Why Idaho is in the middle of the controversy over U.S. withdrawal from Syria

President Trump’s announcement to withdraw U.S. troops from Syria was made on the pretext of getting us out of “endless, senseless wars.”

Isn’t that a good thing? To get us out of these endless wars in the Middle East?

But having U.S. troops stationed in Syria to protect U.S. national security interests and to prevent bad actors from moving into a vacuum created by a lack of U.S. leadership is not really an example of engaging in an “endless, senseless war.”

That’s according to Steven Feldstein, the Frank and Bethine Church Chair of Public Affairs and an associate professor at Boise State University.

Feldstein differentiates between “wars of choice” that “go above and beyond the normal core protection of national security interests,” and “having a thousand troops, a small number of troops, in Syria to prevent something that could metastasize into an international crisis.”

Trump announced the U.S. would pull troops out of Syria, leaving Turkey to attack Kurdish fighters who were allies helping the U.S. to fight the Islamic State. The move was criticized widely on the grounds that it abandoned an ally, hurt U.S. credibility, destabilized the region and opened the door for others to fill the leadership vacuum. Turkey did launch an attack, killing at least 154 fighters from the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces and at least 69 civilians, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. And Russia this week moved into the region to fill the void left by the U.S.

Feldstein said it’s a misconception that the United States, as an influential world superpower, could withdraw its troops and the world would be a safer place.

“That’s just not the way the world works,” Feldstein said. It’s necessary for the United States to have troops strategically placed in all sorts of places around the globe.

So what does Idaho have to do with all of this? Idaho’s junior senator, U.S. Sen. Jim Risch, R-Idaho, is the chairman of the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations.

From the beginning of his term as chairman in January, Risch has remained consistent that he’s not going to weigh in publicly on whether he agrees or disagrees with the president, and last week on a local radio show he said such decisions as the Syria pullout are the purview of the commander-in-chief and that as Americans it’s important we support the commander-in-chief. Risch did issue a statement Oct. 9 criticizing Turkey’s attack on the Kurds, but did not criticize the president for pulling troops out of Syria.

But Feldstein said it’s a constitutional responsibility and a vital part of the separation of powers that members of Congress challenge and question such decisions.

“It’s imperative for Congress to push back to force the president to make wise decisions,” Feldstein said.

Feldstein was a committee staffer on the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee under former chairmen Sen. Joe Biden, D-Delaware, when George W. Bush was president, and Sen. John Kerry, D-Massachusetts, when Barack Obama was president.

Biden took over chairmanship of the Foreign Relations Committee when Democrats took control of the Senate in the 2006 election. Before then, Biden had been the ranking Democrat on the committee when Republican Sen. Richard Lugar was the chairman. Feldstein said Lugar took the approach, even under a Republican president, of speaking up, conducting oversight and holding hearings in a joint approach with Biden. That joint approach continued, Feldstein said, when Biden became chairman and Lugar became the ranking Republican on the committee.

Speaking this week at the Frank Church Conference on Public Affairs at Boise State University, Rob Berschinski, senior vice president for policy for Human Rights First, was asked whether the Senate Foreign Relations Committee plays a role when it comes to foreign policy.

“Absolutely,” he said, adding it’s vital that Congress be assertive in a bipartisan manner when it comes to human rights abuses around the world.

He said that political polarization has affected the inner workings of committees such as the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. But there have been signs of bipartisan cooperation on such issues as the assassination of Jamal Khashoggi, the Washington Post columnist who was killed at the Saudi Arabia consulate in Istanbul, Turkey.

That joint approach is not apparent in the Syria situation, with Risch remaining silent on the pullout, while the committee’s ranking Democrat, Sen. Bob Menendez, independently issues his own statements condemning the president’s actions.

Feldstein wrote about the challenges that lay ahead for Risch in an article on Jan. 22 this year for The Hill, titled “Sen. Risch has unique chance to guide Trump on foreign policy.”

“Trump’s mixed signals about U.S. withdrawal from Syria is a good case in point,” Feldstein presciently wrote at the time. “At this juncture, it is unclear what exactly is the U.S. policy position. Immediate departure? Partial withdrawal over several months? Withdrawal only after the ‘complete defeat’ of ISIS? On such issues, Risch should push the administration to provide strategic clarity (and hopefully enable more prudent policymaking to emerge).”

Feldstein said last week that Trump’s announcement of a Syria pullout did not appear to be the result of a “carefully calibrated policy decision.” Rather, it appeared to be the result of a phone call between Trump and Erdogan, and caught even advisers by surprise.

“While Risch does not intend to take an adversarial approach to the Trump administration, this does not mean he must abdicate the committee’s accountability and oversight functions altogether,” Feldstein wrote in the Jan. 22 article for The Hill. “Congress has a constitutional obligation to ensure the executive is operating effectively, implementing appropriate policies and following the rule of law. .... At a minimum, this means being vigilant about ensuring Trump’s team is not drawing up policies that directly harm U.S. interests.”

This story was originally published October 15, 2019 at 3:44 PM.

Scott McIntosh

Opinion Contributor,

Idaho Statesman

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Scott McIntosh is the Idaho Statesman opinion editor. A graduate of Syracuse University, he joined the Statesman in August 2019. He previously was editor of the Idaho Press and the Argus Observer and was the owner and editor of the Kuna Melba News. He has been honored for his editorials and columns as well as his education, business and local government watchdog reporting by the Idaho Press Club and the National Newspaper Association. Sign up for his weekly newsletter, The Idaho Way. Support my work with a digital subscription