ENCOURAGING WORDS …
Warmongers hoping U.S. president Donald Trump had completely reversed his former non-interventionist philosophy were no doubt disappointed this week when he announced that he had no plans to invade the sovereign Middle Eastern nation.
“We’re not going into Syria,” Trump told Maria Bartiromo of Fox Business this week.
Good …
We don’t believe America had any business intervening in Syria to begin with, but Trump’s rebuke of perpetual “invasion-istas” like U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham – who wants to send as many as 6,000 additional troops to Syria – is reassuring.
Trump’s statement might also rein in some of the reckless rhetoric being advanced by his headline-grabbing ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, and increasingly by his secretary of state, Rex Tillerson.
Although we doubt it … especially when it comes to Haley.
Here’s the bottom line: If there’s a core American interest at stake, we have no problem with our nation’s military going in guns-a-blazing anywhere, anytime. Just get congressional authorization and make sure there’s a clearly defined objective/ exit strategy.
The problem? Warmongers like Graham – and “neoconservatives” like Haley – have confused what constitutes a core American interest. They’ve also mistaken us for a nation that can afford to continue playing policeman around the world – a job that exposes the American homeland to all sorts of potential reprisals.
Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign was built on the basic premise that America had enough problems at home and didn’t need to waste its blood and treasure on fights that didn’t concern us. This non-interventionist foreign policy was among the reasons we endorsed him (twice).
It’s good to see him acknowledging it again …
“The guy understands the danger and hears our concerns,” our intrepid D.C. operative noted, referring to Trump’s statement regarding Syria.
Indeed … and Trump deserves praise for that.
It is simply not in America’s job description to “make the world safe for democracy” – especially not when that process involves participating in the overthrow of democratically elected governments (and the subsequent creation of new non-democratic governments that run these countries into the ground). And even if it were in our job description, we couldn’t afford it.
Banner via White House Instagram