Setting off a predictable fire in the Western corporate media, there is now weeping and wailing over the new Trump decision to end the policy of the CIA arming terrorists in Syria. Mainstream outlets are now leaping over themselves to demonize Trump, Assad, Putin, and Russia in general. According to some outlets and analysts, Trump has “fallen into a Russian trap” by directing the CIA to stop funding terrorists. If that sounds ridiculous, it’s because it is.

Still, while the new policy is cause for celebration, the fact is that there is more to the story than what is being reported both in the mainstream and alternative press outlets. Many individuals who have opposed the war in Syria are now celebrating the end of the Syrian war and Trump as an anti-war peacemaker. Others simply do not believe that the change in policy is relevant. The reality, however, is most likely something in between. In order to understand the significance of Trump’s new decision, it is important to look at facts and history so that one may understand the direction in which we are headed in regards to Syria.

The New Policy

President Donald Trump decided to end the CIA’s “covert” program of arming and training terrorists (aka, “Moderate Rebels”) in Syria. The program is set to be phased out over a period of a few months. The Western corporate press is, of course, reporting the news as if the family dog just died. Notorious pro-terrorist and pro-war commentator and senior fellow at the Middle East Institute, Charles Lister, even described the decision as a “Russian Trap.”

“We are falling into a Russian trap,” he said. We are making the moderate resistance more and more vulnerable … We are really cutting them off at the neck.” We assume Lister was not aware of the phrasing of the latter part of his statement given the history of his terrorist friends in Syria since 2011.

But, according to the Washington Post, Trump had made the decision over a month ago, not during his meeting with Putin. The website reports that Trump made the decision after meeting with his National Security Advisor HR McMaster and CIA Director Mike Pompeo.

The policy in question involves the open arming, training, and support of terrorists inside Syria and was first acknowledged by the Obama Administration in 2013. However, the CIA had been funding, training, and directing jihadists in Syria since the very beginning of the crisis and even before that.

What Does The New Policy Mean For Syria?

The decision to bring an end to the policy of arming terrorists in Syria is no doubt a welcome development and it should be commended. However, this does not mean the Syria war is coming to a close or that the United States, NATO, GCC, and Israel are giving up on their attempt to destroy the Syrian government.

First, the CIA plan of arming and funding terrorists is only the publicly acknowledged aspect of what the CIA has done, is doing, and likely will continue to do in Syria. Remember, the CIA was involved in this activity two years before it was partially publicly acknowledged by the Obama administration. If the policy enacted by Obama is ended by Trump, it is entirely possible that the rest of the covert aspects of the policy will continue.

Second, it should be noted that the Pentagon plan is not being affected by Trump’s decision. In fact, as the Washington Post reported, the Pentagon plan is set to continue. So the question then becomes whether or not the CIA will be stopped at all versus the policy of arming, funding, and training terrorists will simply become the responsibility of the Pentagon.

Third, there is the distinct possibility that, despite Trump’s orders, the CIA will simply continue with the plan right under Trump’s nose. It would not be the first time the CIA has conducted covert operations that ostensibly were considered against stated U.S. policy and the stated public policy set by the White House. Iran-Contra immediately comes to mind as an example of how the intelligence community was able to not only ship drugs, guns, and money to and from countries but also to defy American political policy with respect to arming foreign nations with the cooperation of other nations without the American people and, some say, even the President being aware of it.

Likewise, during the Bay of Pigs, the CIA went ahead with a planned invasion, despite the fact that Kennedy had reservations. It is documented fact that the CIA planned to go ahead with the invasion whether Kennedy allowed it or not. The CIA involvement in the assassination of JFK later on should also serve to prove that the President of the United States is not the deciding factor in American politics and that the CIA is perfectly willing to launch a coup against the President even if it is conducted in the light of day in front of the entire country.

Richard Nixon was also set up by virtue of CIA interference proving that the agency was not merely capable of engaging in operations overseas but it was capable of turning on an American President and effectively ousting him.

With all this in mind, why should we believe that the CIA will stop arming, funding, and training terrorists simply because they were ordered to stop? If Trump truly is serious in his order, then he at least had the intelligence to announce it so that the public has it on record that the program was ordered dead. However, there are forces vastly more powerful that the President at work in the halls of every branch of the U.S. government.

It is also important to keep in mind that the United States is not the only government working against Syria today. NATO as a whole, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Israel are all united against Assad as well. The United States may stop supporting terrorists but KSA, Israel, and the rest are not going to end their support for jihadists. Thus, we have to wonder just how much of an effect this policy change will have on the situation on the ground.

Does The Trump Administration Want To End The War Or Has It Simply Shifted From Plan A To Plan B?

While at first glance it seems the new Trump decision to halt CIA support to terrorists is a sign that the Trump administration wants to see an end to the war, there is one aspect of the conflict that is being ignored by many who are rejoicing at the announcement as if it were V-Day – the Plan B of federalization and the network of ten U.S. bases strategically and illegally placed in Syria designed to outline the borders of a future Kurdistan.

The reason for the U.S. bases is not so much to back up the SDF forces in their military campaigns. After all, the SDF is merely just a hodgepodge of Kurds and Arab terrorists, both of whom are being used and supported by the West to destroy and destabilize Syria. Instead, the United States forces are being strategically placed so as to prevent the SAA from retaking territory in its north and southeastern regions. The U.S. knows that the Syrian military cannot withstand a direct confrontation with the U.S. military and it is becoming abundantly clear that Russia is not willing to risk a direct confrontation with the U.S. over the questions of Syrian border integrity, particularly in the southeastern desert regions. It seem as long as Syria retains a government friendly to Russia and Russian interests, Moscow will be content to see a smaller Syria where a larger one previously existed.

Thus, we can easily see the borders of a Kurdistan coming into view.

Conclusion

While the new Trump decision is most certainly a welcome development, the Pentagon program of arming, training, and funding terrorism in Syria is moving ahead unmolested. Thus, the U.S. will be continuing to support terrorists under a different department. In addition, the CIA has increasingly become a rogue agency, even publicly threatening the President and actively working against his administration from day one. Trump’s order may be issued but whether or not the CIA will abide by it is another question. Lastly, as long as the U.S. is insisting on allowing the Kurds to create a Kurdish mini-state within Syria, the war will continue. A federalized Syria has been a plan of the Israelis and American intelligence community, and corporate financier think tanks for many years as a Plan B if the Plan A of full-scale destruction fails.

We should congratulate Donald Trump on ending the CIA program but also should demand that he end the Pentagon program as well with no more covert action taken against the Syrian government. In addition, we must demand that all American troops be removed from Syria and any idea of Kurdistan be left to wither on the vine. This can be the only acceptable solution to the Syrian crisis from the point of view of the United States.