Why the U.S. Should Stop Investing in Failure Abroad

How much longer are we going to continue investing precious military lives, time and treasure into nation building and refereeing multiple sides of Islamic factions who hate us? When will we begin to make the right investments in those who actually ally with us and protect our strategic interests?

Just consider what is transpiring around the Middle East and how our military and resources are so misappropriated in a way that is antithetical to our national security interests.

Failure Across the Middle East

While there is much outrage over Russia’s decision to commence an air campaign in Syria protecting Bashar Assad and targeting the American-backed “Syrian rebels,” the bigger outrage is that our government is backing these rebels in the first place. The Syrian rebels are full of radical elements and have proven incompetent in fighting IS, Al Nusra, and Assad. In fact, why would anyone want to involve themselves in this incorrigible and multi-pronged Islamic civil war to begin with?

Yet, last December, as part of the FY 2015 “Cromnibus” bill, Congress dutifully handed the Pentagon $721 million to train, equip, and recruit Syrian rebels with no broader strategy or direction towards a definitive outcome. After training just 70 individuals, only four remain in the field! But once again, instead of cutting off funding to this Islamic Mujahedeen, Congress rubber-stamped $600 million for this program next year in the NDAA (section 1225) that passed the House last week. Remember, the Free Syrian Army has already been overrun a number of times by Al Nusra, making it likely that our weapons have fallen into the hands of terrorists (assuming the rebels themselves are not terrorists).

Over in Iraq, we have at least 3,500 U.S. military personnel on the ground refereeing the Sunni-Iran/Shiite civil war, with reports of American military members sharing bases with Hezbollah-backed militias. To the extent the Iraq army isn’t backed by Shiite militias, they are completely inept and have already lost over 2,300 U.S. armed Humvees to IS. We are also arming the Lebanese Army, which is backed by Hezbollah. We just can’t seem to bring ourselves to allow our two enemy factions to fight each other without gratuitously tipping the scales to one side or sticking our necks between their crossed swords.

In Afghanistan, 14 years after the initial invasion, our soldiers are still dying on a weekly basis towards an end game nobody can articulate. They can’t even do their ‘social work’ missions without being prosecuted by the politicized military leadership for roughing up Islamic terrorists.

We lost 2,500 men at Normandy freeing a continent and saving civilization; what can be said of 6,500 fatalities in the Middle East that has only resulted in the strengthening of both Iran and the Sunni Islamist factions?

After more than two decades of perpetual terrorism, we are still sending the “Palestinian” government almost a half billion in foreign aid per year, including military training of their terror outfit, the Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades. Moreover, at roughly $275 million a year, the U.S. is the largest donor to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, a multinational group that has long harbored Palestinian terrorists under the guise of humanitarian aid. Just this week, Al-Aqsa (not Hamas), which is affiliated with the Fatah-backed government, murdered an Israeli couple in front of their four children in the heart of Samaria.

Is it too much to ask that we refrain from funding terrorist groups? Is it too much to demand that we stop falling on our swords nation-building and refereeing civil wars for people who hate us and each other?

Keeping Focus on True Strategic Interests and Allies

I say the following as an ardent hawk, not as an isolationist. Sure, we need to keep a robust presence ready to protect our national security interests and our allies in the region, but why not focus on allies?

At this juncture, there is simply no game play to be made in Syria and Iraq outside of walling off an autonomous Kurdistan, and that is not necessarily a bad thing. If the Sunnis, Shiites, and Alawites want to fight each other, and Russia seeks a death warrant for themselves by entering an endless battle with the Sunni population, let that be their problem. They might strengthen Assad from the near-collapse of his regime, but the Russians will never be able to put the Sunni insurgency back in the bottle.

We should focus on helping the Kurds – the only stable and reliable ally in the region – preserve and protect their boundaries and eventually create a nation-state. A separate Kurdistan can also serve as a safe haven for persecuted Christians, Assyrians, and Yazidis. [In the coming days, I plan to elaborate on this point in greater detail.]

This is not a commitment that even requires a military presence on the ground. The Kurds have demonstrated their ability to fight for themselves. They simply lack the resources. This can be rectified by directly arming the Kurds, giving them robust economic aid, and bombing any of the other warring Islamic factions away from their strategic points. All of the funds needed to help the Kurds could easily be transferred from the blood money we give to the Syrian “refugees,” rebels, and Iraqi Shiite and Sunni warring forces.

If we want to show leadership in the Middle East and thwart Russian and Iranian hegemony, while leaving the Sunnis and Shiites to battle out their own future, focusing on the creation of a Kurdistan would serve as the best multiplying force to serve our interests in the region. If we are going to engage in nation-building, let’s build a nation that will actually hold together, appreciate our help, serve as a beacon for those who are truly persecuted, and drive a strategic dagger through the hearts of ALL our enemies in the region.

Unfortunately, Congress failed to address any of these issues in a meaningful way in the budget bill or the defense bill. Many of the presidential candidates have also been off message and focused on the wrong issues in Iraq and Syria.

Obama’s malfeasance on foreign policy is self-evident and transparently on display before the public. But the eventual GOP nominee needs to lay out a vision that will not only shun the failed policies of this administration but eschew the cycle of failure that has persisted since after 9/11. (For more from the author of “Why the U.S. Should Stop Investing in Failure Abroad” please click HERE)

Watch a recent interview with the author below:

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