Two Words. Vietnam Quagmire. I was fortunate to study the Vietnam War in the 70s during my time at Harvard. The United States entered into Vietnam with a simplistic and mostly ignorant view of Vietnam and Communist China. The argument for doubling down on fighting on behalf of South Vietnam was that if South Vietnam fell, Communism would triumph. Americans and their leaders are ethnocentric. They are ignorant of most other lands and cultures. That was true in the 70s. That is still true about Americans and their leaders vis a vis the Mideast in general and Syria, in particular, today.
In the 70s there was no monolithic Communism. Chinese Communism was different from Russian Communism. Vietnam was not Communist China. The Vietnam war was a civil war between the Vietnamese.
There are Iraq Kurds. There are Syrian Kurds. There are Turkish Kurds
Similarly, the Kurds are not monolithic. There are Iraq Kurds. There are Syrian Kurds. There are Turkish Kurds who wish to overthrow the Turkish government.
Kurds in Iraq form a semi-autonomous region within the Iraq government. The Syrian Kurds, should have formed a similar relationship with the Syrian government led by Assad. The Americans should not be permanently in Syria defending the Kurds against the Syrians or the Turks.
With the withdrawal of American troops in Northern Syria, the Kurds in Syria are aligning with Syria to fight the invasion of Turkey into Syria. They are defending Syrian land against Turkish invaders. That is a good result. The Syrian Kurds under the umbrella and protection of the Syrian government will survive and not pose a threat to Turkey because these Syrian Kurds will be more concerned about defending their territory in northern Syria as opposed to overturning the Turkish government in Turkey.
The Turks will ultimately withdraw and deal primarily with the Kurds in Turkey, as it should be.
The Americans stayed in Vietnam too long at much loss of life because they worried that by abandoning Vietnam, American allies would lose confidence in them.
America's national security interests did not depend upon defending South Vietnam against North Vietnam in a civil war. America's national interests do not depend upon defending northern Syrian Kurds being invaded by Turkey into Syria. The Syrians are the Syrian Kurds' natural allies to defend Syria against the Turkish invaders to Syria.
Once ISIS was largely defeated, America’s mission had ended
In fact, no American president from Bush41 to Clinton to Bush43 to Obama has promised the Kurds their own independent state carved of Iraq, Syria and Turkey. The Kurds were the Americans allies in defeating ISIS. Once ISIS was largely defeated, America’s mission had ended. America has no strategic interest or moral obligation to stay in Syria and defend and promote Kurdish rights to their own state on Syrian land. The Syrian Kurds, who have been fighting for independence in Syria for decades know this. They knew America’s limited objectives. When Trump pulled the American troops from the Turkish border, the Kurds quickly entered into an alliance with Assad’s Syria.
But what about ISIS? ISIS is a problem for Iraq, Syria and Turkey. It is up to them as well as Europe to destroy ISIS.
Why should American soldiers in Syria be defending European ISIS members, with whom the Europeans refuse to deal?
The best way to defend American interests against ISIS is not to allow ISIS fighters into the US across the American borders.
Trump ran against the Washington elites of the GOP and the Democrats and won in 2016 by appealing to the American people who hated these Washington elites.
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The Washington elites do not send their sons to the Mideast to fight or die
Recall the American people in the hinterlands and in the south and in the west send their sons to the Mideast to fight and to die and if lucky, to
return to America, albeit sometimes with chronic physical and mental injuries.
The Washington elites do not send their sons to the Mideast to fight or die or come back with permanent physical and/or emotional injuries from war.
The American people will support Trump against the Washington elites in the GOP and the Democrats once again as they did in 2016.
Mitch Wolfe studied government and war at Harvard in the 70s. He is the author of “Trump: How He Captured The Trump White House”, written and published before the last election. Wolfe is working on a second book about American politics and culture during the Trump era.
Mitch Wolfe, a graduate of Harvard University, is the author of “Trump: How He Captured The Trump White House”, which he wrote and had published prior to the election. (available on Amazon.com)
Two Words. Vietnam Quagmire. I was fortunate to study the Vietnam War in the 70s during my time at Harvard. The United States entered into Vietnam with a simplistic and mostly ignorant view of Vietnam and Communist China. The argument for doubling down on fighting on behalf of South Vietnam was that if South Vietnam fell, Communism would triumph. Americans and their leaders are ethnocentric. They are ignorant of most other lands and cultures. That was true in the 70s. That is still true about Americans and their leaders vis a vis the Mideast in general and Syria, in particular, today.
In the 70s there was no monolithic Communism. Chinese Communism was different from Russian Communism. Vietnam was not Communist China. The Vietnam war was a civil war between the Vietnamese. 
