[ May 2, 2024 ]
President Trump decided to withdraw US troops from Northern Syria and as usual with everything there is an outcry on all sides. Republicans are split and Democrats are finding yet another opportunity to criticize the President.
Senate Majority leader McConnell, Marco Rubio, Nikki Haley and Lindsey Graham are all vehemently against the pullout as ‘a stain on America’s honor.’ Much of the fear of withdrawal from Syria was mainly regarding the following:
1) Protecting the Kurdish troops in Northern Syria from possible annihilation at the hands of the Turkish military.
2) Since the Kurds helped us against ISIS we must stay in Syria to help Kurds.
3) The possibility that ISIS could return to Syria.
4) Russia could establish itself once again in Syria.
5) Syrian pro-Shiite tribes could allow Iranian or Hizbullah power in Syria.
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All of the above are possibilities. But there are lessons from history that we need to remember. The British and to a lesser degree the French controlled the Middle East for over 70 years when the Mideast was more divided by tribal identity than a national state.
After WWII the British wanted to leave the Middle East and were faced with a much worse predicament than what America is facing today. The British understood that there was no way they could make every tribal, religious and national group, happy. Even Egypt, which was probably among the few established nation states in the region, still had some disputed territories on the Eastern borders with Saudi Arabia and what is now Israel.
One of the casualties of dividing the Mideast into functional nations, were the Kurds.
Now the Kurds, who identify themselves as an independent ethnic and national group, are divided and fall under the rule of other nations, some Sunni and some Shiites, in Northern Syria, Eastern Turkey, in Iran and in Iraq. The rivalry and bloodshed between Kurds, Arabs and Turks have gone on for hundreds of years. Not to mention the bloodshed between many other sects such as Shiites and Sunnis.
The reason the US went into Syria was never to save the Kurds, it was to destroy ISIS. The Kurds, many of whom are socialists, were helping the US in Syria against ISIS because ISIS was a Sunni Arab group hell bent on destroying the ‘infidel’ Kurds.
Historically and for decades, the Syria’s Baath party relied on Russia. Again, US presence in Syria was never meant to prevent the return of the Russian presence in Syria. As to Iran’s influence in Syria, that is something that the Sunni World and Turkey should handle and not the US. Shiite and Sunni hot fronts exist in several areas of the Middle East and again America cannot dedicate its military to put off fire between these eternally hostile religious groups.
There is a good possibility that an Islamic group like ISIS, perhaps under a different name, might use Syrian territory for their operations. But isn’t that what has always been happening in the Mideast whenever a week government exists; in Libya, Yemen, Afghanistan, Sudan etc. Jihad terror groups have always existed in the Middle East under many different names, from the Muslim Brotherhood to Al Qaeda etc.
President Trump is perceived by the Middle East as a powerful leader and that is a good leverage we could use on Turkey, Iran and violent Islamic groups who might venture to the power grab in Syria. The message should be clear to all these groups that America will not stand for any group that will bring down Syria during its fragile condition today after a brutal civil war.
The existence of America in Syria or any other Muslim nation cannot continue forever and sooner or later we must leave. But the longer we stay the more dependent these factions will be on American for their protection. The British were there for over seventy years and until today the World is still blaming them for leaving a messed up Mideast map with minorities who cannot survive with one another. The truth is that Middle East religious and ethnic factions have never learned to live peacefully with one another and it is time for them to start learning how to.
We cannot stay in Syria just because the Kurds need protection and if we stay for that reason, sooner or later the balance of power will shift and we will develop more and more dependency on American presence in Syria and the region.
America will never gain Arab appreciation, blessings or approval even if we remain on their land just for their own protection like we do in Europe and Japan. These are totally different cultures. When it comes to the Arab world we are damned if we do and damned if we don’t. America is begged for help and protection when Arabs are under attacks by other Arab countries, like in the case of Kuwait against Iraq or Saudi Arabia against Iraq or Iran. But sooner or later the Islamic rejection of the infidels will win and US soldiers will never be looked upon as allies for their own safety but as occupiers and enemies of Allah. That was the reason Bin Laden wanted to terrorize America because American soldiers, in his mind, were occupying Saudi Arabia. If we remain in Syria sooner or later many of these fighting factions will hang up against the infidels.
President Trump is not the kind of president who would rather kick the can down the road for the next administration, but he is brave and wise to make the right decisions to pull our troops out of Syria. The reasons are many in favor of pulling out, but it is important to note that the tribal culture in the Arab World needs to be weaned of dependency and should be allowed to solve their differences on their own in a 21st Century world. The longer America stays in war ravaged Middle East nations, the harder it will be to withdraw US troops.
Just like the British, history tells us that it is America that will be blamed at the end for any solution, peaceful or not.
Nonie Darwish, author “Wholly Different; Why I chose Biblical Values Over Islamic Values.”
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38 Comments
4 years ago
When will our ignorant politicians learn that muslims will try to kill all non-muslims if they don’t need them as slaves or to take care of the parasites AND will kill each other as they have for 1400 years. The parasitic feral animals know nothing except to kill, destroy and rape per their doctrine of HATE!!!! We will never stop them a they only USE the US and our funding for their own benefit not for peace!
4 years ago
Reply to
patd
Agreed. Exactly what effect can 1,000 US troops have in a country of 12 million people?
4 years ago
Reply to
Drew the Infidel
If I have read correctly, the number being withdraw from that region was 50…
4 years ago
Query, Who will ever trust the US if we keep running out on our allies when we don’t need them any more?
4 years ago
Withdraw. President Trump promised as a candidate to reove US troops from Syria and Afghanistan. That was a major reason for his 2016 campaign win.
Under Pres. Obama*, the US had upwards of 320,000 Army and Air Forces compbat and support personnell in Syria and several Red Lines thatl was underway Syria was not to cross, but did. By December 2018, US forces numbered 2,000-2,500 troops and Pres Trump said they would be withdrawn in 30 days. Advisors and the Pentagon managed to string out the withdrawal to several months. By mid-January 2019, the troop withdrawal was underway. Meanwhile, US official were trying to convince our “Allies” to contribute their forces to take the place of the US warriors and advisors. European leaders and NATO refused to contribute anything but advice that American should remain in Syria shouldering the costs of blood and treasure and urging “calm reflection and a look at what would pose the least security risks.” .
On Feb 1, 2019, Pres. Trump tweeted, “I inherited a total mess in Syria and Afghanistan, the ‘Endless Wars’ of unlimited spending and death. During my campaign I said, very strongly, that these wars must finally end. We spend $50 Billion a year in Afghanistan and have hit them so hard that we are now talking peace after 18 long years.” Seven days later, State Dept officials said the withdrawal would complete by April with the majority of ground troops by mid-March. Euro and NATO dithering kept 200-400 American forces in-country despite a previous agreement that an international force, preferably NATO or regional Arab allies, of 800 to 1,500 troops that would monitor a safe zone along Syria’s border with Turkey. The international troops have never shown up.
In early August 2019, the U.S. and Turkey agreed on a deal to jointly creat a demilitarized zone between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers in northern Syria. Terms include joint U.S.-Turkish ground patrols, relocating some Syrian refugees in Turkey into the DMZ, and the withdrawing Kurdish YPG and YPJ forces and fortifications from the Syria-Turkey border, leaving the areas under Syrian Defense Forces control. In late August, the SDF started dismantling border fortifications under US military supervision. YPG units began withdrawing from the area by the end of August.
Finally, October 7, 2019, a full pull out of US troops from Syria and leave the country entirely. American troops left several observation posts for the Turkish troops that would soon move in. Turkish Pres. Erdogan has said his forces will patrol the Northern Syrian border area without US participation while the Trump administration stated “the United States armed forces will not support or be involved in the operation, and United States forces, having defeated the ISIS territorial ‘caliphate,’ will no longer be in the immediate area.”
The entirety of US combat operations in Syria was to defeat and degrade ISIS/ISIL. It was never to defend the Kurds, nor was it to defeat Syria. For the time being, ISIS/ISIL is gone from the area and has been severely degraded to the point of being a non-entity. Granted, the organiation may reanimate just as al-Qaida keeps popping out of its grave like vampires and zombies. When that may happen is anyone’s guess, but for now, they are a dead letter and US troop withdrawal is a proper decision for Pres. Trump to take to fulfill a campaign promise to close a front on a very long war. His next withdrawal traget should rightly be the withdrawal of US forces from Afghanistan.
4 years ago
It is a shame that such a bastardization of history has been published as this piece, for it ignores [inter alia] what transpired a century ago; after Sevres promised a Kurdistan, Lausanne betrayed the Kurds:
The Allies dropped their demands of autonomy for Turkish Kurdistan and Turkish cession of territory to Armenia, abandoned claims to spheres of influence in Turkey, and imposed no controls over Turkey’s finances or armed forces.
https://www.britannica.com/event/Treaty-of-Lausanne-1923
Ataturk got his way, as the West [for the umpteenth time] abandoned the Kurds; they merit recompense, particularly noting how many subsequent massacres/gassings have transpired under “Western” watch.
The USA abandons the best blockage of Ottomans, Persians and Czarists @ NO cost to American personnel; this is a Yom Kippur SHANDA.
4 years ago
Reply to
rsklaroff
The Kurds were enthusiastic participants in the Armenian genocide. They also persecute Christians and enforce islamic blasphemy and heresy laws in Iraqi Kurdistan.
4 years ago
Even Geert Wilders is against Trumps collaboration with ISIS supporter Erdogan and his ottoman empire dreams and the Turkish purchase of the Russian S-400 which Trump prompted to stop delivery of the F-35 planes is an example of that. Trumps electoral promises to withdraw troops from decades of presence abroad are politically exploited by Erdogan. Not only the kurdish people are betrayed by Trump like the Persian people by Zbigniew Brzezinski but Israel as well regarding Iranian presence in Syria and Lebanon. Trump wants to leave Iraq and Afghanistan as well so that the Taliban and Al Qaeda can flourish again from Afghanistan like ISIS from Syria. Senate Majority leader McConnell, Marco Rubio, Nikki Haley and Lindsey Graham deserve our support against Trumps intention.
4 years ago
The panic is over
– Trump only moved 50 troops inside of Syria
– but Trump’s tweets mean business for the long run
– the US cannot and will not rescue the Kurds forever
4 years ago
Unfortunately Trump is a coward when it comes to fighting against Islam. He’s far too concerned about his own image, he doesn’t want to appear to be a warmonger. He’s even to the Left of mainstream Democrats who don’t want to abandon our allies in the mideast.
Sure I buy the argument we can’t stay forever, the mideast is a mess but that’s still no excuse for letting our friends get annihilated by jihadist forces. At the very least we should give them tanks, fighters and other hardware to continue to defend their hard-won gains. Turkey has given every indication that they are backers of ISIS and Trump chose to ignore that.
However if all we’re doing is backing one Islamic group against another then it’s a drain on our resources. To this day we don’t have any people in power who understand who the enemy really is. Until we figure out that we’re at war against Islam and all its followers, these wars are pointless, apart from ‘mowing the lawn’ to keep the terrorists in check.
I hate to say it but we’re still asleep after 9/11 and I think it’ll take a few nuked cities until people finally get it through their thick skulls that we are at war with Muslims. Of course some of them are good people, but the vast majority of them are our enemy and should be treated accordingly.
4 years ago
Muslims can not and will not live in peace with anyone anywhere ..EVER..
4 years ago
Reply to
0349 JAT
But we’ve allowed those freeloaders into our society because of “openness” and willful ignorance https://thegreatarchitect.blog/2019/03/26/how-come-muslims-have-gotten-a-foothold-in-our-society/
4 years ago
Trying to figure out the various divided loyalties in the Middle East is like trying to unscramble the eggs in an omelet.
Besides, the very last thing we need is a continuation of an eighteen year old proxy war.
4 years ago
Reply to
Drew the Infidel
Agreed, yet Deep State started this hornets nest, regrettably. https://thegreatarchitect.blog/2019/05/31/887/
4 years ago
“The reason the US went into Syria was never to save the Kurds, it was to destroy ISIS. The Kurds, many of whom are socialists, were helping the US in Syria against ISIS because ISIS was a Sunni Arab group hell bent on destroying the ‘infidel’ Kurds.” Agree.
It was not so much the Kurds helping the US, it was in the Kurds best interest to align with the US. Pointing that out on social media, was not a popular thing to do. If this is a worrisome issue to other nations, let Europe and/or the UN step in.
Next exit Afghanistan.
4 years ago
well thought and written !!
4 years ago
We’ve been sacrificing our military in the Middle East for Arabs for how long,now? They’re just targets for the islamists and other groups who hate us.
If Turkey wants to attack, let Russia deal with it..
The only reason we should be in the Middle East is to protect Israel. When that is a clear mission, then we go back.. Until then, get our military out and the different Islamic groups can fight it out….
4 years ago
The Kurds are Christians and Turkey killed half their population. Iraq killed 180 thousand Kurds. In 1913 Turkey killed 1 1/2 million Armenians which was one half of their population. The Muslim world is evil and annihilation is their answer according to Satin.
4 years ago
The intractable problems that engulf the Middle East for the past 1400 years are directly attributable to the resurrection of the Satanic cult of Baal in the form of Islam. It is a fight the secular powers of the West cannot win unless they have the willingness to obey the Commandment of God to destroy Islam in all its forms. This willingness is sadly not yet present. Until then the wars and ravages will rage without end. The Kurds have received bountiful amounts of war material, supplies from the USA. They are fully equipped to fight their own war against the Turks. Trump is right to withdraw. He promised it to his voters and Trump always does his best to deliver on his promises.
4 years ago
Reply to
kiki00312
IMHO Trump has done everything possible to deliver the Wall in the face of opposition from the Commiecrats at every level. That the has repaired walls and is building more is a testament to his stubbornness and ability to deliver on his promises.
4 years ago
Trump: Leadership.
Media: Venel Cowardice.
Dems/RINOs: Treason & Corruption.
Undecided Voters: Fools.
4 years ago
It’s Muslims vs Muslims, the only reason to be involved at all is to encourage them to kill each other more. President Trump was correct, it’s not our problem…
4 years ago
Reply to
MAS
We have a duty to allies especially since they’re the ones who did most of the fighting against Isis, or enemies!
4 years ago
SAD TRUTH IS THAT WE SHOULD HAVE HELPED THE KURDS IN IRAQ GET THEIR OWN NATION-STATE AS LONG AS IT RECOGNIZED ISRAEL THAT WOULD HAVE JUSTIFIED THE LOSSES WE SUFFERED THERE BECAUSE IT WAS ALMOST NOT WORTH IT OTHERWISE. WE SHOULD NEGOTIATE AN AGREEMENT FOR THE KURDS WITH THE SYRIANS & RUSSIANS NOT THE TURKS WHO TRULY HATE THEM! SAD REALITY IS WE AS A COUNTRY HAVE A HISTORY OF BETRAYING OUR ALLIES AND WE ARE ABOUT TO DO IT AGAIN! THE TURKS WILL FIGHT THE KURDS THEN SYRIA WILL RELY ON IRAN WHICH WILL FIGHT TURKEY AND WE HAVE NO ALLIES OR CREDIBILITY THERE! EVENTUALLY, SYRIA WILL BLOW UP CREATING MORE REFUGEES FOR EUROPE AND WE WILL HAVE TO DO A MAJOR MILITARY OPERATION AGAINST JIHADIS WITH NO ALLIES BECAUSE WE LET THEM ALL GET KILLED!
4 years ago
I, too, would want American troops out. But they were the only ones keeping our Kurdish allies from being bombed, which Erdogan has already begun, unfortunately. This, and I hope I’m wrong, makes us lose credibility since it was Erdogan who originally told Trump last December to pull out.
4 years ago
Well said, Noni.
4 years ago
This President has had much support and defending from me since 2016 especially in the UK, but over two issues, I feel badly let down and even betrayed.
The case of the wife of a CIA officer in UK leaving her husbands place of employment and driving her Volvo 400 yards on the wrong side of the road before causing a head on collision involving a young British motorcyclist who subsequently died at the scene has left a very bitter taste behind. The fact that the women in question then left the country claiming “diplomatic immunity” adds insult to injury.
A degree of reciprocity would be appreciated in this case as people wanted state side have been handed over by UK authorities when requested to do so by U.S authorities. The view here is that those parents of the young man have had their son killed by the actions of another driver and her standing to account for what she did in a court of law is being frustrated by her government. The parents deserve to hear her explanation and attain their closure.
The second issue involves Trumps actions in Syria.
The brutalities, summary executions of captured Kurdish fighters and rapes of Kurdish women and young girls by Turkish troops will be on a scale yet to be witnessed or exceeded even by ISIS as soon as the cameras are cleared away because Turks don’t change.
Those same Kurdish men and women with allied air assets and special forces help beat back IS to where they are today. In 1991 allied airpower stopped Sadam from massacring Kurdish civilians after he had driven them from their homes. .
What sense does it make to encourage the Turk to make war on those Kurds guarding those camps, keeping them closed and secure when they’re full of thousands of IS terrorists bent upon vengeance against us in the west and the Kurds who defeated them ? Haven’t the Turks been shooed off the F35 conversion courses for taking delivery of Putin’s S 400 SAM batteries ? Were not Erdugan’s sons dealing in IS stolen oil ?
The claim that such IS terrorists can be released and brought before any western court and tried for their crimes according to our western standards of law are not to be taken seriously. Where do you find reliable witnesses when so many have been raped into insanity and or murdered ?
Trump has made a terrible mistake in this policy change, John Bolton must be pulling his eyebrows out, I hope to goodness those with a more sound long term view of just what terrible consequences for that part of the world as well as us in the west and the Med south of Cyprus {with its new gas deposits} will result from turning loose this new / old sultan in Turkey onto the Ottomans old stamping grounds.
This time he is armed with American NATO weapons and air power. Were the other members of that organisation consulted over this action ? I see these two issues as threats to his reelection appeal.
4 years ago
Let us remember that more than 1/4 of the world’s population are Muslim.
The Kurds should find Islamic allies.
We are not responsible for their people nor countries.
There is no such thing as an innocent Muslim.
Let them figure it out. If they slaughter each other out of existence, it’s better them than us. They kill us far too much.
4 years ago
History may repeat itself again. How soon do people forget what brought the 9/11 attacks on our country. When Russia left Afghanistan, the Mujaheddin were given promises by the CIA, that were reneged on. That caused one Mujaheddin leader, Osama Bin Laden who was friendly to the US, to turn against us. The rest is history.
We now stabbed the Kurds in the back, by pulling our troops out of the region. Turkey has now begun to attack, killing civilians, women and children, in an attempt to eradicate as many Kurds as possible. Could this result in another Kurdish leader to begin to plot an attack on the US for our betrayal?
4 years ago
The problem goes back to the aftermath of WWI. that is when we should have had a Kurdistan. But what the heck who cares if the Kuurds are killed by the Turks. they play their role. Disgusting on the part of Trump.
4 years ago
Sooner or later we(INFIDELS) must leave ANY muslim country we’re in – high time that is entirely reciprocal –
4 years ago
Trump is touching the third rail in American politics. Going back to the early 90’s, the Bush war to “liberate” Kuwait was a financial bonanza for US defense contractors. It ended a drought for the US military industrial complex that began when the US left Saigon in 1975.
Through Congressional lobbying and successive Presidents, defense contractors have managed to keep us engaged militarily in the Middle East for close to 30 years. It wasn’t all that difficult. These businesses bring billions of dollars in defense contracts to many states. There simply isn’t any political price to be payed for funding overseas wars until the body bags start to come home.
Trump is the first post-war President with zero allegiance to the Defense industry. His most loyal supporters, working class Americans, have paid the highest price for these reckless profit-driven wars.
Trump should be applauded, not condemned for pulling out of Syria and for his continued support for Israel, a country that fights its own battles and never expects an American to risk their own life defending their country.
Can any European or Asian country make that claim?
4 years ago
Trump is touching the third rail in American politics. Going back to the early 90’s, the Bush war to “liberate” Kuwait was a financial bonanza for US defense contractors. It ended a drought for the US military industrial complex that began when the US left Saigon in 1975.
Through Congressional lobbying and successive Presidents, defense contractors have managed to keep us engaged militarily in the Middle East for close to 30 years. It wasn’t all that difficult. These businesses bring billions of dollars in defense contracts to many states. There simply isn’t any political price to be payed for funding overseas wars until the body bags start to come home.
Trump is the first post-war President with zero allegiance to the Defense industry. His most loyal supporters, working class Americans, have paid the highest price for these reckless profit-driven wars.
Trump should be applauded, not condemned for pulling out of Syria and for his continued support for Israel, a country that fights its own battles and never expects an American to risk their own life defending their country.
Can any European or Asian country make that claim?
4 years ago
LOL, and the US should’ve invaded Nazi Germany to protect the SA.
