Kentucky Senator Rand Paul might have been on to something last week when he said that the Kurds are more likely to find peace with Turkey in Syria in light of President Donald Trump’s move to pull American forces out of Syria.
When he was questioned about the United States turning its back on Kurdish allies, Paul said, “I think initially when President Trump decided to go in, he said that our goal was to defeat ISIS. I think we’ve achieved that goal. Many people keep shifting the goalposts.”
“Many of the neo-conservatives like Lindsey Graham say, oh, now we’re going to stay until Iran goes or until Syria’s a country. Well, good luck. I mean, that could be a long time. It’s a very complicated war, and really think about what we’re talking about. We’re talking about 50 soldiers. What kind of war do you go to with 50 soldiers?” he inquired.
“I mean, we’re moving 50 soldiers out of the onslaught of tens of thousands of Turkish troops, so really I think it’s a smart thing to do, and it reminds me of Beirut. Do you remember putting 300 people – when Reagan had 300 people in a barracks unprotected, and then there was a suicide bombing,” the Kentucky Senator continued.
Unlike most of his neoconservative colleagues, Paul understands that the Middle East is a total quagmire, which he details below:
What I don’t want to have happen — I’ve got three nephews who serve in the military, I don’t want them to be sitting ducks with 50 or 100 of them being killed by a suicide bomber and then all of a sudden, we’re drug into a greater war. Who are we going to fight? Are we gonna fight Turkey, our NATO ally? Are we gonna fight the Kurds? Are we gonna fight Assad, the Russians, the Iranians, the Iraqis? I mean the whole place is a mess.
CBS’s Anthony Mason tried to put Paul in a corner, stating “But the Kurds have been very loyal allies to us.”
“But what we need is not 50 soldiers fighting a war. What we need is a multilateral group to sit down and try to hammer out a piece. I actually think the Kurds are more likely to try to find peace now that they know they’re going to have to fight or find peace, so I think really maybe we have been impeding peace talks, maybe this can encourage peace talks,” Paul responded.
The Kentucky Senator was on the mark here. In fact, now reports are showing that the Kurds are in negotiations with the Syrian government for security from Turkey.
Former Maine Senator and now congressional candidate Eric Brakey noted this on Twitter.
Rand Paul and President Trump are correct in their assessment of ending these conflicts. They serve no national interest and only put many brave young men and women in harm’s way. For the defense industry, however, it’s a massive cash grab.
Thankfully, cooler heads are beginning to prevail on the issue of foreign policy interventionism.
