Mittwoch, 26.12.2018 / 11:16 Uhr

Like thieves in the night

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Gastbeitrag von Seth J. Frantzman

America is trying to tip-toe out of Syria like a thief in the night, hoping no one notices that they are leaving and not acknowledging what they did, no ceremonies, no handover, no discussion, nothing. It's not how a major power is supposed to behave, just to say "we are leaving" and walk away as extremists sharpen their knives to kill the people the US was just working with to fight ISIS.

Refugee Camp on the Syrian Border

Never in my life have I seen such a shameful incident of a country just trying to hide its responsibility. If America had any pride and self-respect it wouldn't behave like this. The whole of the US government from the Pentagon to the State Department has followed the President's lead in just pretending like the US was never in Syria. No "thank you" to those the US worked with, no discussions about the future of Raqqa or Kobane or all those places the US helped to liberate or to help keep ISIS from taking.

I'm a peace monger. I want peace in Syria. But what I see the US doing is fueling a new round of conflict.

It's as if four years never happened. America, ostensibly a democracy with a transparent system, has no transparency. No real hearings, no discussion, no consultations, no deliberations, nothing. Yes, there are newspaper articles bemoaning the policy change, saying Iran or Russia will benefit and saying it is a shame to abandon friends.

But there is no sense of the magnitude of the whole thing. Some say "well we care about the troops." But then shouldn't you care about what they fought for, what they sacrificed for, why they went in the first place. If you care...then why don't you care about their legacy? Do you want the legacy to be just "we were never there," as if it is an embarrasment? Everyday that goes by that the US can't face its own policies in the mirror and the US officials can't go speak to the people in eastern Syria and look them in the eye and can't do anything but hide, is a shameful day.

They call those of us who oppose leaving "war mongers" who "want more war." I'm a peace monger. I want peace in Syria. But what I see the US doing is fueling a new round of conflict, against people who helped save the world from ISIS. I am for peace. The way the US is doing this may result in war. Not peace. Peace doesn't come from walking away from a half burned building. What is happening in Syria now is the cynical attempt by one side to use the Syrian rebels to fight the YPG, two Syrian groups, all for the benefit of Turkey-Iran-Russia and the Syrian regime, which is looking on with happiness.