What happened to Donald Trump’s non-interventionist America-First policy? If the U.S. is interested in stopping ISIS, and Syria is working to stop ISIS, why is the U.S. working to stop Syria?
By Ron Paul
Just when you thought our Syria policy could not get any worse, last week it did. The U.S. military twice attacked Syrian government forces from a military base it illegally occupies inside Syria. According to the Pentagon, the attacks on Syrian government-backed forces were “defensive,” because the Syrian fighters were approaching a U.S. self-declared “de-confliction” zone inside Syria. The Syrian forces were pursuing ISIS in the area, but the U.S. attacked anyway.
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The U.S. is training yet another rebel group fighting from that base, located near the border of Iraq at al-Tanf, and it claims that Syrian government forces pose a threat to the U.S. military presence there. But the Pentagon has forgotten one thing: It has no authority to be in Syria in the first place! Neither the U.S. Congress nor the UN Security Council has authorized a U.S. military presence inside Syria.
So what gives the Trump Administration the right to set up military bases on foreign soil without the permission of that government? Why are we violating the sovereignty of Syria and attacking its military as they are fighting ISIS? Why does Washington claim that its primary mission in Syria is to defeat ISIS while taking military actions that benefit ISIS?
The Pentagon issued a statement saying its presence in Syria is necessary because the Syrian government is not strong enough to defeat ISIS on its own. But the “de-escalation zones” agreed upon by the Syrians, Russians, Iranians, and Turks have led to a reduction in fighting and a possible end to the six-year war. Even if true that the Syrian military is weakened, its weakness is due to six years of U.S.-sponsored rebels fighting to overthrow it!
What is this really all about? Why does the U.S. military occupy this base inside Syria? It’s partly about preventing the Syrians and Iraqis from working together to fight ISIS, but I think it’s mostly about Iran. If the Syrians and Iraqis join up to fight ISIS with the help of Iranian-allied Shia militia, the U.S. believes it will strengthen Iran’s hand in the region. President Trump has recently returned from a trip to Saudi Arabia where he swore he would not allow that to happen.
But is this policy really in our interest, or are we just doing the bidding of our Middle East “allies,” who seem desperate for war with Iran? Saudi Arabia exports its radical form of Islam worldwide, including recently into moderate Asian Muslim countries like Indonesia. Iran does not. That is not to say that Iran is perfect, but does it make any sense to jump into the Sunni/Shia conflict on either side? The Syrians, along with their Russian and Iranian allies, are defeating ISIS and al Qaeda. As candidate Trump said, what’s so bad about that?
We were told that if the Syrian government was allowed to liberate Aleppo from al Qaeda, Assad would kill thousands who were trapped there. But the opposite has happened: Life is returning to normal in Aleppo. The Christian minority there celebrated Easter for the first time in several years. They are rebuilding. Can’t we finally just leave the Syrians alone?
When you get to the point where your actions are actually helping ISIS, whether intended or not, perhaps it’s time to stop. It’s past time for the U.S. to abandon its dangerous and counterproductive Syria policy and just bring the troops home.
Ron Paul, a former U.S. representative from Texas and medical doctor, continues to write his weekly column for the Ron Paul Institute for Peace and Prosperity, online at www.ronpaulinstitute.org.
Well done Ron YOU and I both know the REAL Goal is the conquest of Syria not the conquest of those quasi -Terrorists, who in REALITY are MERCENARIES, working for Israel and its PROXY-UNITED STATES
To understand the American and British dealings in the Middle East, one needs only to study their histories since 1945. The leaders of both countries have been rotten to the core.
“Why Are We Attacking the Syrians Who Are Fighting ISIS?”
Gee, that’s a tough one, let me think…
(((Who))) would have us do such a (((crazy thing)))?
OK, I give up, (((who)))?
Cause Israel controls Americas foreign policy….
The United( zionist) Snakes is the ISIS( Daesh)!!!
Why? Does he really have to ask?
The reason is the Greater Reason for our presence in the Middle East – to advance the cause for a Greater Israel.
Israel does not like Moderate Islam, especially that which tolerates and protects its Christian minorities, and wants to wipe it off the face of the Earth. Aha! It can create, buy, arm and manipulate Radical Islam for this purpose. And it can manipulate through shame and painting as anti-Semitic anyone questions this stance against Moderate Islam.
The reason is ISIS is US, that the CIA / Mossad created it in the first place and is only pretending that this Radical Islam is the problem while they go after the Moderate Islam in Syria, Iran, Iraq, Libya, Yemen, Somalia and anywhere else it is found, including the refugees in Europe, the US, and the rest of the world.
The goal – make Moderate Islam hated everywhere using the sword of Radical Islam, and to take all the spoils of the wars, unrest, and disorder this strategy creates.
To take the whole world to the bank, or what’s left of it, as long as there is nothing left of Christianity and the Culture it supported and there is only Judaic culture of the Synagogue of Satan left to rule the world.
The reason is the Spirit of Antichrist. As St. John illustrates in his Epistles and in the Apocalypse – He who denies that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh – he is antichrist.
The reason we fight Syria in support of ISIS is ISISrael!