Last week saw a sharp increase in attacks on U.S. troops occupying northeastern Syria, with a drone strike against a U.S. base blamed on “pro-Iran” forces and a U.S. counter-strike said to have killed at least 19 people. After the U.S. retaliation, another strike by “pro-Iran” forces hit a number of U.S. sites in Syria. It may be just a matter of time before there are more strikes against the 900 U.S. troops based in Syria against Syria’s wishes. One U.S. contractor was killed last time. Next time it could be many more Americans.

What’s behind the sudden escalation? Fundamental changes in the Middle East over the past month have highlighted how indefensible is the continued U.S. occupation of Syria and Iraq.

Take, for example, the recent historic mending of relations between former arch-enemies Saudi Arabia and Iran which was brokered by Washington’s own arch-enemy, China. U.S. policy in the Middle East has long been “divide and conquer,” dating back at least to the Iran/Iraq war in the 1980s. U.S. switching sides in that war guaranteed that the maximum amount of blood was spilled and that the simmering hatreds would continue to prevent any kind of lasting peace.

Then the U.S. invaded Iraq twenty years ago and turned Iraq into an Iranian ally. That’s neocon foreign policy for you: a 100 percent failure rate.

So this month China, which is interested in creating a regional transportation corridor that would include Iran, came in and instead of bombing, invading, and occupying—Washington’s modus operandi—actually brokered the restoration of diplomatic relations between Saudi Arabia and Iran.

Republicans and Democrats in the U.S. both love to attack China, but China has achieved what the U.S. has resisted for years: peace in the region. Should we be surprised that the continued U.S. occupation is not welcome in the Middle East?

The United States occupies that huge chunk of Syria where the oil and agriculture is located and the goal appears to be producing profits for U.S. multinational corporations from stolen natural resources and preventing the natural wealth of Syria to be used to rebuild that country. Is it any wonder why the U.S. is so unpopular in the Middle East?

How hypocritical is it that the Biden Administration has spent $100 billion of our dollars to expel Russia from occupying proportionally less territory in Ukraine that Washington occupies in Syria? And Washington claims to stand for the “international rules-based order,” while they decimated an Iraq and Afghanistan that did not attack us, and before that a Serbia that could not have threatened us if it wanted to.

The end of the U.S. occupation of the Middle East is upon us and the sooner we realize that the better. We have no business meddling in their politics, occupying their territory, and stealing their resources. Americans joined the U.S. military to defend the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic, yet they have been manipulated by corrupt DC officials into occupying foreign lands and stealing their oil. Maybe this is why the U.S. military cannot meet its recruitment goals?

Here’s an easy way to protect U.S. forces in Syria from further “Iran-allied” attacks: Bring them home. Tomorrow. Do not wait another day!

This article was originally featured at the Ron Paul Institute for Peace and Prosperity and is republished with permission.