It's amazing to me how ignorant our "leaders" are. Both parties need to require their elected lap-dogs to attend a class and educate them on the realities of the Mid-East.
President Brick O'bama has okay-ed the use of US surveillance drones to keep an eye on ISIS forces (the ultra-radical Islamic terrorist group) operating in Syria and Iraq. What he hasn't authorized is the use of force against ISIS fighters across that line in the sand marking the border between Iraq and Syria....we don't want to violate Syrian airspace.
Here's the problem with that thinking: SYRIA AND IRAQ AREN'T REAL COUNTRIES! Neither are Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine, or Saudi Arabia. They aren't now and never have been.
They are "nations" with borders arbitrarily set up by the victors (Britain and France) after World War I. During that Great War the two decided quietly to divvy up the Mid-East after the defeat of the Ottoman Empire (Turkey), who was fighting along side eventual losers Germany and Austro-Hungary.
According to the Sykes-Picot Agreement France would exercise their sphere of influence over the northern part of said territory (the current areas known as Syria and Lebanon), while Britain would oversee their sphere of influence over the southern part (now known as Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Jordan, Palestine, and Israel).
But "national identity" was a foreign concept to the Arabs. Their society was (and still is) organized around "families", which are part of "clans", which are part of "tribes". They routinely band together to form temporary alliances when their short-term interests merge. But when their interests change those alliances break up and new alliances with former enemy tribes take their place. Regional politics are always fluid, therefore national boundaries are meaningless to them.
They don't give a rats ass about "borders". Kurds don't see themselves as Turkish Kurds or Syrian Kurds or Iraqi Kurds. They have no allegiance to any nation-state. To say that we shouldn't violate "Syrian" airspace is a farce, as there is no Syria, and therefore no Syrian airspace to violate. There are only various families and clans and tribes which congeal now and then into interest groups.
I'm not saying we should or shouldn't go after ISIS forces across that mythical line on a map that defines Syria, but just that that shouldn't enter into our decision. And above all, we should give up on trying to introduce "democracy" to the people of the region. They will never swear allegiance to any "country". Why should we waste American lives and national treasure trying to set them up?
Screw 'em!
S
