In his Farewell Address, George Washington warned against foreign entanglements. He put it this way, “So likewise, a passionate attachment of one
nation for another produces a variety of evils. Sympathy for the favorite nation, facilitating
the illusion of an imaginary common interest in cases where no real common
interest exists, and infusing into one the enmities of the other, betrays the
former into a participation in the quarrels and wars of the latter without
adequate inducement or justification.”
There has seemed to be a lot of anger in the veteran community over President Trump’s decision a couple weeks ago to remove the approximately 50 U.S. soldiers who had been serving as some sort of “deterrent” in northern Syria. Cries of “abandoning our valiant Kurdish allies” have been heard from pretty much every media outlet. I must admit, my very first reaction was the same – Anger.
But, after stepping back and thinking it over, I realized that this is exactly the tactic that’s been used by the permanent foreign policy establishment and military industrial complex since the end of World War II. Can anyone say “tripwire”?
That’s exactly what our troops in Europe were during the Cold War. They were there to ensure that IF the Soviet Union attacked, the loss of American lives would ensure that the U.S. would enter the war to protect Western Europe. In essence, the American government was willing to sacrifice American lives to defend our allies. A noble pursuit.
But, what has become of that alliance? NATO was created to deter the Soviet Union. That entity collapsed in 1991. Since then, the foreign policy establishment has been constantly searching for new “enemies” so they can continue to be relevant in their think tanks. Russia is our enemy now. But, as the Soviet Union dissolved, Russia was not destined to be so. Under Gorbachev and Boris Yeltsin there was every opportunity to forge a new relationship with Russia. If that had happened, however, all the old Cold Warriors would be left with no one to fight. Instead, they convince Presidents to become involved in civil wars around the globe, or seek to impose American-style democracy on societies that don't have the traditions or institutions to support it. These become "traps", making it almost impossible to withdraw without "abandoning an ally".
The NATO countries have consistently refused to spend the agreed upon amounts for their own defense. In essence, American taxpayers have paid so that European economies could thrive. At the same time, whenever there’s trouble in the world, they stand back and let America bear the burden.
Syria represents this same type of trap that’s been used to try and tie the hands of every President. Obama decided to take sides in a civil war. This was exactly what we did to get involved in Vietnam. And, I'm reminded of how the Democrats cut off funding and we abandoned the South Vietnamese to the Communists. We send our troops in with no declaration of war by Congress. We ally ourselves with someone to put down the latest brush fire. Then, we can’t get out without the whiners in Washington playing on everyone’s emotions. “Oh, our national security is at stake”. “We can’t abandon our allies”.
What we owe the Kurds is our thanks for assisting in taking out the ISIS caliphate. “Hey, thanks guys. Really appreciate your help. But, we came here to do a particular job. It’s done. We didn’t come here to try and settle your centuries old scores. We’ll keep some Intelligence assets and Special Ops folks in the region to keep hunting down ISIS fighters. But, you’ve got to figure out how to deal with Turkey on your own”.
The same holds true for Saudi Arabia. The Iranians blow up a Saudi oil field and the Pentagon immediately sends 2,000 more troops. Fortunately, they are not ground forces. Instead, that deployment represents 2 fighter squadrons and 3 air-defense units. But, the question must be asked, “With all their money and all the other military gear we’ve sold them, why can’t they defend their own oil fields?’ Unlike in the Gulf War, when America was dependent on Middle East oil, such is no longer the case. Having the fighter squadrons there takes some of the pressure off the Navy carriers in the Gulf, potentially flying missions to attack ISIS. But, what we should do is train the Saudis to operate the air-defense systems, leave the weapons there, and bring those troops home.
Then, there’s Afghanistan. The mujahedeen fought the Soviet Union to a standstill in the 1980s, causing them to turn and run. Yet, these same people can’t cope with the Taliban? Another example of using America as a crutch to keep from defending their own territory. We went there to defeat Al Qaeda. We accomplished that mission. It’s time to give the Afghans the weapons they need and let them settle things themselves. 18 years is long enough.
To those who ask “What message is this sending to our other allies around the world?”, it says don’t count on America to keep jumping in and pulling your chestnuts out of the fire at every instance of man’s inhumanity to man. In actuality, we have no “allies”, except maybe Israel. That’s the only country that hasn’t asked us to come and fight their battles for them. They just ask to be provided the tools to do so. What we have are national interests which can and do change.
This is why the Deep State hates Trump. He’s not going along to get along, putting American men and women in harm’s way just to please those who haven’t gotten over the Cold War. Old George knew what he was talking about.
There has seemed to be a lot of anger in the veteran community over President Trump’s decision a couple weeks ago to remove the approximately 50 U.S. soldiers who had been serving as some sort of “deterrent” in northern Syria. Cries of “abandoning our valiant Kurdish allies” have been heard from pretty much every media outlet. I must admit, my very first reaction was the same – Anger.
But, after stepping back and thinking it over, I realized that this is exactly the tactic that’s been used by the permanent foreign policy establishment and military industrial complex since the end of World War II. Can anyone say “tripwire”?
That’s exactly what our troops in Europe were during the Cold War. They were there to ensure that IF the Soviet Union attacked, the loss of American lives would ensure that the U.S. would enter the war to protect Western Europe. In essence, the American government was willing to sacrifice American lives to defend our allies. A noble pursuit.
But, what has become of that alliance? NATO was created to deter the Soviet Union. That entity collapsed in 1991. Since then, the foreign policy establishment has been constantly searching for new “enemies” so they can continue to be relevant in their think tanks. Russia is our enemy now. But, as the Soviet Union dissolved, Russia was not destined to be so. Under Gorbachev and Boris Yeltsin there was every opportunity to forge a new relationship with Russia. If that had happened, however, all the old Cold Warriors would be left with no one to fight. Instead, they convince Presidents to become involved in civil wars around the globe, or seek to impose American-style democracy on societies that don't have the traditions or institutions to support it. These become "traps", making it almost impossible to withdraw without "abandoning an ally".
The NATO countries have consistently refused to spend the agreed upon amounts for their own defense. In essence, American taxpayers have paid so that European economies could thrive. At the same time, whenever there’s trouble in the world, they stand back and let America bear the burden.
Syria represents this same type of trap that’s been used to try and tie the hands of every President. Obama decided to take sides in a civil war. This was exactly what we did to get involved in Vietnam. And, I'm reminded of how the Democrats cut off funding and we abandoned the South Vietnamese to the Communists. We send our troops in with no declaration of war by Congress. We ally ourselves with someone to put down the latest brush fire. Then, we can’t get out without the whiners in Washington playing on everyone’s emotions. “Oh, our national security is at stake”. “We can’t abandon our allies”.
What we owe the Kurds is our thanks for assisting in taking out the ISIS caliphate. “Hey, thanks guys. Really appreciate your help. But, we came here to do a particular job. It’s done. We didn’t come here to try and settle your centuries old scores. We’ll keep some Intelligence assets and Special Ops folks in the region to keep hunting down ISIS fighters. But, you’ve got to figure out how to deal with Turkey on your own”.
The same holds true for Saudi Arabia. The Iranians blow up a Saudi oil field and the Pentagon immediately sends 2,000 more troops. Fortunately, they are not ground forces. Instead, that deployment represents 2 fighter squadrons and 3 air-defense units. But, the question must be asked, “With all their money and all the other military gear we’ve sold them, why can’t they defend their own oil fields?’ Unlike in the Gulf War, when America was dependent on Middle East oil, such is no longer the case. Having the fighter squadrons there takes some of the pressure off the Navy carriers in the Gulf, potentially flying missions to attack ISIS. But, what we should do is train the Saudis to operate the air-defense systems, leave the weapons there, and bring those troops home.
Then, there’s Afghanistan. The mujahedeen fought the Soviet Union to a standstill in the 1980s, causing them to turn and run. Yet, these same people can’t cope with the Taliban? Another example of using America as a crutch to keep from defending their own territory. We went there to defeat Al Qaeda. We accomplished that mission. It’s time to give the Afghans the weapons they need and let them settle things themselves. 18 years is long enough.
To those who ask “What message is this sending to our other allies around the world?”, it says don’t count on America to keep jumping in and pulling your chestnuts out of the fire at every instance of man’s inhumanity to man. In actuality, we have no “allies”, except maybe Israel. That’s the only country that hasn’t asked us to come and fight their battles for them. They just ask to be provided the tools to do so. What we have are national interests which can and do change.
This is why the Deep State hates Trump. He’s not going along to get along, putting American men and women in harm’s way just to please those who haven’t gotten over the Cold War. Old George knew what he was talking about.
