{"id":24701,"date":"2019-10-14T13:10:37","date_gmt":"2019-10-14T17:10:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/philip.greenspun.com\/blog\/?p=24701"},"modified":"2019-10-14T11:31:01","modified_gmt":"2019-10-14T15:31:01","slug":"are-american-interests-harmed-when-the-syrian-government-governs-syria","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/philip.greenspun.com\/blog\/2019\/10\/14\/are-american-interests-harmed-when-the-syrian-government-governs-syria\/","title":{"rendered":"Are American interests harmed when the Syrian government governs Syria?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

My Facebook feed is now 99 percent hysteria regarding the U.S. policy shift in Syria. Trump has decided to scale back involvement in the Syrian civil war<\/a>, now in its 8th year. My friends who identify as Democrats are demanding continued U.S. military action (none has demanded a 600-ship Navy yet, but I remain hopeful!). Note that none of these folks are actually in the military or young enough to join, so they take no personal risk by advocating that others fight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From a recent New York Times article:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Syrian government had been almost entirely absent from the northeast since it withdrew or was chased out by armed rebels. The Syrian Democratic Forces, a Kurdish-led militia that worked with the United States to fight the Islamic State, soon became the region\u2019s overarching political force.<\/p>

If Syrian government forces can reach the Turkish border to the north and the Iraqi border to the east, it would be a major breakthrough in Mr. Assad\u2019s quest to re-establish his control over the whole country.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

In other words, while complaining that some Russians may have purchased a Facebook ad falsely asserting that Hillary Clinton was an elderly tax-and-spend Democrat, we have been supporting a group trying to carve off part of another country and run it for themselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(I recognize that Bashar al-Assad may have shortcomings as a leader, but he has a challenging task and it is unclear that the Syrian government is worse than a bunch of other governments worldwide. If it is legitimate for us to help an armed rebellion against Assad, shouldn’t we also be helping armed rebellions all around the world?)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Readers: Plainly it would be better if Syrians were more like the Costa Ricans and the Syrian government were more like the Costa Rican government. But, given that Syrians are not like the Costa Ricans, does it make sense to be continuously outraged that the Syrian government is not like the Costa Rican government? What are we buying with the money and American lives spent over the last eight years in Syria?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Is it enough to say “Because terrorism”? Why is it obvious that some government other than Assad’s would do a better job of discouraging Muslims in Syria from waging jihad? None of the September 11 jihadis<\/a> were from Syria and, in fact, all came from countries whose governments we have supported.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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