Trump's Wars
The president is doubling
down on the Middle East
quagmires he once
criticized.
By Emma Ashford
March 27, 2017 "Information
Clearing House"
- "US
News"
-
President Donald Trump is no
stranger to conflict
escalation. In his short
time in office, he has
managed to successfully
escalate disputes against
the media,
immigrants
and the
intelligence community.
Yet Trump's most important
escalation has been in the
War on Terror, substantially
increasing the U.S.
commitment to wars in Yemen,
Syria and elsewhere.
Unfortunately, these steps
are likely only to draw
America deeper into some of
the world's most intractable
conflicts.
Trump's foreign policy
approach during the campaign
can be charitably described
as incoherent. On the one
hand, he openly admitted
that the Iraq war had been a
mistake, and repeatedly
criticized the money wasted
on
pointless Middle East
conflicts.
These ideas, unorthodox for
a Republican candidate but
popular with the general
public, helped to win him
votes.
But on the other hand,
candidate Trump often
contradicted himself,
calling for the use of
overwhelming force in
the fight against the
Islamic State group,
and promising a massive
increase in
U.S. military spending.
The candidate's militaristic
worldview frequently came
through in his off-the-cuff
remarks, most memorably when
he told a rally of
supporters, "I
love war,
in a certain way."
Sadly, since his
inauguration, Trump has
pursued the second of these
two approaches. This choice
– escalating U.S.
involvement in a variety of
conflicts – risks dragging
his administration further
into the very Middle Eastern
quagmires he once railed
against.
Media reports on Yemen have
largely focused
on the disastrous raid
– apparently ordered by
Trump over dinner - in which
a U.S. Navy Seal and a
number of Yemeni civilians
were killed. But U.S.
involvement is expanding in
other areas too: the
president recently loosened
the military's
rules of engagement
in Yemen, and has
dramatically
increased airstrikes
against al-Qaida.
The new administration has
also effectively doubled
U.S. deployments to the
campaign against the Islamic
State group in Syria, adding
400 additional troops
to the forces already
deployed there. Like their
counterparts
in Iraq,
these soldiers are tasked
with providing support to
local forces in northern
Syria, but the mission has
nonetheless resulted in the
death of one marine,
and the injuries of several
others.
Trump is also considering
escalation elsewhere:
Another 2,500 paratroopers
have been placed at a
staging base in Kuwait
to support the campaign
against the Islamic State
group. Meanwhile, military
leaders responsible for the
fight in Afghanistan have
petitioned Congress and the
White House for more troops,
and the White House is
considering
loosening the rules of
engagement
in Afghanistan and Somalia.
Yet in each of these
conflicts, additional
military force is unlikely
to improve the situation. In
Yemen, U.S. raids and
airstrikes focus on a
resurgent al-Qaida and an
emerging branch of the
Islamic State group. Yet the
two terror groups are
growing primarily thanks to
the Saudi-led war in Yemen,
a war the Trump
administration enables
through air support and
arms sales.
Increasing military strikes
treat the symptoms of
Yemen's turmoil, but leave
the disease untouched.
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In Syria, there is no clear
strategy for U.S. forces.
Though the military goal –
the defeat of the Islamic
State group and recapture of
Raqqa – is obvious, basic
political problems remain
unresolved. Will U.S. troops
will be involved in
post-conflict stabilization
work? Or will local actors
be able to control retaken
territory? Worryingly, U.S.
forces in Syria have even
been forced to
physically place themselves
between rival Kurdish and
Turkish forces to prevent
them fighting.
And there appears to be
little strategic rationale
to the president's choices
to escalate the War on
Terror elsewhere. Increasing
the number of U.S. troops in
Afghanistan may lengthen the
stalemate there, but it is
unlikely to bring an end to
America's longest war. Even
Trump's budget, which
proposes military spending
increases and
dramatic cuts to agency
budgets,
ignores the need for
effective foreign aid and
diplomacy in combating
terrorism.
During his campaign, Trump
railed against the
excesses of U.S.
intervention
in the Middle East, noting
"I don't want to see the
United States get bogged
down. We've spent now $2
trillion in Iraq, probably a
trillion in Afghanistan.
We're destroying our
country." Yet in the short
time since his inauguration,
he has chosen instead to
escalate these conflicts. If
Trump doesn't want a legacy
as the president who
perpetuated America's Middle
East messes, he needs to
change course soon.
