So, among the latest of Trump’s kerfuffles is his tweet about extricating ourselves from Syria. This means now every “Never Trumper,” alleged “foreign policy expert,” “political talking head,” and democrat thinks this is a rotten idea. It is funny how Trump can turn the normally peace-loving Democrats into war mongers with just a simple tweet about bringing troops home. (BTW that was sarcasm. The Dems are no more peace-loving than the Republicans are war mongers, and the troops will probably not come home, they will just be deployed somewhere else.)
We have been in a war against Islamic terror since about 1980, (earlier if you want to go back to the 1974 Munich Olympics) with what can best be described as mixed results. For most of the late 20th Century the events were outside the US so the public outrage lasted for a few days and we returned to our own interests pretty quickly, but those who were engaged found themselves engaged on a global basis.
The thing about terror and terrorist organizations though is their resilience. I would argue it is impossible to completely defeat them on any conventional battlefield. If they can’t be engaged and defeated at the ideological level they will continue to gain support with funding and followers who believe they are the one path out of whatever they have today into some ill-defined better world. In the case of Islamic terror, this is reinforced by clergy who give sanction and legitimacy to the cause.
What is lost in all these expert opinions (mostly by people who don’t have children engaged in war) is what are the vital national interests we need to protect? SECDEF Mattis resigned a couple of days ago over the President’s decision, does that mean the President is wrong in his decision? I don’t think so, but what Mattis did point out was the problem of making foreign policy via Twitter without maintaining the alliances we have built and cultivated since the end of the Second World War. Maintaining good relationships with our Allies is in our national interest, but at some point, we have got to decide what is best for the Nation, and let the world fend for itself.
The question then is how do we end a war that has no glorious outcome with a ticker tape parade?
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