Political Quotes

“this morning's New York Times contained a stunning report that President Trump's top national security aid had been presented with a plan that would ``send as many as 120,000 troops to the Middle East should Iran attack American forces or accelerate work on nuclear weapons''--120,000 American troops in the Middle East. This report is completely baffling and incredibly alarming. What is the strategy here? The administration just began a maximum pressure campaign of sanctions against Iran to squeeze its economy. Doesn't it make sense to see if your policy is working before preparing for potential troop deployments, particularly in such large numbers? Six months ago the President was trying to pull U.S. forces out of the Middle East entirely, against the advice of many in our defense and diplomatic communities. Now his national security team is reviewing plans for war? Meanwhile, President Trump has not laid out what his plans are, what his long-term strategy in the Middle East is, or even given a speech about Iran. So why on Earth are his advisers discussing plans to entrench U.S. ground troops in the Middle East for who knows how long? It seems that hardliners in the administration are pushing the conversation in a very dangerous direction, and I am very concerned. U.S. foreign policy depends upon the stable execution of a consistent policy, but all too often the Trump administration has seemed capable of neither stability nor consistency.…”