Don’t Mind Us, ‘We’re Just Patrolling Around’

by | Nov 4, 2019

Don’t Mind Us, ‘We’re Just Patrolling Around’

by | Nov 4, 2019

“We are just patrolling around,” a US special forces commander said to regional media in a rare interview from the ground in northeast Syria. And where is this “ground”?… Syria’s oil fields of course!

Years or decades from now, long after the hoped for final close of the tragic eight-year long Syrian war, these will be the images the world remembers as the true American legacy in Syria and the broader Middle East.

Some astounding confessions and commentary from CNN this weekend:

Our professional military officers and diplomats don’t want to leave Syria,” said Wechsler, now Director of the Rafik Hariri Center and Middle East programs at the Atlantic Council. He noted that the arguments that traditionally resonate with presidents — including maintaining American credibility and deterrence, countering terrorism and thwarting Iran, “these don’t seem to resonate strongly with this president.”

‘Deep state’ confessions apparently, as the oil rationale was the admitted inducement to yet again get Trump to reverse his own declared “withdrawal” and sign on to yet more open-ended occupation.

CNN continues:

“It’s the only argument that resonates with the President and thus becomes the excuse that we need to keep forces there to protect other interests,” Wechsler said. While the oil justification seems to have worked, “using it as an excuse opens up a whole series of other questions,” he noted.

Or rather, it opens up yet another “forever war” and occupation without purpose or end.

As the think tank pundit confessed to CNN, the ‘professionals’ simply “don’t want to leave Syria.”

Enjoy your oil occupation America. Or ‘counter-Iran’ occupation. Or ‘pressure Assad’ occupation, or whatever it morphs into.

Brad Hoff

Brad Hoff

Brad is a native Texan and US Marine veteran who after leaving the military began wandering around the Middle East, eventually making Syria his second home. He's authored multiple stories for his blog Levant Report which gained international attention. Find his writing at Antiwar.com, SOFREP, Foreign Policy Journal, The Canary (UK), and others.

View all posts

Our Books

Shop books published by the Libertarian Institute.

libetarian institute longsleeve shirt

Support via Amazon Smile

Our Books

libertarian inst books

Recent Articles

Recent

Activist-cide

Activist-cide

I recently attended an Australian Friends of Palestine charity fundraiser. It was a run-walk on a warm Sunday afternoon at Glenelg. Merchandise was sold, donations taken, and those entering paid to help raise money and awareness about the genocide in Palestine. In the...

read more
The Myth of an American Housing Shortage

The Myth of an American Housing Shortage

Everybody knows housing unaffordability and home sticker prices peaked at all-time highs in 2023, even higher than the peak of the 2007 real estate bubble in real terms. Both sticker prices and median mortgage payments for homes remain today at among the most...

read more
The ‘Will of the People’ Post-Election Horror Show

The ‘Will of the People’ Post-Election Horror Show

On the morning after elections, many voters wake up and instinctively quote Dorothy Parker: “What fresh hell is this?” “Will of the people!” is the correct answer—at least if a Democrat won the election. Actually, the notion that election results represent the “will...

read more

Pin It on Pinterest

Share This