The Growing Middle East Conflict

          The Middle East has been quite the topic for the past week. To catch everyone up with the current events, we have to look at what the past week's news has been about. To start everything off, President Donald Trump announced the withdrawal of the last remaining troops from Syria. This announcement received a large amount of backlash from many views. Many in both political parties in the United States voiced their disagreements with the President's plans and some of a particular party denounced it as an act of backstabbing our allies, the Kurds. There was a variety of responses to the United States announcement from different countries. The majority of the European Union denounced President Trump's plans, Russia applauded the idea, and Turkey and Syria were very pleased with the announcement. With the U.S. preparing to withdrawal from Syria, Turkey announced that they were planning to launch an offensive to end the conflict in Syria and allow refugees to return home. This plan received major backlash from the United States and the European Union, but it was encouraged by Russia and the Syrian government. Within the last few days, Turkey carried out their planned attack and launched a full scale assault on the Kurdish held, northern territory of Syria. This drew major criticism with many governments and politicians blaming President Trump for backing down to Turkey and betraying the "obligation" that the United States have to the Kurds.

          This is where the topic for this post focuses on. Does the U.S. have an obligation to the Kurds and why? The U.S. has been leading and involved in multiple campaigns in the Middle East for almost two decades. In other words the United States, its populace, military, and resources are fed up with news of the Middle East and the idea of continued involvement in the region. We have spent trillions of dollars in resources and campaigns, and many U.S. soldiers have lost their lives to unnecessary conflicts. Now there is a new call among the world that the U.S. should stay in Syria and practically declare war on Turkey and Syria. The world demands that the U.S. should stay involved, but many politicians do not look at the facts. First of all, Turkey is a member of NATO, and they are still labeled and treated as a ally of the United States. Turkey is also a legit and legally recognized as a nation, but the Kurds are merely a rebel group that has claimed territory in four different nations. Turkey has also labeled the Kurds as a terrorist group; as they have attacked multiple Turkish assets, and they have also been aggressive to United States forces. What many people are afraid of, or their main reason that they give for U.S. continued involvement is that the remaining ISIS presence will rebuild using Kurdish forces, and the Middle East will once again have a massive terrorist organization to deal with.
         
          There are many options that the world could take; if they are truly concerned with the current situations going on in the Middle East. The European Union could form a coalition to place sanctions of Turkey or to use direct military action against both Turkey and Syria. Another option would be to appeal to the United Nations to send in a coalition to deal with the Syrian conflict. Why must it always involve the United States? I also remember a time when President Trump did attack key facilities in Syria that was producing chemical weapons, but the world condemned him for those actions, but now he is evil for wanting to pull out. In my personal opinion, I have to agree with President Trump. It is time that the United States completely withdrawals from the Middle East. We have been fighting there for way too long and most Americans are done with it. We also are not achieving anything with our presence being there. We destroy one terrorist group and another rises to takes its place. With all of this in mind, it is time for us to ask ourselves this question. Is it time for the United States to completely withdrawal from the Middle East and world affairs and consider re-entering into a semi-state of isolation?

The source and guideline of my blog comes from: https://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/america-doesnt-belong-in-syria/
The website features a great deal more of information regarding U.S. involvement, and it has a great deal of facts and information that I didn't even know about until after reading the article.