I wouldn't really begrudge anyone from doing something like that though, in a way that will get them on a watchlist but not killed by the CIA. If you wanna serve a leftist militia and have some chance of going home again (keep in mind he did it with very little contemplation and lied to his girlfriend and family about what he was doing) then yeah you are gonna have to help a group that the US tolerates the existence of.

It benefited US policy, but also ya know.....benefited the Kurds against ISIS, which I feel is worthwhile compared to what most of us do. Like said enemy here is literally The Islamic State in Raqqah. It serves US needs, but more immediately helped the Kurds. Sometimes awful people benefit from good things, beating the Nazis helped establish the US even further as a superpower for example. There are worse things for a deeply fucked up recovering addicts to do