8/7/20
In Senate testimony last week, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo confirmed that the United States had approved a deal between the Syrian Kurds and the American company Delta Crescent Energy to develop oil fields in northern Syria. There are many problems with this deal, but the most troubling for Americans is that it increases the risk to our national security while providing no tangible benefit. The oil deal, Pompeo told the senators, had taken longer to finalize than he expected, but “now we’re in implementation, and it can be very powerful.” He did not offer examples of any “powerful” benefits to the United States — and indeed, the deal saddles the United States with potentially major problems. A Syrian Foreign Ministry statement said Damascus “condemns in the strongest terms” the agreement between the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, or SDF, “and an American oil company to steal Syria's oil under the sponsorship and support of the American administration." There are reportedly just 500 U.S. troops in Syria, concentrated in the eastern Der ez-Zor region. These troops have no valid military mission. There are no specified objectives or tasks whose accomplishment would qualify as a success and signal time for the withdrawal. At best they were left in Syria in 2019 “only for the oil.” While those 500 U.S. troops aren’t enough to defeat insurgent enemies in Syria, the troops are essential to providing security for this Delta Crescent Energy; without it, the civilian workers would be vulnerable to attack from any number of hostile forces in the region.
One fear is that the oil deal will be used as justification for why the troops must remain. Three times, Trump has declared that U.S. forces would withdraw from Syria; all three times he was walked back from the decision by hawkish foreign policy advocates. With this energy contract in place, it is increasingly likely Trump won’t even make a fourth attempt. That is unfortunate, because there is much to lose and nothing to gain by keeping our troops in place. Already our troops are under daily threat of attack from a host of potential enemies, and the risk of accidental clashes or miscalculation by various actors remains pointlessly high. We should never risk the lives of American troops in combat missions abroad that are not tied directly to American national security. Those already killed in action remain tragic reminders of a lingering mission that was already accomplished and should have been concluded as soon as the ISIS caliphate was deprived of its last bit of territory. It would be a travesty if the mission of American troops in Syria were changed to be a protection force for a civilian oil company for the financial benefit of the Syrian Kurds. The travesty would degenerate into tragedy if America stumbles into a pointless war because any of the multitude of risk factors sparked a lethal exchange. The most logical course of action for America, based on a realistic assessment of the situation in Syria, is to end the mission and bring all our troops home immediately.
