After the West recklessly give birth to Islamic State and then dealt with the consequences both abroad and in our ancestral homelands, anti- Islamists as well as principled conservatives longed for a US President who would end this unmitigated disaster.

In response America elected a bombastic, unconventional politician in the form of Donald Trump, whose key mandate arguably was to stem the flow of radical Islam and in doing so, halt the failed age- old US practice of arming ‘moderate’ rebels.

So despite his flaws, and that President Trump was rightly criticized for his strikes in Syria against Assad, the President deserves great congratulations for his principled, anti- establishment move to conclude a CIA program that trained Syrian rebels.

Clarion Project, by Elliot Friedland, July 20, 2017:

A CIA program to train and equip Syrian rebels is being phased out by the Trump administration, according to U.S. officials who spoke to the media anonymously.

The program has been ongoing since 2013. It has been heavily criticized for wasting government money and for helping Islamist rebels inadvertently.

In 2015 a U.S.-trained rebel brigade handed over six pickup trucks and ammunition — which was one quarter of their issued kit — to Jabhat al-Nusra, which was then Al-Qaeda’s affiliate in Syria.

In 2016, it was revealed that the Pentagon had spent $500 million of taxpayers’ money in order to train 5,000 rebel fighters, but that the program was shut down after reportedly only producing five fighters.

The decision to end the program was reportedly made a month ago by National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster and CIA Director Mike Pompeo after consulting with lower ranking officials.

One of the officials who spoke to the media said the program was cancelled because “it’s a signal to Putin that the administration wants to improve ties to Russia.”