On Syria, the Kurds, the Saudis, etc.

I've been trying to read up on the whole Syria withdrawal story these last few days. I seem to be in the minority because I am not terribly put out about it. I might wish for a more coherent policy overall, but I think that Trump saw the writing on the wall. The Turks were coming in, and our rather minuscule troop presence in the region was going to be hard-pressed. In the end, we moved a relatively small number of troops from one sector of Syria to another rather than come to blows with the Turks. Meanwhile, the Turks seem intent on occupying a twenty-mile wide sector along their border to which they hope to repatriate the million-and-a-half Syrian refugees within Turkey. Another stated purpose is to keep hostile Kurdish forces away from their border. 

If indeed that's what the Turks are up to, then it is a less disastrous situation than many are portraying. The NeoCons always want more troops in more places, and the Democrats are eager to portray Trump as facilitating slaughter and/or ethnic cleansing, but what seems to be happening is something somewhat less awful than that. I realize, of course, that in the coming days and weeks I could be proven very wrong.

• Andrew McCarthy in the National Review was helpful here: Turkey and the Kurds: It's more complicated than you think.
• And this over at Powerline: A Sensible Take on Syria
• And at Conservative Policy News: No, We're Not Selling Out the Syrian Kurds. But we Should Mediate their Conflict with Turkey

I think all of this could have been handled better, of course. Much better. But what we are talking about, if we had stayed, was preserving the occupation of a relatively narrow corridor along the Turkish border by Kurdish forces. All they really have to do is pull back, and perhaps we might have encouraged them to do so before now. Are we supposed to endorse the permanent occupation of eastern and Northern Syria by these Kurdish militias?

In the meantime, this.

It was just four days ago that President Donald Trump explained his decision to move American troops out of one part of Syria by saying that it was "time for us to get out of these ridiculous Endless Wars…and bring our soldiers home."

On Friday, the Trump administration announced it would be sending about 1,800 additional troops to the Middle East.

In a statement, Pentagon spokesman Jonathon Hoffman said the new deployments were part of an overall strategy "to assure and enhance the defense of Saudi Arabia."At a press conference, Defense Secretary Mark Esper said the new deployments were made in consultation with the Saudi Arabian Ministry of Defense.

So let there be no talk of Trump bringing the troops home, or disentangling us from the Middle East. And meanwhile, you have Trump's threat to obliterate Turkey economically if they cross some imaginary line that only he, Trump, knows about. Oh great. Trump seems hesitant about a shooting war, but he loves an economic one. 

The American Conservative has been very good on this matter, my opinion.

• America doesn't belong in Syria

• And Scott Ritter's excellent: Why the Syrian Kurds aren't necessarily our friends

Back to the new deployment in support of Saudi Arabis. Yeah, Saudi Arabia, who is conducting a brutal war of aggression against Yemen. What exactly are they needing these 1800 soldiers for? And of course who can forget that it was Trump who said, after the recent strikes against Saudi oil facilities, that he was waiting to hear from the Saudis as to how we should respond?


So: am I more optimistic now that a few troops have been moved around within Syria and more are being sent to the Saudi Kingdom. No, not in the least.