Op-ed:
Leaving Allies Behind...or Are We?
By: Diane Sori / The Patriot Factor / Right Side Patriots on American Political Radio

“The Enemy of my Enemy is my Friend.”

- 4th century B.C. “Indian Machiavelli” Kautilya in the Sanskrit military book, the Arthashastra

On October 7, 2019, President Trump announced the withdrawal of our troops from along the northeastern Syrian/Turkish border, and from the moment he did the consternation from surprisingly both sides of the political aisle started building...reaching a level of what amounts to a public crucifixion of our president.

How so? Well for starters House Speaker Nancy Pelosi tweeted that, “The President’s decision to withdraw U.S. forces from Northern Syria is a deeply disturbing development that betrays our Kurdish allies who have been instrumental partners in our mission to eradicate ISIS.” And of course Rep. Adam Schiff got his jabs in by saying that, “We will be pouring over the intelligence to determine what steps Congress might need to take to protect American interests in light of this reckless, impulsive and dangerous action by the president.” Even Trump supporting South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham tweeted that, "No matter what President Trump is saying about his decision, it is EXACTLY what President Obama did in Iraq with even more disastrous consequences for our national security...So sad. So dangerous. President Trump may be tired of fighting radical Islam. They are NOT tired of fighting us.”

Hey Lindsay, I'm sure President Trump knows that.

And Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell was probably the worst for he issued a statement that, “A precipitous withdrawal of U.S. forces from Syria would only benefit Russia, Iran, and the Assad regime....As we learned the hard way during the Obama administration, American interests are best served by American leadership, not by retreat or withdrawal.” In other words, Mitch McConnell compared Trump's leadership regarding the Kurds to that of America-hating, islamic condoning Barack HUSSEIN Obama...a political backstabbing of our president if ever there was one.

It's one thing to disagree with Trump's decision...a decision made by his focusing on the big picture instead of on individual parts...but it's quite another to shame your president without knowing all the facts...facts few are aware of...but I guarantee they're facts President Trump knows well.

But let's begin by giving credit where credit is due in that since 2014 the Kurds have been our faithful ally in the ground war against our common enemy ISIS. But one must also know that the Kurds are seen by the Turkish government as an ally of the SDF Kurdish separatists...separatists based in both Turkey and Iran who Turkey claims has ties to the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), the party responsible for ongoing violent attacks within Turkey itself...violence in name of the Kurds trying to secure a Kurdish state. In other words, our Kurdish ally appears to be our ally Turkey's enemy thus catching us in the middle of their fight...a fight that we're no part of.



And so a dilemma arose for President Trump...the very man who promised to start withdrawing our troops now bogged down in wars that seemingly have no end. Do we support the Kurds against Turkey as both sides brought their war to what is now the “buffer zone” between Turkey's southern border and Syria's northern border or do we support an allied NATO partner...albeit a tenuous ally at best. And while we all know that Turkey's President Recip Erdogen is an islamist supporter who pretends not to be one, he has for the most part stayed out of our and the Kurds way in regards to trying to rid Syria of ISIS. 
 

But all the players know well that ISIS is not defeated but laying low until all American troops are gone to make their return...just like the Taliban did in Afghanistan. And Trump I'm sure knows that while we as a country have witnessed numerous shifts in Turkish policy towards ISIS, Syria's civil war, and towards the Kurds themselves...the one thing that's remained an absolute constant for Turkey is their unwavering opposition to Kurdish autonomy... especially if said autonomy means that a Kurdish state would be sitting on and partly within what is currently the area encompassing their southern border.

The truth is that Erdogen wants to extend Turkey's existing so-called “buffer zone” into Syria's northern Afrin region even if it means having to kill the Kurds currently living there and replace them with at least two of the three million Syrians who sought refuge in Turkey, thus ridding himself and his country of people who are not only causing trouble but who are a drain on Turkey's economy.

In fact, I believe former National Security Adviser John Bolton knew of Erdogen's true motives, including that Turkish forces would start their ground and air onslaught against the Kurds as soon as we started pulling out... which they have in operation code name "Peace Spring." And more likely than not it's over the Kurds and Bolton's not wanting to pull out where he and President Trump did finally break ranks. But if this be the case then even John Bolton left out one key component in his thinking...the Kurds and the Turks have been at each others throats for well over a century in what amounts to a Turk/Kurd civil war...a civil war also seeing no real end in site...a civil war we have no “skin in the game.” And so if it's a game being played who better to play it than Donald Trump.

Let me explain. President Trump is getting the blame for us being in Syria when it was Obama who put us there to aid the so-called Syrian rebels in their battle against President Bashir al-Assad's government forces. However, those rebels turned out to be not rebels per se but ISIS fighters who themselves wanted inroads into Syria. And so Trump kept our Obama committed forces there, and with the aid of the Kurds together we drove most of ISIS out. Our job there was done with what's left being the Turk/Kurd civil war...a civil war we should not get directly involved in as both sides, for better or worse, we consider to be allies. So why not remove our troops from there, remove them but not bring them home, but move them elsewhere for strategical reasons.

                                                                                        

And so just last week the pullout began as 50 U.S. soldiers...50 special forces personnel...began leaving bases in Tel Abyad and Ras al Ayn near the Syrian side of the “buffer zone”...which many feel is a mistake not unlike the mistake Obama made in Iraq, the very country that has now ceded partial control of some of its territory to Iran...not unlike the mistake JFK made in regards to the Bay of Pigs.  

But what many are forgetting is never take President Trump at face value for to do so is a mistake in and of itself.

President Trump is not only our president but commander-in-chief of our armed forces, and as such he must make important tactical decisions based not upon what seems on the surface to be a simple solution, but upon military logistics as well. And it's actually military logistics that's being overlooked as being but a rash shift in our foreign policy directive when in reality it's anything but.

Again let me explain. Right now we know many are quite angry at President Trump for what they believe is the deserting of an ally during a time of war...an ally who helped us win, if you will, the battle against ISIS in Syria. And I must admit that I too was quite peeved at first, after all American policy has always been that America leaves no man...no troop...behind, and that such a policy should extend to our allies as well. But the more I thought about this the more unsettling it became as our president is not the type of man to leave an ally behind. And that in turn led to the fact that we have been equipping the Kurds with weapons of war for quite some time and that those very weapons while used against ISIS are now being used against another ally of ours..Turkey...all in the Kurds quest for an autonomous state.

And while Turkey is an ally...an ally we best always keep one eye open to...they're an ally nevertheless. And this led me to the realization that our troops still stationed along the border in question are but witnesses to yet another Middle East civil war...albeit a smaller scale civil war...a civil war between two allies that we were forced into the middle of.

And I believe this is why President Trump announced this particular troop withdrawal at this particular time, but it goes even deeper than that for I now believe he has a bigger plan in mind...a plan it seems few if any have figured out yet. The “Master of the Deal” has with this withdrawal sealed the deal that might see all American troops being able to soon come home...come home after one more battle that is...one more battle that just might set the world on the road to long sought after peace.

To understand what I'm about to say you need to look at the two maps below and the logistical end and my reasoning will fall into place. Let's start with Map 1. Here you see the regions key players...Turkey, Syria, Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the UAE, Egypt, and most assuredly Israel. Now add in the United States as we have either troops and airbases in or have been allowed staging grounds within all the above stated countries, except Iran of course.

Now comes the logistics and what I believe to be President Trump's ultimate end game. First, President Trump is withdrawing us from Syria, a war torn country no use to us, but withdrawing is not for the reasons most think. Remember, Trump never stated that those in Syria were coming home just that they were being withdrawn. Second, I think he's sending them to either Iraq or Afghanistan to help bolster our forces in the region. Third, we have operational military bases in Turkey, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and Afghanistan along with flyover privileges also from the Saudis and the UAE as well as unwavering Israeli and Egyptian support. We even have access to certain Pakistani military bases to use for logistics, relief efforts, and as a launching base for drone operations as well as us having access to use almost all the military airfields of Turkmenistan, including the airport in Nebit-Dag near the Iranian border. And Albanian officials have offered and we have accepted the establishment of U.S. military bases in Albania. Fourth, in other words the United States and our allies have a military presence to the north, south, east, and west of Iran...the very country that is not only the Middle East's but the world's most destabilizing force.
 

And fifth, the bottom line is that I believe President Trump's end game, to which he now has actually added more U.S, troops to without most being aware, is that if you look below at Map 2 you will see that we have Iran surrounded and that sooner rather than later we will launch from those bases in allied and somewhat friendly countries, and that together with Israel's, Saudi Arabia's, and Egypt's standing alongside us go in and take Iran out.

Too many people think President Trump to be an impulsive hothead, a tweeting cartoon character of what a president should be instead of seeing him as the strong, smart, clever, and patriotic leader that he is. President Trump knows that Iran must be taken out as much as he knows that we have been bogged down in wars that seem to see no end...but the no end is because Iran keeps fueling the fires of war as they think they have everything to gain and nothing to lose not realizing that they have already lost if only the true battle would begin.

And I believe President Trump has now set the stage for just that very battle...the only battle that really matters as it's the only battle that could actually in the end bring peace...if only Trump's naysayers would see the big picture and not focus on but one small piece of what is a much larger and more important game.

So a big thank you must go out to the Kurds for helping us fight ISIS, but now the time has come for the Kurds and the Turks to fight their own battles...and the Kurds are already doing so with weapons supplied to them by the U.S. And while we can still support them logistically we can do so without American troops being put in harms way. Their quest for autonomy is not our battle as we have a bigger fish to fry...a fish I think President Trump, after having seen the big picture, is now in the process of preparing to cast that final tactical net.

Copyright @ 2019 Diane Sori / The Patriot Factor / All Rights Reserved. 

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For more political commentary please visit my RIGHT SIDE PATRIOTS partner Craig Andresen's blog The National Patriot to read his latest article, Alinsky's Rules for Rhetorical Radicals.

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RIGHT SIDE PATRIOTS...LIVE!

Tomorrow, Tuesday, October 15th, from 7 to 9pm EST on American Political Radio, RIGHT SIDE PATRIOTS Craig Andresen and Diane Sori discuss 'Leaving Allies Behind...or Are We?'; 'Alinsky's Rules for Rhetorical Radicals'; and important news of the day.

Hope you can tune in at: http://listen.samcloud.com/w/73891/American-Political-Radio#history...or on Tune-In at: https://tunein.com/radio/American-Political-Radio-s273246/