a hint. It’s the same thing that George W. Bush meant when talked about regime change in Iraq.
Video:
Transcript via CNN’s State of the Union:
TAPPER: So, you heard the reaction from Moscow. Do you think the Trump administration might be making a mistake by saying there is no solution with Assad in power?
MARKEY: Well, when the Trump administration uses the words regime change, they are talking about a military effort to remove Assad.
And that would mean putting American young men and women on the ground in battlefield conditions in order to accomplish that goal. So, that would require, ultimately, a congressional approval, because that would be a step of incredible magnitude that would be breaking with the policy that we have had thus far.
TAPPER: But you’re saying that, by Nikki Haley saying that they don’t see any sort of political solution where Assad is in charge, that they are essentially saying they will push for regime change, and you think that that would mean more ground troops, U.S. ground troops, because there — there are a few hundred in there right now?
MARKEY: Absolutely. That’s what regime change means.
It means doing in Syria what we did in Iraq in removing Saddam Hussein. I don’t think there’s any appetite in the United States for a massive additional military presence, with young men and women actually in combat situations being introduced.
As usual with the Trump administration, the policy on any issue depends on who is talking at any given moment. There are two very different and conflicting Trump administration views being expressed on Syria. One view has some Trump administration officials talking about regime change while Sec. of State Rex Tillerson is saying that the US has no plan to remove Assad from power.
Those in the administration who are talking about regime change are referring to a major military operation in Syria.
The media doesn’t want to hear it, but there is no central policy in the Trump administration, and the policy that is floating around the administration is a repeat of the failures in Iraq.
Sen. Markey was right there is no appetite for regime change, and if the media keeps waving the flag for Trump’s military misadventures, the American people will treat them like they are part of the problem.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
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