The United States began withdrawing American troops from Syria’s border with Turkey early Monday and appears to be leaving the U.S.-allied Kurdish fighters to fight alone as the Turkish army readies their troops to move into Northern Syria.
There are only about 1,000 U.S. soldiers in Syria, helping with technical assistance. This announcement is more about a message.
President Trump, in a series of messages on Twitter Monday, suggested that the United States was shouldering too much of the burden — and the cost — of fighting the Islamic State militant group. He chided European states for not repatriating citizens who had joined ISIS, as well as his own Kurdish allies, who he said were “paid massive amounts of money and equipment” to fight the militants.
“It is time for us to get out of these ridiculous Endless Wars, many of them tribal, and bring our soldiers home. WE WILL FIGHT WHERE IT IS TO OUR BENEFIT, AND ONLY FIGHT TO WIN,” he tweeted.
We have long known that the U.S. would never get into a physical war with our shaky NATO ally, Turkey.
The Kurds are holding 10,000 ISIS militants, including about 2,500 highly dangerous foreign fighters from Europe and elsewhere whose native countries have been reluctant to take them back. Turkey says they will take custody of them. However, Turkey can’t be trusted and, in many ways, they are ISIS. They helped fund ISIS smugglers and let them operate freely out of Istanbul, as one example.
Turkey sided with the Germans in both World Wars and have a tendency to side with Russia now. They have long-said they will destroy the Kurds. There is no way to make peace between them.
A CAMPAIGN PROMISE AND A THREAT BY ERDOGAN
The announcement followed a call between President Donald Trump and Erdogan, the White House said. It’s also a campaign promise which some U.S. officials and our allies fought against.
Since January, U.S. officials have tried to broker the creation of a “safe zone” in northern Syria to provide a security buffer between the Turkish military and Kurdish forces, but Turkey has repeatedly objected to its slow implementation.
-
The Importance of Prayer: How a Christian Gold Company Stands Out by Defending Americans’ Retirement
The White House announcement Sunday came a day after Erdogan threatened to attack anyway.
“We have given all kinds of warning regarding the (area) east of the Euphrates to the relevant parties. We have acted with enough patience,” Erdogan said.
The Kurds have supported us in more than one war and what they want is a piece of land, but we have never fulfilled our promises to them, perhaps we can’t.
The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces threatened to respond forcefully to any Turkish incursion.
“We will not hesitate to turn any unprovoked attack by Turkey into an all-out war on the entire border to DEFEND ourselves and our people,” SDF spokesman Mustafa Bali tweeted Saturday.
The official said U.S. leaders have spoken with the SDF and that the group, which has long fought alongside the U.S. against IS, is disappointed and angry.
REPUBLICANS REACT
Lindsey Graham is deeply concerned and Brian Kilmeade asked House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy to intervene.
This from the President’s former Ambassador to the United Nations. https://t.co/tQ9o3AMrGU
— Bret Baier (@BretBaier) October 7, 2019
This thread is quite something from the former head of administration efforts against ISIS. https://t.co/gIIKmBHgkJ
— Bret Baier (@BretBaier) October 7, 2019
We mustn’t forget warmonger Kristol, a fake Republican.
Right on cue, @BillKristol pipes up with another war America must get into because…well, Trump is bad or something.
Turkey and Kurds have a fight going back forever. To stop their conflict means intervening.
I say “No US lives.”
Kristol would say “A bunch.”
You choose. https://t.co/pGIOuHkE2K
— Kurt Schlichter (@KurtSchlichter) October 7, 2019
John Bolton is on a tour, bashing Trump’s foreign policy, and it’s clear James Mattis doesn’t agree with it.
One of the problems is the fact that Turkey wants to restore the caliphate and take over as much land as possible. Another problem officials say, is there is a fear of an ISIS resurgence in a war we could not have won if it wasn’t for the Kurds.
THE PRESIDENT RESPONDS
President Trump explained his long-considered actions in a four-tweet blitz.
The United States was supposed to be in Syria for 30 days, that was many years ago. We stayed and got deeper and deeper into battle with no aim in sight. When I arrived in Washington, ISIS was running rampant in the area. We quickly defeated 100% of the ISIS Caliphate,…..
….including capturing thousands of ISIS fighters, mostly from Europe. But Europe did not want them back, they said you keep them USA! I said “NO, we did you a great favor and now you want us to hold them in U.S. prisons at tremendous cost. They are yours for trials.” They…..
…..again said “NO,” thinking, as usual, that the U.S. is always the “sucker,” on NATO, on Trade, on everything. The Kurds fought with us, but were paid massive amounts of money and equipment to do so. They have been fighting Turkey for decades. I held off this fight for..
….almost 3 years, but it is time for us to get out of these ridiculous Endless Wars, many of them tribal, and bring our soldiers home. WE WILL FIGHT WHERE IT IS TO OUR BENEFIT, AND ONLY FIGHT TO WIN. Turkey, Europe, Syria, Iran, Iraq, Russia and the Kurds will now have to…..
What do you think? Where do you fall? Democrats are angry and suddenly love wars.
wpDiscuz
