Question. Do you think that this policy was announced after…
serious thought by the US agencies we’d usually expect to be involved in such a decision - NSC, Defense, State, etc. - and with sufficient communication and coordination with our allies, including France and Britain, not to mention the Kurds?
Trump making an impulsive decision after being flattered in a private call with Erdogan? BTW, there’s a Trump hotel in Istanbul.
I’m going with #2.
I don’t like the policy, but I really hate and distrust the process.
Gordon Sondland, US ambassador to the EU who was involved in the Ukraine news, has been ordered not to testify before the House today. The State department apparently is holding onto his personal phone and is withholding it from Congress.
Screw Trump for making America look so inept, spineless, and - most importantly - untrustworthy. The Kurds were our strongest allies against ISIS and Trump just served them up on a silver platter. So many things are screwed up about this. Trump told Erdogan we were pulling out before he told the DoD or anyone else not named Tayyip. Turkey publicly stated they were going to slaughter the Kurds and Trump initially did nothing until his “great wisdom” kicked in. He did not threaten economic sanctions during the call with Erdogan. And a source that heard the call said Trump is completely spineless and rolled over for Erdogan. The spineless thing has been repeated by pretty much every general that’s worked for Trump (see Mattis in particular).
Worst of all, he’s tarnished America’s reputation as a staunch ally. We made an implicit agreement with the Kurds and now we’ve left them to get slaughtered. Regardless of what anyone thinks of middle east politics, the U.S. doesn’t leave its allies hanging…until now.
You know it’s bad with McConnell and Graham are both denouncing Trump. In one action, he not only weakened our position on the world stage, but gave Russia, Iran, and Assad a huge gift. Did I mention it was Putin’s birthday yesterday? What a coincidence. I don’t see how this isn’t seen as a move against America’s interests. Trump just joined the Axis of Evil.
Screw that guy and screw anyone that continues to support him. I understand how some people have done the mental gymnastics to stay behind him, but this is too much. He’s a coward. He’s an idiot. He’s a traitor.
Yes, we should just stay there militarily forever and ever. Of course brass hates it, the military hasn’t seen a fight they didn’t want to join. What happened to being libertarian?
Turkey has been bombing Kurds off and on and this was going to happen whether Trump moved off or not, unless he was ready to fight Turkey over it and put more US troops back on the ground in a never ending cycle.
The Kurds didn’t take our guns because they thought they were fighting for the US, they have been in a perpetual state of war with Turkey et all long before we showed up. They were happy to take our supplies when our interests aligned and now they’re shocked we’re not going to stay and fight their war with Turkey. Good reason not to get involved in the first place.
Screw the cowards that talk big internet game but won’t ship themselves off to Syria to join the Kurds, so spineless, so cowardly.
Because it appears that this decision was not the result of a well-considered, inter-agency process that was focused on promoting American interests and reputation within the region.
Rather, as usual, it appears that Trump is conducting foreign policy by tweet with no idea of the ramifications.
As usual you completely ignored the point to insert your own narrative. Discussing whether or not we should have had troops there to begin with, and when/how to recall them is a worthwhile conversation but that’s not at all what I was talking about. Nor was I talking about our relationship specific to the Kurds, or their complicated history. I’m talking about America turning its back on an ally. I’d be just as pissed if we did this to anyone else. Trump is an enemy of the State, full stop. If you don’t find this the least bit fishy, then I don’t know what to tell you:
Defensive barriers were just taken down, by Trump’s orders, in the safe zone between Turkey and the Kurds before Trumps call with Erdogan. Trump literally paved the way for Turkey to commence an assault.
Trump and Erdogan talk and Trump tells the foreign president our military intentions before any of his domestic advisors, the Pentagon, and the entire DoD. Many military officials have already stated they would have not only left the defenses in place, but strengthened them if they had any sort of lead time before this announcement.
Turkey immediately threatens the Kurds and starts bombing away. Trump does nothing for several hours.
After significant bipartisan backlash, Trump lies and says he told Erdogan there would be economic sanctions if they pursue aggressive actions.
Strategically, there no question among, well, anyone that this was a boon for Russia and Iran (and Assad by extension).
So if it walks like a large orange duck, speaks in gibberish like a mentally retarded child, and is obviously not working in America’s best interests…that’s Trump.
This is all laughable. The Kurds are not an ally. How could they be, they have nothing to offer us. They are a mutually aligned group we armed in a small time war in Syria. That’s as far as that goes. They aren’t coming to our rescue or to offer anyone anything. Talk of an ally is just blowing the relationship out of proportion. You know who was an ally? Turkey. They were one of the development partners on the F35 before things routinely soured and we managed over the last decade to push them into the arms of Russia, torpedoing both the F35 alliance and the broader arms relationship. We have no business protecting the Kurds, the relationship is over, we gave them weapons, that war ended, asking for more is imagining you’re dating a stripper. We never joined their broad cause, that was an infatuation and we can’t afford to stay there. What I would like is to not be losing actual allies over villagers. Full stop, bro.
You think Japan thinks they share the same relationship with us as the Kurds? You think the next village people we offer free arms to in a war they were already fighting will think twice?
