https://thefederalist.com/2019/10/14/why-trump-is-absolutely-right-to-get-u-s-troops-out-of-syria/
An interesting opinion piece.
I may agree that there were good reasons to withdraw from Syria, but it seemed to me that the way we pulled out left a lot of U.S. military and state officials flat footed. The reaction of other nations may have been expected, but the first reaction from everyone was surprise. So, was this the best our country could do? Or could better planning have helped create a more orderly pullout than the chaos we are witnessing, now?
The article also does not address that there were two things we were doing with our military that was helping to bring peace and stability to that area. In addition to the mop up operations against ISIS we were conducting with the Kurds, our military was doing joint patrols and exercises with the Turkish military on the border, trying to balance our commitments to both allies in the region. Until suddenly, we were not.
This article seems to be very dismissive of the potential threat that ISIS poses. I think it would be possible that with the fighters who escape, they could possibly take advantage of the chaos in Iraq, right now, or reinforce the small areas in Syria that they still control. These extremist organizations have proven to be extremely resilient and in the past, their terror network has been very creative in the damage they can cause from long distances away. If they are allowed to reconstitute in any meaningful way, will it be that long before they are able to launch attacks on our country, again? I don't have the answer to that, but I hope someone is looking at that data. The article identifies China as more of a threat in the long term. Maybe. But I think that while that threat is approaching, the terror cells of ISIS and affiliates still have not been neutralized.
So, I would say that the article is partly right in that there were some long term goals that support our pullout from Syria. I still contend that we went about the pullout in such a haphazard way that the President created a lose-lose-lose situation for our country. The Kurds feel stabbed in the back, Turkey is now being sanctioned, and we certainly have not diminished the threat of a future ISIS resurgence, which is why I suppose we were stretching the original 9-11 sanction to begin with. Not to mention that if there is ever a threat to our country like 9-11 that originates from this region, who would partner with us? So, I think meeting these possible long-term wins the article talks about does not balance the short term net losses we are taking. Loses that might have been avoided with better leadership and planning.
One further thing: The Kurds protected the Syrian Christians who fled from ISIS. Everyone seems to be ignoring
their voice in this. The northern border is heavily populated with Christians, and the concern raised by a priest in the Christianity Today article I link to is that Erdogan's plan is to force out the Kurds, Christians and Yazidis in favor of Sunni Muslims. It seems our sudden pullout, in addition to harming our few alliances in the area, has unintentionally advanced the objectives of ISIS.