The Trump administration will soon withdraw all of the approximately 2,000 American troops from Syria, a U.S. official said Wednesday as President Donald Trump declared victory in the mission to defeat Islamic State militants there.First off, nobody else is saying that the fight is over. Only Trump is saying that.
Trump has decided to kowtow to the Turks, for whatever reason.
The Turks have targeted U.S.-backed Kurdish troops along the Syria-Turkey border, which Turkey considers an insurgent threat. A U.S. withdrawal -- including the end of joint U.S. and Turkish patrols along the border -- could open the door for more Turkish operations against the Syrian rebels.The Kurds have been allies in the "Global War on Terror" for almost two decades.
Jennifer Cafarella, a Syria expert at the Institute for the Study of War, said the withdrawal is likely to create new problems.Throwing friends and allies under the bus, in order to cozy up to an authoritarian wannabee-dictator, is what Trump does.
“The bottom line is that the American withdrawal from eastern Syria will create a power vacuum that will lead to a new phase of international conflict in Syria,” she said in a telephone interview. She predicted that the Russians, the Iranians, Syrian President Bashar Assad and the Turks will compete for the terrain and resources previously under U.S. control “at the expense of” the Syrian Kurds who have partnered with U.S. forces against IS.
It is better to have Trump as an enemy than as a friend. If you're his enemy, he may suck up to you. If you're his friend, he'll stab you in the back, sooner or later.
8 comments:
The U.S. has been whipsawing on the Kurds for about a century. Allowed creation of a small homeland in 1920, and its swallowing by the Turks in 1923...in the 70’s supported attempts to overthrow the Ba’ath party in the 70’s, and reversed course in the 80’s...supplied a “No Fly Zone” starting in 1990, and ramped up support after 9/11, and now we cut and run again.
Where were you when Barry pulled out of Iraq? That's what got us ISIS. Lots of folks got shafted there.
Double standards and all that?
Having said that, I think the Kurds are getting screwed here.
B, the origin of ISIS might have something more to do with the fact that during the occupation, the U.S. fired the Iraq military and sent them home WITH THEIR GUNS.
http://time.com/3900753/isis-iraq-syria-army-united-states-military/
Also, not really a defense of Shithole, but no American president has ever or will ever do anything that has all positive consequences in the ME.
And another thing... it hasn't be reported (yet) but this might be a clear-cut example of trump directly obeying a direct order from Putin to do something militarily advantageous for Russia. And any Americans that find that out and believe the evidence, yet don't think that necessitates the use of the gallows is a fucking traitor to the country, and should be sent, on foot, over the southern border to try to find a new home.
How the Republicans struggle with facts. G.W. Bush signed a status of forces agreement that agreed to a withdrawal from Iraq. Troops in Iraq after that date would be subject to Iraqi law and courts. Obama followed the agreement, thus it is “his fault”!? The Iraqi’s rejected attempts to modify or renegotiate the SoF agreement during this time period.
History. Some folks just choose to forget.
Dale
I feel so bad for the Kurds. We "almost" supported them, then we did outright support them when they were on some mountain getting shelled. Then we give them aid. Then we finally arm them against isil and the taliban. So Turkey speaks up and Now we go and freaking withdraw and leave them cold "turkey".
As an armed force they were more than willing to fight with the US, for our reasons and their own.
How will anyone ever allow the US to support them after this debacle?
Get out of Afghanistan sure, no one ever has won there and we aren't about to but arming the Kurds, is like humanitarian aid to me.
w3ski
This morning I read that it was Erdogan, not Putin who called Fergus to get him to pull out of Syria. Let's be clear, we had no good options in Syria. Let's also be clear that those are precisely the times when capable leadership is needed the most.
And it was the invasion of Iraq that created ISIS, not the withdrawal, much like it's the stabbing of the knife through your heart that kills you, not its removal.
-Doug in Oakland
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