Condemnation no matter what

Any option results in condemnation if you're disliked. I recently read this article.

President Trump is being blamed for not carrying out a plan which the Obama administration concocted: a plan designed to take a major city of the Islamic State. Such a plan would seem like a victory in the fight with ISIS, and Trump is condemned for preventing this from happening.

The irony is that the article goes on to explain that the plan was far from perfect, and it actually involved supplying weapons to Kurdish fighters which could very easily be seen as an attack on Turkey.

The article tries to paint Obama in a good light, by saying it was the "best of several bad options"; the lesser of many evils. This option avoided having American military forces on the ground - which would obviously gain support from Americans because they would know that their loved ones are not being put in harm's way. Of course, the reality is that it's better for one's image when someone else does your dirty work, or when you can get someone else to gain access to avoid yourself being caught trespassing.

But that's not really the main problem. The US has an interesting history when it comes to arming foreigners. Operation Cyclone is an interesting one, complete with accusations of supplying weapons and training to Osama bin Laden and denials stating that bin Laden supporters were not a direct beneficiary. But that's something that happened in the 1980s.

During the Obama administration, there are reports of arming foreigners which ended badly.

Now Trump decides not to supply weapons and training to a foreign radical group and he is condemned for it?!? The article implies that Trumps preferred method of solving the ISIS problem would result in more civilian casualties. Perhaps in the beginning.

But what would be the result of Trump followed through with Obama's plan? When those Kurds finish their US-given orders? They will still have weapons. They won't lose their training. They might find another enemy. But, of course, these are indirect casualties, so they don't count at the moment. But it would certainly be brought up to condemn Trump if he follows through with the plan.

It seems that any way to pull someone down is valid if enough people support it.

The lesson to learn is that you don't have peace by supplying weapons to other people. That method only breeds chaos. Then you have more security threats. I think Trump made the right move. In this instance, at least.