While I do think the seeming abruptness of the decision isn’t the best foreign policy move, I’m with the minority here (that includes Rand Paul and Tulsi Gabbard), in that I don’t think we should be in Syria. I say minority only because if Democrats (and probably Republicans) don’t know know it’s Trump saying it, they agree with pulling out.
- Congress never declared war. What are we doing there? Is this another of Obama’s “kinetic military action”?
- What’s our mission? How is us being in Syria any different to the mission-less morass that we were involved in with Vietnam?
That being said, there are some other key points and questions that everyone outraged by the Syria withdrawal should consider:
- There are key questions about all of Turkey’s claims that are international in scope, and shouldn’t just be an American decision.
- The Kurds in Syria that we’ve been helping are not the Iraqi Kurds Americans are most familiar with. They’re a communist organization that is internationally recognized as terrorist in nature.
- The Aramean Christians in the minority, perhaps the most persecuted group of all in the area, support the decision.
Now in implementing the decision, we’ve suddenly seen that good, old-fashioned diplomacy is actually able to accomplish a lot of the things that hadn’t been moving in a while: First, Turkey agreed to a cease fire period to give the Kurds time to withdraw, but more importantly we now have a permanent cease-fire deal, and the Kurdish commanders are thanking President Trump.
One final thought: Pelosi and Schumer traveling to Jordan to meet about everything going on in Syria sure seems like a blatant violation of the Logan Act…
Tai-Chi Policy 