Iraq

Washington’s overall objective should be to bring peace to America, not micro-manage other nations’ conflicts. Washington policymakers come up with long lists of objectives which are not worth the cost, in this case essentially permanent war. Withdrawal from Syria is long overdue.

The Trump administration appears to share the belief of prior administrations that it can transform the Middle East in America’s image. But Washington’s record in the Middle East is catastrophic. It is time to bring home America’s troops.

In Erbil I watched Christians, Yazidis, Sunni and Shia Muslims, and a Jew, who had lost a hand in a terrorist bombing, work together. Personal transformation offers the only sure, long-term answer to build a more tolerant, less violent world.

President Trump has made the right decision to take us out of the Obama nuclear weapons deal by reimposing sanctions on Iran and assembling a broad coalition to counter the totality of the regime’s malign activities. However, those “malign activities” are not things that only occur in the Middle East, Iran is conducting a war against us right here in the United States and fighting them here needs to be part of the President's new policy.

On John Bolton's first day as national security adviser, Trump is being pushed to embrace a policy of Cold War confrontation with Russia and a U.S. war with Syria. Yet candidate Trump campaigned against both. The War Party that was repudiated in 2016 appears to be back in the saddle. But before he makes good on that threat of a "big price... to pay," Trump should ask his advisers what comes after the attack on Syria. Lest we forget, there was a reason Obama did not strike Syria for a previous gas attack. Americans rose up as one and said we do not want another Middle East war.

Despite working with the Kurds against ISIS, the administration has no stomach for a military game of chicken with Turkey. Which means the U.S. almost certainly would abandon the Kurds again if the Turks attack Manbij.

The Taliban in Afghanistan and ISIS in Syria and Iraq, and its offshoots elsewhere around the world, do not desire any kind of “peace” except the peace of the Ummah – the peace of the worldwide reign of Islam.

If our goal is to block Iran’s aspirations in Syria, but neither the United States nor Israel has been able to stop the proliferation of Iranian bases in Syria, then it looks to us like we, and the Israelis, are losing. The question for Gen. Votel and other commanders then becomes, if we are presently losing, what’s it going to take to win?

January 12 is just over a week from today, but that’s plenty of time for the President to make a major policy statement in support of the Iranian people, and to put in motion the actions necessary to support them in their desire to rid themselves of the corrupt mullahs now stifling their liberty – and threatening our own national security.

If President Trump is serious about countering Iranian aggression and repairing the mess in the Middle East left by Obama and Bush, then steps must be taken across the region, otherwise Iran will assert political and economic dominance over the entire northern tier of the Middle East and become the Middle East’s Shi’ite superpower.

Whether the growing anti-Iran coalition in the Middle East will solidify into a real counterweight to a potentially nuclear armed Iran remains to be seen, but one thing is clear: The battle with Israel and Saudi Arabia on one side and Iran on the other is heating up.

Turkey's Islamist President and wannabe Sultan Recep Tayyip Erdogan has destroyed the pretense that Turkey and America are allies. The Trump administration now must defend America’s interests and values from Turkey.

Kurds deserve their own country, but Washington should stay out of any conflicts that result.  Please tell us where you stand by taking our poll on the U.S. role in Kurdish independence.

An independent Kurdish state is in America’s strategic interest in our ongoing proxy war against Iran. Starting with diplomatic recognition and support we should be prepared to render whatever assistance is necessary to preserve Kurdish independence.

Bottom line: The U.S. goal of crushing the ISIS caliphate is almost attained. But if our victory in the war against ISIS leaves Iran in the catbird seat in Baghdad and Damascus, and its corridor from Tehran to Baghdad, Damascus and Beirut secure, is that really a victory? Do we accept that outcome, pack up and go home? Or do we leave our forces in Syria and Iraq and defy any demand from Assad to vacate his country?

The Ayatollah’s regime, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and the Basij militia are deeply hostile to this country. But Iran does not want war with the United States — for the best of reasons. Iran would be smashed like Iraq, and its inevitable rise, as the largest and most advanced country on the Persian Gulf, would be aborted. President Trump is key. If he does the War Party’s bidding, that will be his legacy, as the Iraq War is the legacy of George W. Bush.

Washington obviously can do little to “fix” any of these nations. But America could at least affirm the principle that governments should protect their people’s lives and dignity.

U.S. officials have never felt comfortable confronting the crime of religious persecution. They have few answers to offer other than pressing unwilling governments to better protect politically unpopular minorities.

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson’s first order of business at the State Department should be to eliminate the Fifth Column in his own building by showing the door to the signers of a letter criticizing President Trump’s Executive Order pausing travel from terrorist hotspots to the United States.

Kuwait is one of the freest nations in the Persian Gulf, as well as one of America’s best friends. Yet its “liberalish” governance, as one Kuwaiti colleague described it, ironically impedes the adoption of market-oriented economic reforms necessary for the country’s prosperity.