Syria and US Censorship

 I tried to post a comment on Facebook today about the illegal presence of US troops in Syria and my post was instantly blocked. The censorship is getting out of hand. 

The US justified entering Syria militarily to attack ISIS, but ISIS wouldn't have been there if the US hadn't destabilized Syria by illegally supplying arms to Syrian rebels and throwing the country into chaos. Moreover, once ISIS was defeated the US switched it's goal to "protecting oilfields", seizing the oil in the process.  Now it is publicly switching its excuses for being there again, instead of getting out as the former President wanted.

None of what I am writing is to excuse the Assad regime for its atrocities, but the fact is that like Iraq, Syria can only be held together by dictatorship. Our presence there isn't doing much except supplying us with free (stolen) oil. As of now, Russia, Iran, Israel, and Turkey are also involved in Syria - the place has become a flashpoint that could trigger WW3 at any time. 

We need to start getting our troops out, but the best way is a withdrawal agreement that protects the Kurds in the process and also limits Iranian influence. In the process, Erdogan's quest to re-establish the Ottoman Empire needs to be checked. We do not need ground troops in Syria to do that, however, and the numbers we have there would quickly be obliterated if war broke out.

My concern is more about the continual illegal wars and military actions that the US is involved in. In the 1750's and 1760's the Seven Years Wars (or French and Indian Wars) were triggered by Britain and France with no say given to the American colonists. Then they were taxed to pay for British "protection" during said wars. So when we finally won independence, the Constitution was specifically written so that only Congress could issue a Declaration of War. This was to prevent a President acting like King George and starting wars without the people's consent. Unfortunately, they didn't consider either the idea of fighting wars overseas without a Declaration, or Congress abdicating its responsibility by "authorizing" incursions into other countries. Every war since WW2 has been unconstitutional and illegal. Except for the invasion of Grenada, all have been unsuccessful in the long term. The military wins handily to begin with, but the politicians have no realistic plans for afterwards and everything falls apart. Eventually we are sucked into "forever wars", low level guerilla wars we CAN NOT win. (Pretty much the way the "war" against covid is going!). It is time to start obeying our Constitution and the wishes of our founders that we not get entangled in foreign affairs.