Syria's complicated, which is why we're pulling back

You know you’ve fallen down the rabbit hole when a president of the United States announces total military withdrawal from a foreign country and the folks at MSNBC go nuts. They weren’t the only ones. Neocons and the military industrial complex lost their minds, too. Then President Trump let the world know that we only had about fifty soldiers left in Syria.

It was as if the country had collective amnesia. President Trump announced last December that we were pulling out of Syria and it was met with the same outrage and condemnation from the same quarters. What’s head-scratching is that these same folks were stunned by Trump’s most recent announcement. It’s just the final stage of a troop draw-down that’s been going on for about eight months.

So, why is the president leaving Syria? Well, if the mainstream media in America actually chose to tell the truth for once you’d learn that the 50 to 100 U.S. special forces soldiers would be redeployed to more secure positions inside Syria. Why are they pulling back from the 30km safe zone on the border with Turkey? Because the job is done. We routed ISIS. They are operationally gelded. And should they rear their ugly heads again we stand prepared to lop them off. Again.

But what about the Kurds? This is where the pro-war forces join with the anti-Trump leftists. Somehow we’re leaving the Kurds high and dry to be slaughtered by the Turks. How can we abandon such a strong ally? First, let’s get the terms straight. Turkey, as a member of NATO, is technically our ally. We have a sworn treaty to protect them and our other NATO allies. Second, a large part of the Kurdish separatist movement is fomented by the PKK. This is the Kurdistan Workers Party. Yep, just like they sound, they’re a bunch of Marxist commies. They claim an area at the convergence of Syria, Iraq, Iran, and Turkey as Kurdistan. It’s not a real place. They want parts of Southern Turkey as their own. The Turks will fight to keep that territory in Turkey, and rightfully so.

Imagine if we had a bunch of Hispanics who helped fight the war on drugs down at the border then decided they’re going to claim the Southern part of Texas as their own. Think that’s gonna happen? Not under this president.

To the Kurds we say, “Thanks for your help with ISIS, but we’re done here and we’re going home.” The Kurds only want us there long enough to help them carve out their own digs, then they’ll be blowing us up if we don’t go home. A smart leader knows when it’s time to get out. Trump is that smart leader.

Still the calls to reverse his policy by Congress have already begun. Look, here’s the long and short of it. The president is the commander-in-chief. If he doesn’t want to fight a war then Congress sure ain’t gonna make him.

As for Turkey and the Kurds, President Trump has warned Turkey not to try any shenanigans or he will “obliterate” their economy. We’ll see who blinks first on that.

In the meantime, the Syrian Kurds just might have to make up with Assad. The Turkish Kurds might just have to make up with Erdogan. Syria and Turkey go back to their own corners and play nice. And we just might have peace in that part of the Middle East. Sounds like something worthy of a Nobel Peace Prize. Oh, yeah. That one’s already been earmarked for Greta Thunberg.

Phil Valentine is the host of the award-winning talk radio show, The Phil Valentine Show, on SuperTalk 99.7WTN in Nashville. He's also co-host of The PodGOATs podcast.