“Syria was lost long ago. It was lost long ago. And besides that we’re talking about sand and death. That’s what we’re talking about. We’re not talking about, you know, vast wealth. We’re talking about sand and death.”
In other words, by Trump’s logic, if Syria had more tangible wealth — he did not identify what, but presumably some resource that benefits the U.S. pocketbook — then it would be worth continuing to send troops into the lethal military mission there.
Weath. Not power. Not strategic advantage. Not human rights. Not human life. Wealth.
Trump did not say that he saw in Syria a vital geopolitical location, or an unbelievable women’s movement or the seeds of true democracy sprouting amid the U.S. ground forces, or leverage toward a Geneva peace process on Syria’s political future to rewrite its constitution, end Bashar al-Assad’s regime, and create a U.S.-friendly Syria-Iraq axis that could be a bulwark to the Iranian regime’s regional hegemonic aspirations and from financing and arming terrorism.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member