Trib still supporting US 'Roach Motel' in Syria

The Trib's editorial 'Why Trump's pullout from Syria puts America at risk' is wrong on so many levels it would take the entire opinion section to correct them all. For a mere rebuttal letter here are just two.

First, the Trib implies the main reason for keeping a paltry 2,000 troops in Syria, illegally at that, is to counter the up to 30,000 ISIS fighters still likely active in the region. It implies our guys are all there is from an ascendant Islamic terrorist force presenting a "direct threat to Americans and American soil." The entire premise of that charge, that a single sectarian group gaining territory there will bring the fighting here to America, is preposterous. What will the bad guys who might grab a province or two do next, buy tickets to the US on 'Islamic State Air' to reek havoc on the Homeland? They will too busy fending off their real opponents Russia, Iran, Syria's Assad and Turkey's Erdogan. The Kurds are small players, pretending to fight Islamic State in the futile hope America will help them establish Kurdistan out of Iraq, Iran, Syria and Turkey.

Second, and more importantly, the Trib gives away its real reason for keeping illegal US boots in Syria: leaving "a Middle East hot spot to two countries long established as hostile to American interests — Russia and Iran." Did it ever dawn on the Trib that both Russia and Iran, unlike the US, are in Syria legally at the request of their elected president? The Trib knows ISIS is no existential threat to America. But ISIS represents a convenient 'MacGuffin', a plot device as used by director Alfred Hitchcook to move the story along, regardless of its irrelevancy. Keeping Russia and Iran at bay simply won't 'Play in Peoria' so we voters must be scared silly in supporting perpetual war to avoid another 911. Haven't you heard? That terrorism was most closely linked to our best weapons customer Saudi Arabia whom we can't afford to alienate no matter how many they facilitated killing on September 11 or how many more unfriendly journalists they may assassinate.

There is much more to comment upon. But please digest these two for starters next time you want to keep Middle East and African countries in the US chain of Roach Motels...where the soldiers go in, but never come out.