Slaughtering our Kurdish allies

[demi-conservative]

For context, let's recount some of the more important tangled relationships in Syria:

The US is allied with Turkey. Turkey is fighting the PKK. The US considers PKK a terrorist group but will work together with it against their common enemy ISIS. Turkey is also fighting ISIS, but hates the PKK and is upset that the US supports it. The US is also considers Assad a dictator and wants to oust him, and has attacked Assad territory, but Assad is backed by Russia. Also, Assad and Russia are against ISIS, so the US coordinates with Russia against the common enemy ISIS to avoid crossfire and WW3. Meanwhile Assad is also against Turkey, so he is tolerates the PKK. Meanwhile Assad is fighting US-backed rebels, who are also fighting the ISIS because everyone is against ISIS.

----

In short, having a common enemy doesn't make you allies, especially in the Middle East.

[demi-conservative]

The PKK are literally communist terrorists. Trump is indeed wise to cut the alliance ASAP.

[firstfloor]

Happily, Trump has “great and unmatched wisdom”, so, Kurds need not worry. What a relief!

[seanD]

He's keeping an election promise, the end. The problem is the timing of it. If he's going to get impeached, he doesn't want the MIC worshiping senators to turn on him for this. And I got to love the left siding with neocons on this issue. That's rich. Talk about TDS at all costs.

[Juvenal]

McConnell joins other Republicans in rebuking Trump’s Syria withdrawal

By Toluse Olorunnipa
October 7 at 3:36 PM

President Trump faced a swift torrent of Republican criticism Monday as lawmakers rebuked his plan to withdraw troops from northeast Syria, a move Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said would undermine U.S. national security and potentially bolster Islamic State terrorists

McConnell (R-Ky.), in a rare public split with Trump, said that a supermajority in the Senate disagreed with the president’s abrupt withdrawal announcement, raising the specter of veto-proof action to oppose the decision.

“A precipitous withdrawal of U.S. forces from Syria would only benefit Russia, Iran, and the Assad regime,” McConnell said in a statement Monday. “And it would increase the risk that ISIS and other terrorist groups regroup.”

Everything points to Trump getting off the phone with Erdogan, grabbing his press secretary and pushing out a statement, not just without sharing his thoughts with anyone else, but deliberately avoiding input from anyone else.

The bright side, to the extent there is one, is the rapid mustering of dissent from all sides is likely to spell a quick retreat from Trump. Not even the hyperpartisans on TWeb think this was a good idea.

[KingsGambit]

Why is anything Pat Robertson says slightly relevant? He's been obviously senile for at least 15 years.

(I can't find anything I disagree with in what he says other than that I disagree that the US has a "mandate of heaven" to begin with, but... yeah.)

[seer]

PAT ROBERTSON WARNS TRUMP https://www.mediaite.com/trump/pat-r...syria-pullout/

[firstfloor]

There is already a thread on this:http://www.theologyweb.com/campus/sh...Kurdish-allies

Hi seer. Thanks for the ‘heads up’.

[seer]

There is already a thread on this:http://www.theologyweb.com/campus/sh...Kurdish-allies

[firstfloor]

Trump turns his back on the Kurds.

Trump shames the US again:

The US says it is stepping aside for an imminent Turkish operation against Kurdish-led forces within Syria that have until now been a key US ally.
Kurdish militias played a major role in defeating the Islamic State (IS) group, but Turkey regards them as terrorists.

BBC news

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[JimL]

Trumps fellow tyrant, Erdogan made it clear that if and when the U.S. pulled out that he would go in an attack our allies, the Kurds, who basically did the work in defeating Isis for us, costing the lives of 10,000 Kurd soldiers with tens of thousands more wounded. Trump, what a piece of crap! He's also showing our allies all over the world, like the old Soviet states, that the U.S. can't be trusted or depended upon. Putin must be ecstatic with his man in the White House!

[Juvenal]

By all appearances, this is a rehash of the decision that spurred Mattis resignation, made late at night after a similar phone call with Erdogan, but this time without any feedback other than that necessary with his press secretary.

[seer]

White House: Turkey to invade Northern Syria

By Zeke Miller | AP
October 6 at 11:59 PM

WASHINGTON — The White House said Sunday that Turkey will soon invade Northern Syria, renewing fears of a slaughter of Kurdish fighters allied with the U.S. in a yearslong campaign against the Islamic State group.

The news was released by the White House at 11 p.m. on a Sunday night.

I don't like this either....

[NorrinRadd]

This is difficult.

Trump campaigned on getting out such entanglements. But ISTM we have never really lived up to commitments we made to the Kurds decades ago.

[Juvenal]

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