Let’s Leave Syria

NRO ^ | Dec 21 2018 | MICHAEL BRENDAN DOUGHERTY

[rintintin]

The intervention was questionable in the first place, and the reasons for staying are murky.

Donald Trump is looking to make a precipitate exit from Syria. His advisers, most of the leading opinion writers in the country, and all the great and the good of America’s foreign-policy elite are crying out at the blunder they anticipate it will be. The president is handing a gift to Vladimir Putin and Iran. The president is betraying our allies. Disaster.

I don’t think so.

You may remember that the U.S. Congress refused to authorize intervention in Syria in 2013, when President Obama kicked the question to them. They refused to do so because of polls showing that Americans opposed intervention overwhelmingly, roughly 70–30. And support for intervention tends to go down over time. However, U.S. forces had already been active in Syria, and in Syria’s civil war, for at least a year by that point, working with the CIA to arm and train Sunnis fighting the government. Alas, in our scramble to find “moderate rebels,” we often ended up arming Al Nusra, the franchise of al-Qaeda that is native to Syria.

[Retain Mike]

I sent this Letter to the Editor on the subject.

From: Retain Mike Sent: Friday, December 21, 2018 9:47 AM To: World Letters (mailbag@worldmag.com) Subject: James Mattis Resignation

James Mattis shares the dilution of the previous administration that sent U.S. ground forces into two tiny enclaves in Syria. The U.S. Naval Institute article titled “Senators Quiz Military Leaders on U.S. Forces in Syria after ISIS” is interesting, because of the map presenting areas controlled by various armed factions. This colorful crazy quilt identifies Syrian Kurds and Aligned Forces, Syrian Government Forces, Islamic State Forces, Syrian Opposition Forces, Turkish Military Backed Forces, and some white areas for which evidently no one can hazard a guess. Remote from each other are two tiny circles labeled U.S./Coalition Military. The map does not account for Israeli airstrikes and threatened Turkish offensives into Syria against the Kurds. What an endless array of possible permutations for factions to fight each other with our handful of troops in the midst.

I wonder how one could have divined any meaningful level of involvement in the face of such turmoil? A comprehensive ceasefire seems remote. Even if achieved, then where do you find the diplomatic skills needed to sort out the combatants into peaceful agrarian villages like you see on Star Trek? If Mattis considers that is an imperative for U.S. foreign policy, then we are well rid of him.

James Mattis resigns as defense secretary https://www.cbsnews.com/news/james-mattis-resigns-as-defense-secretary-today-12-20-2018/

Senators Quiz Military Leaders on U.S. Forces in Syria after ISIS https://news.usni.org/2018/03/13/senators-quiz-military-leaders-u-s-forces-syria-isis?utm_source=USNI+News&utm_campaign=4be94c77a1-USNI_NEWS_DAILY&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_0dd4a1450b-4be94c77a1-230377553&mc_cid=4be94c77a1&mc_eid=d1b7ba249a

[Forgotten Amendments]

Looks like another neocon rag is having to dump forme centerpiece of their policy to try to fade out of existence more slowly.

NR has come back quite a bit since the David Frum days. They aren't what they were in their glory years, but it's not a neocon propaganda sheet anymore. There are a few worthwhile writers there now.