Trump to wage war in Syria

President Donald Trump said it would never happen. Now it is. During the election he said he did not want more interventions — no more Iraqs, no more Afghanistans,  Libyas or Syrias.

A year into his presidency the American military is involved in all these places and he is aching to get boots on the ground in North Korea and perhaps even Iran. At least he is not thinking about it in Ukraine — that would really set the cat among the pigeons.

Last week his secretary of state, Rex Tillerson, said that waging war in Syria is “crucial to our national defence”. This is a big deal but few seem to be talking about it. The pundits and congressmen are either asleep at the switch or taking a holiday.

It is true that Barack Obama initiated this Syrian intervention but he never intended it to be an occupying force but one deployed for one thing only: To drive Daesh out of Syria and then chase it until the US, its local allies and Russia had caught up with it and decimated it — which they have. Obama would have withdrawn his soldiers at this point.

Now the politics of it is different. The mission is to wage war against the present day Syrian government, led by President Bashar Assad, which is recognised by the UN and the US as occupying the Syrian seat at the UN in New York. 

By what authority can Trump do this? Intervention has to be authorised by the UN Security Council —  as it was with the first Iraq war and with Afghanistan. There hasn’t been a debate. Neither has there been in the US Congress which is supposed to be at least consulted before th e US goes to war.

Public opinion, until this speech by Tillerson, had not been informed of what was afoot. The media had not been briefed. European allies had been informed at the last minute, and they seem quiet about it —  perhaps stunned into silence.

The Assad government is back on its feet. Most of the armed opposition has been defeated. The big cities, destroyed down to their bones, are being resettled and gradually rebuilt. What is Trump planning to do with his 2,000 troops? 2,000 does not go very far. It would need 200,000 to overthrow Assad. 

So what’s it all about? 

Tillerson claims it is to protect Israel. Syria is its enemy. But it has not done anything about it for 35 years. There’s no sign that either side are in much of a hurry to change the status quo. Tillerson added that he was sure “Iran seeks dominance in the Middle East and the destruction of our ally, Israel”. This is piffle. There is no Iranian attempt to destroy Israel. If anything there is the reverse. Israel had plans to bomb Iran’s nuclear plants until the Obama regime successfully negotiated a nuclear deal with Iran. There is certainly no urge inside Iran to take on militarily the marshal-minded Kurds or the super-weaponised, governments of Saudi Arabia, Oman, Egypt and Kuwait, not to mention the Sunni part of Iran.

This reminds me of the domino theory in Vietnam in the 1960s, which led America into a blind war, ending in defeat. The theory was if South Vietnam fell to communism so would the other southeast Asian countries as they were toppled one by one. We know that never happened.

Is it to give a moral boost to the Sunni peoples of neighbouring Iraq and Turkey? Turkey with its massive military does not need it and Iraq is ruled by a Shiite-sympathetic government, as is Syria.

Is it to side-line Iran which Tillerson in this speech described as “malignant”? Malignant? While Iran has supported Assad it has been opposing Daesh in Iraq as well as Syria, just as at one time it aided the Afghan government against the Taliban and accepted many Afghan refugees. I don’t remember America saying "thank you".

Is it to keep the Russians out? Can that be done with 2,000 soldiers? Anyway the Russians don’t need prompting to leave now Assad is back firmly on his throne. Of course, if the Americans hang around trying to stir up trouble against Assad they might leave some of their troops and planes in place. That would be a very counterproductive American move.

The State Department is saying it is trying to push Syria to attend UN negotiations. At the moment Syria prefers to be a participant in the Russian-led peace negotiations which makes some sense since several years ago the Americans walked out of the UN ones. Moreover, whilst it was still in them it made sure Iran could not attend.

This latest Trumpian move is not going to ensure stability and peace in the Middle East. He should realise his actions are actually undermining the US and provoking instability.