Congressman Tom McClintock

I believe the President chose the least of very bad alternatives in ordering the withdrawal of U.S. Forces in Kurdish-held regions of Syria. It is true that the withdrawal has caused a military vacuum which has drawn in Turkey, Russia and remnants of the Islamic State and has driven the Kurds to ally with the regime of Bashar al-Assad. None of this is desirable, but none justifies keeping American soldiers in harm’s way without a strategy or commitment to accomplish anything other than continuing stalemate. The Kurds and the Turks have been enemies for centuries, and there is no American interest that justifies maintaining U.S. troops in the cross-fire. I believe the President is attempting to restore fundamental principles that guided our country until the Korean War: that the United States does not attack another nation unless we are attacked and that when we are forced into war, Congress must formally declare it, put the full resources of our country behind our troops and annihilate the enemy as swiftly as possible. After the attack on September 11th, we did none of these things, resulting in nearly two decades of aimless and irresolute policy, the sacrifice of thousands of brave American youth and the squandering of trillions of dollars of our national treasure.