Let's End the Unending War

Donald Trump

Here’s something I bet you never thought you’d hear me say:

I support Donald Trump’s decision to draw down American troop commitments in Syria and Afghanistan.

The President’s decision to reduce, and potentially even eliminate, America’s troop commitment, has come under intense scrutiny. Policy wonks and Pentagon specialists have criticized it. This decision possibly precipitated James Mattis’s decision to resign as Secretary of Defense. The punditocracy has made bank publishing solemn “think pieces” about this decision, the reasoning that went into it, and why it’s an ostensibly bad idea.

Admittedly, this action probably reflects Trump’s well-known strategy of impulsive decisions driven by cable news commentary. I doubt altogether whether Trump consulted his top generals, defense specialists, or diplomats before making this choice. It will now be incumbent on somebody deep within the bowels of the West Wing to craft the actual withdrawal strategy that Trump probably selected while sitting up in bed.

That being said, it’s the right choice.

America has maintained troop commitments in the Persian Gulf and the Levant for decades. After the massive troop commitment of Operation Desert Storm, America built hardened bases in Saudi Arabia, a decision so abhorrent to many Muslims that Osama bin Laden cited it, in English, on the front page of the al-Qaeda website. We’ve been shooting at, or actively preparing to shoot at, somebody in that region for nearly thirty years now.

An entire generation of young Americans will soon be old enough to enlist for the first time, and they’ve never known a world where America wasn’t engaged in a shooting conflict with somebody in that region. Active but undeclared war in the Middle East has become, for them, an American birthright. Whether it’s al-Qaeda, Iraq, ISIS, Hamas, or the Assad regime, they simply enter the military secure in the knowledge that they’ll have a deployment over there, shooting at somebody conveniently non-English-speaking and brown.

Barack Obama

And what have we gained for this infinite commitment? We haven’t secured peace between Israel and Palestine. We haven’t prevented Iraqi pogroms against Jews, Christians, and Sunnis; we maybe even hastened them. We haven’t even secured that sweet, sweet Iraqi petroleum that had Halliburton drooling on the evening news. I struggle to imagine we’ve gained anything.

In short, we’ve committed American troops, and their supporting resources, to a war with little purpose, no reward, and no visible exit strategy. Our commitment in Afghanistan has exceeded two of our longest military commitments ever: Vietnam and the Second Seminole War. In terms of duration, strategy, and sloppiness, this war is now comparable to only one prior conflict: our long guerilla war against the Apache Nation.

Donald Trump campaigned, partly, on a pledge to draw down America’s overseas military commitments. He made strident arguments against President George W. Bush’s actions in Iraq and Afghanistan. But his statements also attracted support, sometimes grudging, from Democrats weary of President Obama’s protracted drone war campaigns. Obama didn’t end America’s overseas wars, he just moved many of them off the DoD’s books, and onto the intelligence community, with disastrous international PR consequences.

Thus, the President’s decision to draw down Syrian and Afghan commitments may have been, as some pundits suggest, a cynical ploy to finish a delayed campaign promise, at a time when his political capital is running low. But y’know what? I can live with that. Because we’ve spent nearly half my life putting American soldiers on the firing line; converting American wealth into war materiel to destroy things instead of roads, schools, and research facilities to create; and squandering America’s moral standing in the larger world.

Please don’t mistake me. This doesn’t make me a Trumpista. He’s anchored his entire political career on naked racist appeals, squandered our opportunities to address global warming, and made us into an international laughingstock. It may take years, even generations, to undo the damage Trump has inflicted on America’s global standing. I’m not his ally now.

George W. Bush

But I’d rather encourage him when he does something right, than merely snipe when he does something wrong. That’s how the marketplace of ideas works, despite what Internet discourse has implied. Maybe I don’t agree with the President’s reasoning on this decision. But I agree with his action.

This war has continued too damn long, with vague purpose, no end, and massive cost. Yes, things are bad over there, but we’ve accomplished little to improve it. And maybe Russia and Iran will gain dominion in that region, but so what? Let them have that morass. Let them pay the high international costs. It shouldn’t be America’s responsibility anymore.