Rand Paul has introduced a bill to the floor of the Senate calling for the withdrawal of U.S. forces from Syria unless Congress authorizes them to be there.
U.S. forces are in Syria purportedly to deal with ISIS, even though President Obama had pledged not to put troops on the ground in Syria to do so, and even though President Trump had vowed to withdraw them.
ISIS has been destroyed, its territory was reduced by over 99 percent, and U.S. forces haven’t engaged it in months. ISIS lacks the capability and intent to attack the United States, lacks ability to project power, and is surrounded by hostile state actors from Syria, Iraq, and Turkey.
The CATO Institute’s Justin Logan observes that “the former US Ambassador to Syria Robert Ford recently observed, the ‘real (but unstated) reason the US is there is to block Iran from using a road coming from Iraq into Syria.'” The result: Iran just takes a longer route to its same destination.
Our troops in Syria have no mission, and they have no lawful reason given to them by our Congress to remain there. In the meantime, they serve as convenient targets for Iranian-backed militias who otherwise have no way of threatening American lives. And sometimes, these hostile militias use U.S. military equipment that was loaned to them by the Iraqi Army.
This is an absurdity, and it should be ended.