© Anadolu Agency
US Special Representative to Syria James Jeffrey
US Special Representative to Syria James Jeffrey
Trump opted to abandon the "transformational campaigns" pursued by the Bush and Obama administrations in favor of "working primarily through partners on the ground" to advance American interests, argued James Jeffrey in the essay published on Friday. Jeffrey was the US special envoy for Syria and the coalition against Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS) from 2018 to his retirement in November 2020.
The Trump administration's two major successes, according to Jeffrey, were the "destruction of ISIS's territorial caliphate in Iraq and Syria" and the Abraham Accords, between Israel on one side and Bahrain, Sudan and the UAE on the other. The US also managed to "counter Russia's further expansion in Syria and elsewhere" and "mobilize a coalition to counter Tehran's malign behavior."
Trump's policies all revolved around the notion that Iran posed a "holistic threat" to the region and the US, Jeffrey explained. His unilateral abandonment of the nuclear deal Obama had negotiated and "maximum pressure" sanctions had a "real effect" on the Iranian economy and "regional adventurism," the envoy wrote. Meanwhile, neither China nor Russia were willing to bail out Iran, while the Europeans "could do little to retaliate, despite their opposition."
Comment: Likely millions of Americans feel the same way as Unanue - manipulated and hoodwinked by a political agenda that obviously couldn't be won on its own merits.