Here's the podcast of last nights LIVE radio broadcast where Right Side Patriots Craig Andresen and Diane Sori discussed former Prince Andrew arrested on
suspicion of misconduct in public office; a U.S. military behind the
scenes operation moved thousands of ISIS detainees out of Syria and into
Iraqi custody; the UK blocks Trump from using its military air bases for an attack on Iran;and our Q&A 'Off the Cuff' segment. Listen to it on https://rspradio1.podbean.com or on our Right Side Patriots website at https://rspradio1.com/?page_id=39
Friday, February 20, 2026
SIDE PATRIOTS...LIVE!
Today, Friday, February 20th from 7 to 8:00pm EST, RIGHT SIDE PATRIOTS
Craig Andresen and Diane Sori discuss former Prince Andrew arrested on suspicion of misconduct in public office; a U.S. military behind the scenes operation moves thousands of ISIS detainees out of Syria and into Iraqi custody; the UK blocks Trump from using its military air bases for an attack on Iran;and our Q&A 'Off the Cuff' segment. On https://rspradio1.com Click 'LISTEN LIVE.'
Wednesday, November 12, 2025
RIGHT SIDE PATRIOTS...Podcast
Here's the podcast of last nights 'LIVE' radio broadcast where RIGHT SIDE PATRIOTS Craig Andresen and Diane Sori discussed 'Why Mamdani Really Won', 'Liberals Doing The Butt-Scooting Boogie'; Trump's historic WH meeting with Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa; key Democrats now calling for Chuck Schumer’s ouster as Senate minority leader; and.Trump pressures air traffic controllers to get back to work.Listen to it onhttps://rspradio1.podbean.com
Tuesday, November 11, 2025
RIGHT SIDE PATRIOTS...LIVE! Today, Tuesday, November 11th from 7 to 8:30pm EST, RIGHT SIDE PATRIOTS
Craig Andresen and Diane Sori discuss 'Why Mamdani Really Won', 'Liberals Doing The Butt-Scooting Boogie'; Trump's historic WH meeting with Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa; key Democrats now calling for Chuck Schumer’s ouster as Senate minority leader; and.Trump pressures air traffic controllers to get back to work. On https://rspradio1.com Click 'LISTEN LIVE' starting at 6:50pm EST, show begins at 7pm EST.
Wednesday, December 11, 2024
RIGHT SIDE PATRIOTS...Podcast
If
you missed last nights 'LIVE' broadcast where Craig Andresen and Diane
Sori discussed 'One Movie's Foreshadowing Reality';
'We Don't Care'; the latest happenings in Syria after al-Assad's ouster;
Daniel Penny found NOT guilty; mysterious drones continue appearing over New Jersey; and Trump goes to the Notre Dame Cathedral reopening...listen to it and past shows athttps://rspradio1.com... go to Podcasts.
Tuesday, December 10, 2024
RIGHT SIDE PATRIOTS...LIVE!
Today, Tuesday, December 10th from 7pm to 8:30pm EST, RIGHT SIDE PATRIOTS
Craig Andresen and Diane Sori discuss 'One Movie's Foreshadowing Reality'; 'We Don't Care'; the latest happenings in Syria after al-Assad's ouster; Daniel Penny found NOT guilty; and
mysterious drones continue appearing over New Jersey. Hope you can tune in to RIGHT SIDE PATRIOTS on https://rspradio1.com Click 'LISTEN LIVE' starting at 6:50pm EST, show begins at 7pm EST.
Thursday, October 31, 2019
Op-ed:
Dead By Rightful Design
By: Diane Sori / The
Patriot Factor / Right Side Patriots on American Political Radio
"Last night was a
great night for the United States and for the world. A brutal killer,
one who has caused so much hardship and death, has violently been
eliminated.”
- President Donald Trump
on the death of ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi
There were no U.S.
casualties during the compound raid, with but a military working dog
named Conan sustaining minor injuries when Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, also known as
Caliph Ibrahim, blew himself and his three young children
up...children he had been using as human shields...in a true act of
cowardliness after realizing his fate had been sealed...sealed thanks
to President Trump.
It was an operation
five months in the making...an operation involving joint ground intel
as well as ongoing monitoring which culminated in a daring, two-hour
nighttime raid on al-Baghdadi's compound. Located in Idlib province's
Barisha hamlet, this particular hamlet and compound had been under
our surveillance for some time due to its being in what was left of
ISIS held territory in northern Syria.
And so the actual
lead-up to al-Baghdidi's death started around 5p.m. EST last Saturday
evening when after having finished rehearsing the raid in Erbil,
Iraq, eight helicopters carrying teams of elite U.S. troops included
Delta Force commandos, launched from al-Assad airbase in Anbar province Iraq and flew over what President Trump called
"very, very dangerous territory" towards
the compound where“al-Baghdadi
spent his last moments in utter fear, in total panic and dread,
terrified of the American forces bearing down on him.”Finally meeting his demise in what was a dead end tunnel...Abu Bakr al-Baghadadi detonated
his suicide vest and blew himself and his three children straight
into hell.
And know that al-Baghdidi
is indeed dead contrary to what the naysayers are now saying as DNA
tests done about 15 minutes after his “very messy demise” positively confirmed that that the dead man indeed was ISIS founder
and Iraqi national Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. In fact, U.S. teams on the
ground as per President Trump, "brought body parts back"
so there could be no questions as to who was killed, unlike Barack
HUSSEIN Obama who had our military, “respectfully” dump
Osama bin Laden's body into the sea. More like destroying the
evidence I'd say.
And while our president's critics are now chiming in with condemnation regarding his actions
taken...you can read about that in my RIGHT SIDE PATRIOTS partner
Craig Andresen's article, He Died Like a Dog...also know that President
Trump tentatively approved the final mission about a week before it commenced.
Rightfully keeping the mission a secret, Trump
knew that to do otherwise would see a number of Democrats “letting
slip” certain key bits of
information, thus jeopardizing not only the mission to take out the
world's most wanted man, but would also put those involved in said mission in serious
danger.
In fact, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo agreed with
President Trump's decision to keep the mission for the most part mum
saying that “there were only a handful of us that were dialed
into this operation, myself and a handful of others, and then those,
of course, who were executing the mission, in the run-up to this.”
Also according to Pompeo those involved in the operation had two
priorities, ensuring information security and executing the
mission...and I believe this is exactly how all critical operations
should be handled...as in the less who know the better.
“We’ve been tracking this guy for a long time,
we wanted to take no risk that anyone would ever compromise the
operation, so we were very focused on information security...and we
wanted to make sure we were doing it right, and so we were focused on
delivering the outcome that we got,” were Mike Pompeo exact
words.
And so successful was our president and those few who
knew in keeping this operation a secret that only now has it become
known that two or three previously planned missions were scrapped
until every last detail for success was locked into place.
But while it was our U.S. forces alone who
actually went in and accomplished what they were tasked with
doing... a task that also saw at least nine members of ISIS killed in
addition to al-Baghdadi with many of them being his family
members...the mission itself was still a joint operation of sorts...a
chain of both information and cooperation...with trusted Iraqi
officials, Vladimir Putin, as well as the Kurds living in
Syria's northeast quadrant...being given a heads-up as to what was
going to take place. Even Turkey was given a cursory heads-up no matter that they deem the
YPG Kurds to be terrorists, for it was those very YPG Kurds who also saw
the danger ISIS posed not only to the region in general, but to their all important quest for
an autonomous state, thus solidifying their cooperation.
In fact, it was the commander-in-chief of the
Kurdish forces in Syria, one Mazloum Abdi, who admitted in a tweet
after the operation was completed that the intelligence gathering
that led to al-Baghdai's death had indeed began in earnest about five
months ago...thus proving to Trump's critics that this was no
impulsive move on our president's part. And Commander Abdi also
announced within hours of al-Baghdadi's death that U.S. backed
anti-ISIS forces remaining in northern Syria had also taken out Abu
Hassan al-Muhajir, a close associate of al-Baghdadi, and that they
did so courtesy of SDF intel shared with our military.
And then just this past Monday, Commander Abdi told NBC News that another of his SDF informants actually helped lead the Americans
to al-Baghdadi’s compound. Adding that the still unnamed informant had gained al-Baghdadi's trust to such a degree that he was a "facilitator and logistics aide" involved in helping
al-Baghdadi move from numerous safe houses in Idlib province before settling into the compound where he met his end, and also that the informant provided personal details about al-Baghdadi, including the fact that he always wore a suicide vest when traveling so that he could blow himself up if cornered.
And as I write this neither the Pentagon nor the White House has
officially commented on a "high-level mole" being part of the
mission to kill or capture al-Baghdadi. And yet that is not out of the whelm of possibilities as "moles" have at times been an integral part of such types of operations.
But to me what is most critical to this mission's success was
the fact that Russia..who controls the much needed airspace over
Idlib province...made no attempt to stop said mission as
Putin...remember he had been informed of the mission and his country
is part of the U.S. led coalition against terror...knew that not only
is ISIS a destabilizing force in the region, but that they are an
enemy of all civilized men.
And so at around 3:30am Syrian time after the mission
was successfully completed... including our gathering up of ISIS intel and documents laying out their future plans...U.S. choppers took off for the return
journey to Erbil, Iraq, flying unchallenged over the so-called
“badlands of Syria,” briefly crossing into Turkey, then
into northeastern Syria, continuing on to the Kurdish held north of
Iraq, the very place where the long hunt for Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi had
really begun. After all it was in Camp Bucca where al-Baghdadi was
reportedly held back as late as 2009, only to be “unconditionally” released to the Iraqi's who in time let him go...and so began al-Baghdadi's unrelenting killing spree.
And so the seedlings of what became ISIS...seedlings
that were actually planted in Iraq back in 2009...grew to where on
June 29, 2014, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi proclaimed that a "caliphate"
was now straddling both Syria and Iraq and that it was under ISIS
control.
But the question still remaining is what exactly allowed what became “Operation Kayla Mueller”...named in
honor of the young American aid worker who was kidnapped, tortured, and
then killed on al-Baghdadi's orders...to go forward? The fact is
that up until a little over a month ago we still had little if any serious
leads as to al-Baghdadi's current whereabouts. But a much needed
break finally came in September courtesy of Iraqi National
Intelligence Service officials who were able to identify a Syrian man
who had recently moved his own family from Iraq to Syria as being the
same man who had smuggled into Syria's Idlib province through Turkey
the wives of two of al-Baghdadi’s brothers. In fact, it was also
learned that this very same smuggler had previously helped smuggle
al-Baghdadi’s children from Iraq into Syria, again through Turkey.
And luckily these same Iraqi officials were then able to “bribe,”
if you will, the smuggler and his wife, along with one of
al-Baghdadi’s own nephews, into providing information about the
route al-Baghdadi had used along with the final destination of those
traveling with him.
And in early October, the Iraqi's turned over
their now confirmed intel to the C.I.A. who then in turn were able
to locate al-Baghdadi, with the Iraqis continuing to provide updated
real-time information to President Trump once al-Baghdadi had settled
into the Barisha compound. And so the man who was always on the move
out of fear for his own safety was now back in Syria where he had
been very many times before.
And here I'll include as a side note that
back in 2013, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was indeed in Syria masquerading as one
of the “supposed” Syrian rebels, and it was here in Aleppo
that it appears he met with Sen. John McCain as can be witnessed by these
photos. It would have been interesting to know exactly what, if
anything, transpired between these two men or if McCain had any idea
of who Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi really was or of what evils he soon would
become capable of.
But with that being but an interesting yet mute
point, the fact remains that once the Iraqi's shared said intel with
President Trump...who had made taking down al-Baghdadi one of his top
priorities...he was then able to order military commanders to begin
drawing up specific plans for al-Baghdadi's take-down. And while the
actual decision to move forward...to begin “Operation Kayla
Mueller”...was not officially finalized until Saturday morning
after his having received “actionable intelligence” that
al-Baghdadi was indeed in the Barisha compound, did members of the
Joint Special Operations Command Delta Force Team carry out the
high-level and still then secret operation.
"Something very big has just happened!" was President Trump's tweet after
Saturday night's successful completion of “Operation Kayla
Mueller” had taken place.
And so the annals of history will now show that
America once again stood strong and proud under the leadership of
President Donald J. Trump as we were the ones who took out one of the
baddest of all bad guys. And while this one chapter regarding ISIS is
now closed, the ISIS book in regards to Syria itself still has for us
at least two chapters remaining open. One chapter concerns our troops
still being stationed in eastern Syria to not only protect the oil
fields that are under our control, but to keep the oil out of
the hands of a possible and highly likely ISIS tried resurgence...an
expected resurgence to avenge al-Baghdadi's death.
And while neither
Syrian nor Russian forces have to date challenged our control of
those oil fields, it should be noted that another still open chapter
sees us keeping a small number of troops at the Tanf garrison near
the Syria-Iraq border what with American commandos housed at Tanf
still being tasked with training an anti-ISIS force separate from the
joint SDF mission.
“The death of
Baghdadi is an important moment in our fight against terror but the
battle against the evil of Daesh [Isis] is not yet over.”
- British Prime Minister
Boris Johnson on hearing of al-Baghdadi's death.
So while ISIS in Syria might seem to be no longer a threat, all parties
involved should still be wary for ISIS has well prepared for such an
occasion as their founder and leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi's death. Remember, the deadly
rattlesnake can bite even after its head has been cut off, and know
that ISIS can too even without its titular head.
Copyright @ 2019 Diane Sori / The Patriot Factor / All Rights Reserved.
*********************************************************************************************************************************** For more political commentary please visit my RIGHT SIDE PATRIOTS partner Craig Andresen's blog The National Patriot to read his latest article, He Died Like a Dog.
Tomorrow, Friday, November 1st, from 7 to 9pm EST on American Political
Radio,RIGHT SIDE PATRIOTS
Craig
Andresen and Diane Sori discuss 'Dead By Rightful Design'; 'He Died Like a Dog'; and important news of the
day.
Op-ed: The Convoluted Endgame That Is Syria By: Diane Sori / The Patriot Factor / Right Side Patriots on
American Political Radio
“ It's time for us to get out of these ridiculous Endless Wars.”
- President
Trump, October 7, 2019
Over the past week and a half I have written two articles
concerning not only the ongoing situation in Syria but the players
involved. One article titled, Leaving Allies Behind...or Are We? laid out the situation itself, the players involved, as
well as what I believe to be one possible reason why President Trump
pulled us out of Syria when he did. The second article titled, The U.S. in Syria...Who's to Blame and Why, dealt directly with
who really got us involved in Syria, what our specific role in Syria
was, and I delved more deeply into the role our supposed allies
played. This newest article will show a chain of events that is
anything but pretty, but events that in the end might be for the best
and I'll start with the fact that the Republicans jumped the gun in
their taking action against President Trump and his (rightful)
withdrawal decision.
Op-ed: The Convoluted Endgame That Is Syria By: Diane Sori / The Patriot Factor / Right Side Patriots on
American Political Radio
“ It's time for us to get out of these ridiculous Endless Wars.”
- President
Trump, October 7, 2019
Over the past week and a half I have written two articles
concerning not only the ongoing situation in Syria but the players
involved. One article titled, Leaving Allies Behind...or Are We? laid out the situation itself, the players involved, as
well as what I believe to be one possible reason why President Trump
pulled us out of Syria when he did. The second article titled, The U.S. in Syria...Who's to Blame and Why, dealt directly with
who really got us involved in Syria, what our specific role in Syria
was, and I delved more deeply into the role our supposed allies
played. This newest article will show a chain of events that is
anything but pretty, but events that in the end might be for the best
and I'll start with the fact that the Republicans jumped the gun in
their taking action against President Trump and his (rightful)
withdrawal decision.
As soon as President Trump announced that our troops would be
withdrawn from the northeast quadrant of Syria, an area that butted
up against the southern border of Turkey...actually a “buffer
zone” area between the two countries...all hell seemed to break
loose here at home. A civil war we should never have become involved
in saw the Democrats morphing said war into Trump's war as they and
some Republicans chastised him for overstepping what they considered
to be legal bounds by not consulting with Congress first before
supposedly leaving the Kurds behind. But what they forget is that the
Kurds are a people with their own agenda...an agenda we should not
now or ever be a part of...as in their wanting to secure for
themselves an autonomous homeland. And that should remain the Kurds
battle and should never be ours as we are not now nor must we ever
become nation builders.
But the reaction here at home was so animated in its condemnation
against our president...the very man
who knows that we should be protecting our own borders not someone
else's...that it led to a House resolution being passed
that formally rebuked President Trump for pulling us out of northern
Syria and for supposedly abandoning
the Kurds.
Passed in a 354-60 vote, the
bipartisan resolution garnered support from all Democrats plus 129
Republicans, and was sponsored by House Foreign Affairs Committee
Chairman Eliot Engel (D-N.Y.) and the committee’s top Republican,
Rep. Michael McCaul (TX). Stating that the House "opposes
the decision to end certain United States efforts to prevent Turkish
military operations against Syrian Kurdish forces in Northeast
Syria," the
resolutionalso
called on Turkey to end its military action against the Kurds, for us
to continue protecting the Kurds, as well as for President Trump "to
present a clear and specific plan for the enduring defeat of
ISIS"...as
if ISIS' incursion into Syria was Trump's fault. What they should
have done was congratulate President Trump for cleaning up what was
and still is Obama's mess.
But politics being
what politics is would not and will not allow that, yet politics
comes into play even more so now as we just might be bearing witness
to a possible major Middle East geopolitical shift in power...a shift
that while it might seem damning on the surface in the end just might
work out in our favor. Let me explain.
We
all know, as I write this, that our military is now fast
tracking its plans for what will amount to an almost total withdrawal from Syria, and
that Russia is moving in. And in a way it's a good thing for like
I've stated many times before what's happening in Syria was and
remains a sovereign nation's civil war...especially it being a civil
war in a country that doesn't like us very much. And we also know
that the YPG Kurds fighting in Syria have not only called on Bashar
al-Assad for help in holding back the advancing Turkish forces now
crossing into Syria, but that they reached out to Russia as well. And
Russia...and Putin... are more than happy to help because with the
Kurds now on al-Assad's side, control of Syria shifts back into his
corner...a corner Russia is an integral part of...as well as Russia
now being added to the list of key Middle East players.
In other words Russia becomes the de facto winner as we rightfully
withdraw our troops from Syria with those troops now being deployed to western Iraq where they will conduct operations to (hopefully) prevent a resurgence of ISIS.
And this Russian win can be witnessed by al-Assad's government
forces now seeing the once U.S. allied Kurdish fighters becoming an
integral part of the Syrian army’s Fifth Corps...which is directly
under Russian command. In fact, over just the past week alone
al-Assad's forces have made more territorial gains than they did in
the past three years of fighting...and it's with Russian help of
course. And these gains include areas within Syria's northern
quadrant, not only the areas we withdrew from, but areas that are rich in oil
and agriculture...areas and resources desperately needed if Syria is
ever to be rebuilt.
And so with Russia now continuing to expand its military presence
in Syria...filling the place and positions of our withdrawing U.S.
forces...there's a chance that al-Assad could turn over Syria's Port of Tartus to Putin as a “thank you” of sorts, after all
Tartus is a strategic port, a port al-Assad knows well that Putin not
only wants but needs as Russia has no port of its own on the Mediterranean Sea, whether said port be for military staging or for
simple commerce. And by his giving Putin what he has long coveted,
and by his staying in Putin's “good graces” if
you will, Basharal-Assad knows that Tartus might just be the key to making sure
that Russia's military might helps him stay in power.
But is Tartus all that Vladimir Putin wants from Syria or is
Tartus just one part of his and Russia's bigger plan? Let's just say
that Tartus is the bottom rung on a ladder that sees Russian
involvement in Syria and the Middle East being even the more
important rungs on said ladder than most people think. How so? One
has to understand that back in 2015 when Russia first entered in
earnest into the Syrian fray, Syria's civil war was in full force
with Syrian casualties mounting up on all sides...on al-Assad's side,
the supposed rebels side, and most especially on the civilian
side...in addition to the refugee crisis getting to a point of it
being quite out of control. And while Putin knew that taking sides in
Syria had to be done with extreme caution, especially after the
nightmare fiasco that was Russia's incursion into Afghanistan, he
also knew that Syrian intervention could possibly translate into the
benefits outweighed the risks he and Russia would be taking.
And now it has...at least to some degree.
In fact, Vladimir Putin saw and still sees Syria as being his
chance to reset Russia's status as both a key Middle East player as
well as a true global power...second only to the United States that
is. And with Putin himself having no use for the likes of ISIS and
their ilk...something our two countries have in common...it can be
surmised that Putin hopes it will be he and Russia who will be the
ones to not only broker a political solution in regards to ending the
Syrian conflict...and know that Syria's civil war will end around a
conference table and not on the battlefield per se...but that he,
Russia, and al-Assad will be successful in keeping not only ISIS at
bay, but that he and Russia will also be the ones to broker an end to
the actual decades long fighting between Syria and Turkey. And this
specific fighting has gone basically unreported as its being buried,
news wise, under the Syrian civil war itself...the same civil war
that is now seeing al-Assad's Russian backed Syrian government troops
facing off against the supposed rebels of the opposition Free Syrian
Army...rebels who have now joined the still invading Turkish-led
forces... ceasefire be damned.
Also, with our withdrawal Russia will be given a chance to flex
its new political muscle by not only keeping ISIS at bay, but that
the world will now see Russia as being an able-bodied player in the
global war on terrorism as well as one who will reshape Middle East
policy hopefully for the better. A major publicity coup for Russia
I'd say...maybe even being a big enough publicity coup that it could
help change the negative publicity Russia received after their forced
takeover of Ukraine...at least negate it enough so that public
perception is toned down a bit.
But even as all the above stated unfolds there remains a downside
for Russia as well, and the downside comes in the guise of Iran, the
very country that just might try to instigate an even a bigger more
far reaching war by their playing all sides against the middle...as
in starting a war between Russia, Turkey, and Syria...with their
prize being total control of Syria, a country that shares a border
with Israel. And while Russia is aligned with Iran to some
degree...at least on the surface...that alignment is not written in
stone for Russia has many of the same conflictions with Iran as we
have...the prime one being the islamist nature of Iran itself. And
with Russia now also forming both closer economic ties and a stronger
relationship with Israel, the very country Iran wants wiped off the
map, that's something, I believe, neither Putin himself nor Russia as
a country would ever allow or take part in. In fact, I'll go as far
as to say that if Iran ever did attack Israel that Putin would join
together with those in Israel's corner. And Iran knows this, that's
why they've been quiet to some degree in regards to the recent
developments in Syria.
But being quiet does not mean that Iran is doing or planning
nothing or that they have not been in contact with Bashar al-Assad
himself, after all Iran knows well the animosity between Syria and
Israel, and that's something they can and will use to their advantage
unless Russia steps in to stop them. How will Iran do that...simply
by their aiding al-Assad in regards to Syria's shared border with
Israel. Again how so...by their implementing an operational line of
monetary and arms support running from Iraq into Lebanon via Syria in
order to supply their Lebanon-based, proxy militant group Hezbollah
with the arms and monies needed for them to become an even bigger
problem for Israel than they already are. And if they're an
increasing problem for Israel they will, in time, become a problem
for Putin and Russia as well.
So as it stands right now with our withdrawal from Syria well
underway, Vladimir Putin and Russia have become the de facto keepers
of Syria, and along with it they will inherit Syria's problems. And
problem number one could turn out to be the YPG Kurds who've said
they're given up their long held dream of having their own autonomous homeland after
they, the Syrian Democratic Forces, and the Syrian government struck
a deal brokered by Russia to join forces together in the fight
against their common enemies, Turkey and the anything but Syrian
rebels. But I'm sure even Putin knows that those words uttered by the
Kurds were probably said with fingers crossed behind their backs as
dreams of having a homeland don't die that easily...they just sit and
simmer on the back burner until it's the right time for them to be
resurrected yet again.
But still with our withdrawal from Syria, and with U.S. military
personnel handing over positions in the northern Syrian city of
Manbij to incoming Russian forces, Russia has basically become the
new regional power in the convoluted game that is Syria. And with
Vladimir Putin warning Turkey...warning Recip Erdogan himself...that
he will stop Turkey from attacking Syrian troops after the U.S.
withdrawal is complete, hopefully can see Vladimir Putin...who is not
America's enemy as too many choose to believe...cleaning up the mess
of Obama's doing that President Trump was prevented by Democrats and
by Republican turncoats from seeing through to fruition.
And might I add that just before I was to go to press President Trump announced that conditions have been met between Turkey and the
YPG Kurd-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) for what he called a
"permanent ceasefire" between the two sides, adding that he
is lifting sanctions on Turkey that were put in place following their
invasion of northern Syria. But will this now "supposed permanent" ceasefire hold...we have until next Tuesday 6am to see if the YPG Kurds do pull back the required 20 miles from the border or if Syrian border guards and Russian military police...now being deployed to Syria's northeast border...will have to step back as Turkey would then resume its offensive. It's any one's guess, but in a land consumed by century's old hatreds I wouldn't put any money on a "permanent ceasefire" holding.
Copyright @ 2019 Diane Sori / The Patriot Factor / All Rights Reserved.
For more political commentary please visit my RIGHT SIDE PATRIOTS partner Craig Andresen's blog The National Patriot to read his latest article, The Great Impeachment Debacle - Part 1.
Tomorrow, Friday, October 25th, from 7 to 9pm EST on American Political
Radio,RIGHT SIDE PATRIOTS Craig
Andresen and Diane Sori discuss 'The Convoluted Endgame That Is Syria'; 'The Great Impeachment Debacle - Part 1'; and important news of the day.
Op-ed: The U.S. in Syria...Who's to Blame and Why By: Diane Sori
/ The Patriot Factor / Right Side Patriots on American Political
Radio
Let's get something straight upfront...the media, the Democrats,
and even some supposed Trump supporting Republicans want you to believe that
President Trump has switched sides...that he's not only turned
against but deserted our Kurdish allies as well as turning his back
on the Syrian people...the very people who have suffered the most during the eight long years that the Syrian
conflict has been unfolding...a conflict that's actually
a civil war...a civil war that now sees itself morphing into a separate Turk/Kurd civil war as well. And these same folks want you
to believe that because Trump is withdrawing our troops, that what
was a U.S. “umbrella of protection” no longer exists and
thus threatens to destabilize the entirety of the Middle East.
Well folks, while destabilization could eventually occur that too is not of Trump's doing for our
misguided incursion into Syria was an incursion born of Barack
HUSSEIN Obama's very hesitancy to go in strong with our troop's hands
untied, get the job done, and get out...that coupled with his
emphasis instead being on “measured diplomacy” and
“progressive multilateralism”...and more importantly his
aligning us with the wrong side. And the sum of these parts is
what has now made President Trump the fall guy instead of the blame being placing on the very man who could have done the right thing but didn't.
And the right thing...the very thing that could have saved not
only a lot of lives but Syria's landscape itself...would have been for us to either stay out of Syria's civil war or align us with Bashar al-Assad and his government forces if only for the
reason that under al-Assad, Syria saw a secular government...a
secular government as opposed to an islamic mullah controlled government...where both Christians and other minorities were
protected and could freely worship without fear of reprisal, and
where Damascus and it's surrounding areas were living if not in the
21st century at least in the 20th.
Sad isn't it that many still refuse to acknowledge the fact that
Obama has never really been on the side of anything but his
brethren...a fact proven by his not going after ISIS until he was
forced by his own party to see them as a threat to our homeland. But even with that
his successes against ISIS were limited at best with President Trump
being the one, along with the Kurds, to finally clear ISIS out of
Syria...for now anyway for they will be back.
Again, aligning us with al-Assad...the lesser of two great evils...would
have been the right thing to do as al-Assad was the man whom the
Syrian people overwhelmingly voted for in a U.N. monitored and deemed
"fair election." And even while he saw both himself and his government
having to face its own internal problems...problems that included
an accusation that dated back to August 2013 when he supposedly gassed
certain factions of his own people, something al-Assad continues to
deny claiming that it was the “supposed rebels” themselves who did
the gassing as a means by which to discredit him in the eyes of the world...as
well as seeing Syria's altercations with Israel increasing especially
in the what became ISIS held areas along Syria's border with
Israel...yet the majority of Syrians saw in Bashar al-Assad someone who at
least understand the dangers posed by both the “supposed rebels”
and islamic extremist groups like ISIS...a common enemy we now all
face to one degree or another.
And with a fair amount of ISIS fighters actually masquerading as
rebels...rebels whose goal was and remains to not only overthrow
al-Assad and his government, but to turn Syria into yet another
islamic state...the stage was set and the players
were in place...all the “supposed rebels” needed was
external support of the monetary and military kind...support they knew they could
garner from one of their own.
And so these “supposed rebels” got that much needed
support courtesy of then President Obama who, in 2011, started laying
out what eventually became a truly inane and dysfunctional strategy
for his hopefully defeating al-Assad's government forces while at the
same time he started dabbling with ISIS a bit, who by this time was quietly starting to make
inroads into Syria. And Obama's so called strategy, I believe, was
deliberately designed to not only cause more regional
problems...which it did...but was a strategy that saw the Syrian
people being the ones who paid the price not just in blood but in
their country being almost totally destroyed.
And all this was set in motion
with Obama's 2012 “red line” in
the sand fiasco...a “red line” al-Assad supposedly
crossed and which Obama did nothing of substance about...a fiasco
that once again saw Obama “leading from behind” as he
turned what was a game of words into a game of inaction...a game
that now years later has
serious ramifications where Democrat miscreants and misguided and/or
misinformed Republicans have been publicly calling our president to
task for his supposedly deserting an ally.
Deserting an ally I think not for the Trump naysayers refuse to
understand that it was not Donald Trump who got us involved in
Syria's mess, and that while the YPG Kurds were indeed an ally in the
fight against ISIS, there is more to these Kurds motives than appears on
the surface. How so...because the Kurds end game was, still is, and
will always be to have their own autonomous state even if it's at the
expense of using others...including the Peshmerga Kurds as well as
the U.S.
Do I frown on the Kurds wanting a homeland...no. Do I
approve of their every action used regarding said want... no. But
people need to understand that the Kurds... technically ethnic
Iranians...are a divided people with most being sunni muslim with the minority being sh'ia muslim, along with a small scattering of Assyrian
Christians, Yzidi, and other minorities encompassing the whole. And
that split itself is quite telling as the Syrian and
Turkish Kurds are for the most part sunni muslim...the more
ideological extreme of the muslim sects. But more importantly is that
the YPG Kurds in Syria and Turkey are not the Peshmerga Kurds of Iraq, as
in the Kurds who helped us topple Saddham Hussein and who were the
northern front in our invasion of Iraq. Nor are the YPG Kurds in Syria and
Turkey the Kurds who helped us in our, albeit failed, attempt to try
and dissuade Saddham Hussein from aligning himself and Iraq with
Russia back in the 1990s.
Simply, the Kurds in Turkey and Syria have been for many decades
at odds with the Iraqi Peshmerga Kurds for they see them as not only
an ideological enemy but an enemy who just might in the end be the ones
who secure a Kurdish state instead of them.
But why the rift between these two ethnically same
groups...because the Kurds in Syria...as in the YPG Kurds...are the Syrian
wing of the PKK (the Kurdistan Workers' Party) which is the
separatist group based in both Turkey and Iraq who continue to not
only support but instigate acts of terrorism inside Turkey. And it's
the PKK, a U.S. State Department designated terrorist group, who,
since 1984, has been involved in an actual armed conflict with the
Turks that to date has resulted in the death of some 40,000 people,
all in the name of achieving an independent Kurdish state by their
trying to force Turkey into giving up some of its own land. Also,
it's these YPG Kurds who comprise the now Kurdish-dominated Syrian Democratic
Forces, the very group who was lackadaisical in finishing off the
last ISIS enclave in Syria as they had promised to do, believing that
to do so would then halt the arms and monies we were supplying them
with. Thankfully, President Trump made sure they finished the
promised job or be forced to face the consequences of their
game playing inactions...which it now seems they're indeed facing.
In other words, these YPG Kurds proved themselves to not really
be our friend let alone a true ally but an ally using us and our
resources in their quest for an autonomous state, and this is why
President Trump did what he did, and rightly so. That and the fact
that suddenly the YPG Kurds in Syria started claiming that they no longer
were asking for statehood but simply that they needed a U.S. military
presence in Syria to deter a Turkish invasion. But if that need was true...as
in wanting our help in protecting their own people...they would have broken their ties
with the militant PKK, something they still have not done and probably never will do. And
besides, it's our very presence in Syria that has drawn islamists
like ISIS and other assorted extremists into the region with their
hope of forcing the U.S. into a Holy War...a Holy War they envision us
losing...a Holy War they believe would see the Levant coming to
fruition.
So to say that President Trump has abandoned the Kurds is simply not true for the YPG Kurds are not the more loyal Peshmerga Kurds of Iraq,
nor did Trump turn what was an internal civil war into an ongoing and
ever so sad humanitarian crisis. That lays now as it always has at the
feet of Barack HUSSEIN Obama and his empty “red line”
threat coupled with his previous disaster, as in the “Arab
Spring.” And also not to be forgetten is
that in September 2015, again on Obama's watch, Russia entered the
Syrian conflict thereby shifting the balance of power away from Obama's
backed “supposed rebels” in
favor of al-Assad and his government forces, while at the same time
Obama, at least as a diversion, shifted his focus to ISIS which by
now had made significant inroads into Syria. And it was ISIS' taking control of
large areas of Syria, especially in its northern regions, that led to us
building airfields and military bases in Syria's
northeastern quadrant, thus solidifying our alliance with the YPG Kurds.
And all the above stated actions
together drew us into not only a place we should never
have been in, but had Obama now turning us into a formally recognized
combatant of Bashar al-Assad when on April 7, 2017 he ordered direct U.S.
missile strikes on Syria's Shayrat Airbase. And it's gone downhill
ever since.
So where do we stand as I now write this? For starters we know
that President Trump has said that U.S. troops along the
Turkish-Syrian border were positioned there only to conduct joint patrols
with Turkey as part of a way to reassure Ankara that separatist
Kurdish fighters would not use said area to launch attacks on Turkey.
Mission accomplished there, however, Turkey has now chosen to
attack the Kurds via the very same area. We also know that
immediately after President Trump announced his decision to withdraw
U.S. troops from said area that Russian forces again moved in to
greatly expand their Syrian military presence...they desperately want the
Port at Tartus after all...and that the YPG Kurds then looked to
Bashir al-Assad for help, which they got, thus basically returning
Syria to al-Assad's control which in turn now changes the geopolitical landscape of the Middle East... but that's for my next article.
And while the Kurdish led Syrian Democratic Forces themselves
requested and agreed to what became a cease-fire brokered by the U.S.
and Turkey...a ceasefire that now extends from Tal Abyad to Ras
al-Ain...how exactly was this ceasefire brokered? Last Thursday,
Vice-President Mike Pence along with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo
met with Turkey's President Recip Erdogan to arrange for a five-day
ceasefire that would allow the Kurds time to withdraw from the now
anything but “safe zone” along the Turkey/Syria border as
well as seeing the U.S. work with the Kurdish forces toobtain an “orderly
withdraw” from the disputed area in exchange for Trump's
pulling back on economic sanctions against Turkey. And if all goes as
agreed to then the ceasefire would hopefully become permanent.
However, even the best of intentions come with caveats what with Turkey making it clear that they
would not be withdrawing from areas they believe to be
rightfully theirs or Syria's. Also, the Turks raised the question of
who will be the future holders of the Syrian city of Kobani, a city
currently under Kurdish control. And know that as I write
this, the now day old ceasefire sees limited fighting, drone strikes,
and artillery shelling flaring up along the border with smaller
clashes elsewhere. And of course each side blames the other as we sit
and wait hoping that all calms down so that a true and
lasting ceasefire can take hold.
But the bottom line as far as U.S. involvement in Syria boils down
to this...our military involvement in Syria's civil war began in
earnest in 2014 with the siege of Kobani, a Kurdish town surrounded by ISIS fighters. So instead of doing the right thing
Obama deliberately aligned us with the “supposed rebels” many of whom
were ISIS fighters in disguise, and formed an alliance with the YPG
Kurds... Kurd allies with their own agenda via their ongoing direct
connections to the PKK...remember the PKK is a U.S. designated
terrorist group...as well as the YPG Kurds having “cordial relations”
with both the Russians and the Iranians. And not to be forgotten is
that at the same time Obama got us into the Syria mess negotiations were
well underway regarding his infamous Iranian nuclear deal, meaning in
no way did he want to upset the sensibilities of the Iranians
themselves who were now also making silent inroads into Syria.
Simply, our involvement in Syria lays directly at the feet of
Barack HUSSEIN Obama not with President Trump as the Democrats claim.
The reality is that President Trump is only trying to get us out of a
battle that is not now nor ever was something we needed to be
involved in. We are caught in the middle of what was always a civil
war of sorts between two of our allies, both of whom are tenuous allies at
best. And yet they both have one thing in common...they both
pulled us in the wrong direction. Hence, President Trump to the
rescue...if only his naysayers would put politics aside and see just
that.
Copyright @ 2019 Diane Sori / The Patriot Factor / All Rights Reserved.
For more political commentary please visit my RIGHT SIDE PATRIOTS partner Craig Andresen's blog The National Patriot to read his latest article, Democrats...In the Middle of Their Own Minefield.
Tomorrow, Tuesday, October 22nd, from 7 to 9pm EST on American Political
Radio,RIGHT SIDE PATRIOTS Craig
Andresen and Diane Sori discuss 'The U.S. in Syria...Who's to Blame and Why'; Democrats...In the Middle of Their Own Minefield'; and important news of the day.
