Resident Donald Trump was on the phone with Recep Tarrip Erdogan [R-TU], Republican pseudo-Muslim leader of Turkey. Erdogan must have told Trump that Trump has a very large penis, because Trump irresponsibly gave Erdogan license to attack our Kurdish allies in Syria, possibly undoing the defeat of ISIL. The Turks have a long history of massacres against Kurds, as the picture below illustrates
The commander of Syrian Kurdish forces didn’t use the word “betrayal.” But with U.S. troops withdrawing from the Turkish-Syrian border and Turkish troops poised to attack, he warned on Monday that a bloodbath could be ahead — and pleaded for continued U.S. support.
Gen. Mazloum Abdi, the commander of the Kurdish-led militia known as the Syrian Democratic Forces, said during a telephone interview from his headquarters inside Syria that Turkish troops “are preparing to cross the border” and that a major assault could come in “a matter of days.”
The Kurdish commander’s pleas that the United States not abandon an ally struck a chord in a Washington that is whipsawed by President Trump’s increasing practice of diplomacy by impulse and whim. Even Senate Republicans who usually acquiesce to Trump’s policies were vocal in protesting Trump’s move to abandon our Syrian Kurdish allies, who did most of the fighting and dying against the Islamic State.
This latest chapter of the Syrian horror story followed a White House announcement late Sunday that Trump was, in effect, leaving the border unprotected in the face of a possible Turkish attack, despite repeated U.S. pledges over the past three months that the United States would seek to forestall such an assault if the Kurds pulled back troops and heavy weapons from the border zone… [emphasis added]
Inserted from <Washington Post>
Here are two video clips that tell more.
Erratic Trump Endangers US Personnel, World Standing: Brett McGurk
With Syria Pullout, Is Trump Threatening His GOP Senate Support?
I find myself in the rare situation of agreeing with most Senate Republicans (please pass the Alka-Seltzer), while disagreeing with some friends on the left with anti-military knee-jerk reactions. Trump’s policy is an open door for ISIL to reestablish themselves. Out troops there are special forces and support troops. They are doing no fighting. They are taking no casualties. But their presence with the Kurds prevents the Erdogan from committing atrocities against them. That is a rare instance of the best use of our troops.
RESIST!!
9 Responses to “Trump Abandons Kurds”
Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.
Good article, and good to know that our troops will continue to protect the Kurds.
Alka-Seltzer won’t help the Republicaosis. I recommend Prilosec and Imodium, but Nameless may have a better idea.
What apparently happened, was that Trump was on the phone with Erdogan and Erdogan was pushy and ranting, and he was “desperate” to get off the phone, so he got “rolled” by Erdogan. I’ve been joking that he made the statement as a birthday present for Putin, but I now think it was simpler and stupider than that. The only redeeming feature is that if that’a the way it was, he’s likely not to go through with it. That, and the fact that, with even Republicans against him, he may lose some support. Even if the loss in support is only temporary, it’s a good thing. Even steel can be broken if it is bent back and forth enough times.
NOTE: I’m just going to recycle my comment to P. Bowen in yesterday’s Open Thread:
It was just shortly after he hung up the phone w/ Pres. Erdogan of Turkey that Trump announced the totally irresponsible troop withdrawal.
Newsweek’s Exclusive no longer comes as a surprise at how totally incompetent he is.
Maybe Graham & McConnell will finally do something useful and get him to change his mind.
(Of note is that yesterday just happened to be Putin’s birthday. Maybe Trump forgot to get him a gift, so he went with the troop withdrawal instead.)
Nameless,
Thx for your comment, personally, I don’t see anywhere, anyhow…that Graham & Mitchell will do anything for the good of our Country, and have shown (to me) that they are sycophant to dt, and his minions.
re: Putin .. I’m agreeing about that too, because dt has real estate in Istanbul and worried about his property? He could care less about the Kurds, imho, and is betraying them, sadly.
It’s worth the repeat. See today’s Open Thread.
Despicable the way that tRump plays with serious issues like this.
I was happy that gRaham and mCconnell was voicing this they felt that he was doing something that was in the wrong direction. If that doesn’t get him to reverse his troop withdrawal, who knows what will. I just hope more of his repug buddies will turn against him.
We must protect the Kurds.
Trump is clueless about which way to point his pecker. Those poor Kurds just can’t get any respect!
I suspect the American resident’s memory paths in his besieged brain are so far gone he doesn’t even realize he has done exactly the same thing within a year: withdrawing the few remaining American troops after a telephone call with Turkish President Erdogan, leaving America’s allies, the Kurds who have lost many in the battles with the Da’esh, open to slaughter. He even gets the exact same reaction to the repeated lunacy. Those close to him (in the GOP) no longer support him in this decision, the reason why he backpedalled last time. The impeachment threat really must be getting to him for him to become so irrational twice in exactly the same fashion.
Thanks, Hump Day Hugs, and Amen to all!