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Letter: Leaving Syria was the right decision

(ANHA | AP) In this frame grab from video provided by Hawar News, ANHA, the Kurdish news agency, residents who are angry over the U.S. withdrawal from Syria hurl potatoes at American military vehicles in the town of Qamishli, northern Syria, Monday, Oct. 21, 2019. Defense Secretary Mark Esper said Monday in Afghanistan that U.S. troops will stay in eastern Turkey to protect Kurdish-held oil fields for at least the coming weeks and that he was discussing options to keep them there.

I can’t believe I am about to type this next sentence. Donald Trump got it right.

I don’t care much for the current POTUS. This newspaper’s editorials and letters to the editor have all documented his behaviors, so I won’t use this space to go into what’s wrong with the man.

I will, however, give him credit when credit is due. He pulled our troops and our continued financial assistance out of the Syrian conflict. He basically said, “It’s not our problem, let them sort it out without us.”

The left is about to lose their collective minds over this action. “We are abandoning the Kurds, there is going to be a slaughter, they fought for us, etc…”

My response is “So?” These people have been fighting each other for centuries. We are not the world’s policemen. That is the role of the United Nations. Not one U.S. soldier should be sacrificed trying to keep peace in a region that has never known peace.

I am an ex-military officer, so I get the whole war thing better than most. This country should only fight wars that is has to fight: when we are invaded or our greater interests are at stake.

What interests do we need to protect in this part of the world? None, or none that requires the life of a United States soldier.

I shake my head as I wonder what would the left's and the right’s response would have been had Barack Obama had done this same action. Their roles would have been completely reversed.

As to why our military gets involved in other conflicts around the world, it has to do with the vast military complex, but that is another letter to the editor for another time.

David T. Lancaster, Murray

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