Brief Commentary: 

During October 2019 President Trump made what was viewed by some 'talking heads' as a controversial decision to remove almost all US troops from Syria.

During the 2016 election campaign Trump had promised to take the US out of the continuing conflicts in that region.

On 10/21/19, Newt Gingrich, appeared on Fox News at noon and pointed out that the Kurds have been seeking their own country since 300 years before Christ and that the Kurds are spread all through Turkey, Syria, Iran and Iraq.

During the last 2+ years the Kurds and US forces joined in efforts to evict ISIS from Syria. This has now been done and the President and many citizens believe that we should not continue with un-ending support of the Kurds. US forces should not be seen as the military arm of the Kurdish movement.

It is entirely appropriate for a US withdrawal so as to avoid placing US service members between Turkish and Kurdish forces. For over 2,000 years the Kurds have been trying to secure a homeland. It is not reasonable to expect that minor assistance now to the Kurds will resolve this nation/state issue.

President Trump made the correct decision and fulfilled his earlier campaign promise.

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7/29/15

Misc 1.  This is a relatively 'old' blog but despite all the ISIS news these days I won't be updating it with any frequency.  My opinions have not changed from two years ago when I put up the site.

Misc 2. The Smerconish Show on CNN of 5/23/15 had guest Michael Scheuer the author of 'Imperial Hubris' *.  This 22 yr veteran of the CIA and head of the Bin Laden desk up to 2009 had very similar ideas to mine and pointed out several things Bin Laden wanted to accomplish, all these efforts are ongoing at this time:

1)  Drive out US and Arab tyrants,
2)  Destroy Isreal
3)  Establish a caliphate**
4)  Settle scores with Shia Muslims

Mr. Scheuer also echoed my own thoughts and said:  "Since we can't beat them with our military we should let them klll each other."

My comment is simply that they are doing a good job and we should not get in their way.

* Imperial Hubris: Why the West is Losing the War on Terror (Brassey's, 2004; ISBN 1-57488-849-8)

**  A caliphate is an Islamic state. It's led by a caliph, who is a political and religious leader who is a successor (caliph) to the Islamic prophet Muhammad. His power and authority is absolute.