When Dubya Bush, you know, the younger one, declared war on Iraq…….I birthed a cow. I thought he was attacking the wrong enemy and I was right. Trump thought it a needless war as well but I wasn’t even aware nor cared what Donald Trump believed. He was just some rich guy who hosted a terrible reality show that was so embarrassing to watch I couldn’t make it through half an episode let alone watch the program in  its entirety.

When Obama ran out of Iraq like a scalded cat I knew it was going to be bad. And it was. They are killing each other in carloads in Iraq now and nothing good has come of the war we spent blood and treasure to win. It has been pissed away by the Hatfield’s and McCoy’s of the dunes.

Anyone old enough to be cognizant during the last 50 years will tell you that the cold war was fought by proxy. Conflicts might happen, but they were fought by countries who had aligned with the U.S. or Soviet Union. Like a good mob hit, the real big boys never got dirty. The dirty work was farmed out to those who either owed us or wanted something from us.  Sometimes it would be a legitimate democracy in existential danger of being overwhelmed by our opponent, the USSR.

When working in such a cluster hunch, it is always wise to look to the collateral effects of each action and above all remember and keep your friends close. Friends in the middle east are eyes on the middle east. If we lock the middle east out……we will be locked out! The situation in the middle east has been a mess since the Ottoman Empire disintegrated. And with he mess that grew from the ruins of both Iraq and Libya following their despots being disposed. It appears that Muslim societies work best with a bully to wrangle the population. Most owe first allegiance to various tribes and tribal conflict is a familiar and accepted way of life. It takes a strong arm and an iron fist to hold the fighting between factions at bay in a Muslim culture, democracy can take a hike. This fact is not lost on the Russians and it suits them to their toes. Nothing like a puppet who is just as corrupt as you need him to be to run things for you.

By just walking out and closing the door we have shut Pandora’s box and within that box we may hear machinations and wheels turning as they devise,  with no prying American eyes to hinder, various violent plots to take the fight wherever they choose.

The Kurds,  who have always been stalwarts and solid backers of the U.S. have fought shoulder to shoulder with us on many occasions. If we walk out on them they will be massacred by the Turks who are planning an invasion as soon as we leave. The Kurds, left to guard the ISSIS captives will undoubtedly abandon their post and let ISSIS fighters spread like a flushed  covey of quail, to regroup and continue their rotten business down the road. Iran can bond even more deeply to the Russians, and Syria’s Abbas, in building a trifecta of evil to control the whole area. Then there is the Israeli dilemma. Always our friends. Are we dead certain that this move might not be a danger to Israel? Have we even investigated this scenario? Israel cannot be abandoned.

I chose an Israeli paper to link to on this posting, for they are right in the middle of the perpetual firefight that is the middle  east. Where do they stand?  Did Trump give BIbI a call and ask what he thought? The very existence of Israel is in the balance. I hope we haven’t pulled the rug from under our strongest ally in the area.