When nearly everyone on both sides is in complete agreement on a particular subject, including me, I feel the need to reevaluate my position. All the talking heads on TV and pundits online have been breathlessly condemning the President’s decision to redeploy troops away from northern Syria. When I first heard it, I got caught up in that too. The Kurds have been a great ally in the fight against ISIS. At first blush, without any thought or analysis, it would seem that we are leaving them in the lurch with this decision. After thinking about it and researching exactly what’s going on over there, I have a different take.
Turkey has been planning an invasion against the Kurdish forces in northern Syria. It is an area that is currently occupied by the Kurds. While they have been an important ally, Turkey is also an ally. They have been a NATO ally since the 1950s. The Kurds are not an actual nation-state, but we’ll get back to that. Everyone is upset that we’re pulling out and the Kurds will be at the mercy of Turkish forces. We only have less than 1000 troops in Syria and somewhere around 150 special operators who are in the safe zone are being redeployed elsewhere in Syria. If Turkey wants to overrun the Kurds, they could do it. Of course, 150 of our special operators would make a difference, but not a decisive one. We are also still supporting them with weapons and money.
Circling back to the point about allies, as a NATO ally, we are obligated by treaty to defend Turkey. There is no Kurdistan with whom we have any treaty. Given that fact, if two allies are headed for conflict and we can’t do anything to prevent said conflict, perhaps the wisest course of action is to get out of the way.
The president ran on getting us out of endless conflicts that don’t benefit our national interests. All the conservative republicans that seemed to get on board with that notion are now castigating the president saying he’s betraying our allies and none of our allies will trust us after this. He’s not redeploying a battalion of troops; it’s barely a company. Everyone needs to just calm down, take a step back and look at the facts. Emotional reactions to situations almost always lead to conclusion jumping, rash decisions and taking the wrong course of action. Why don’t we just wait and see?