Exactly one week before Trump got up on the wrong side of bed (again) and conveyed via a snap tweet to the world, “We Have Won Against ISIS” and casually ordered the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Syria, Brett McGurk had updated the press on the ISIS Campaign.
Mr. McGurk happens to be the Special Presidential Envoy for the Global Coalition to Counter ISIS. He has been in that position since November 2015 and is one of the very few Obama appointees to stay on under Trump.
At the November 11 press briefing, McGurk said, among other:
• So, we’re at a point in the campaign where we’re really now looking ahead to make sure that we can endure and sustain all of these gains.
• So longer term, we want to set the foundation here to make sure the success is enduring.
• We want to make sure this coalition remains intact and can sustain these efforts.
• But the military mission is the enduring defeat of ISIS. We have obviously learned a lot of lessons in the past, so we know that once the physical space is defeated, we can’t just pick up and leave. So, we’re prepared to make sure that we do all we can to ensure this is enduring.
• …obviously, it would be reckless if we were just to say, well, the physical caliphate is defeated, so we can just leave now. I think anyone who’s looked at a conflict like this would agree with that.
One of McGurk’s most significant comments was:
Even as the end of the physical caliphate is clearly now coming into sight, the end of ISIS will be a much more long-term initiative…Nobody is declaring a mission accomplished. Defeating a physical caliphate is one phase of a much longer-term campaign.
Well, a week later, the commander in chief did exactly what a seasoned career diplomat was warning against: declaring mission accomplished, betraying our allies and coalition members, “picking up and leaving.”
Trump also blindsided his Secretary of Defense, his national security advisers, his generals and Congress – including his Republican allies.
Reaction was swift, strong and damning.
A day later, Trump’s Secretary of Defense, James Mattis, had had enough. He handed the president a resignation letter that “more than [rebuked] President Trump…[that b]y the clarity of his words…raised the bar on every official in government, especially Republicans in Congress.” A letter that cited “fundamental disagreements with the commander-in-chief — including one over the importance of honoring U.S. alliances.”
Just one day after Mattis’ resignation, Brett McGurk, submitted his resignation. The contents of his letter of resignation have not yet been made pubic, but obviously he was also blindsided, betrayed and left in the lurch by Trump and, most likely, the words in his resignation letter will reflect such.
The only question now is, how many more dedicated, decent people have been or will be similarly betrayed by their president – and when and where will it all end?
