The U.S. foreign policy establishment has gone into meltdown mode since President Trump announced last week a withdrawal of several dozen troops from a corridor in northern Syria. American forces had been there since 2014, joined with a Kurdish splinter group to fight the notorious Sunni Arab terrorist organization, the Islamic State (ISIS).
Trump made his decision after a phone call with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, but it was a long time coming. The Turks have been critical of U.S. support for an armed Kurdish organization they have considered the country’s most serious national security threat for five years. Trump’s move then should be seen in the context of his efforts to undo Obama administration policies, particularly its initiative to tilt away from traditional U.S. allies, like Turkey, and toward the Islamic Republic of Iran.
The bipartisan anti-Trump din (amplified by prominent GOP lawmakers) denouncing the withdrawal has obscured not only Obama’s disastrous 2014 decision to team with a terrorist organization at war with a NATO member but also basic facts about the ongoing conflict, the region, and the significant actors. The following ten questions are designed to illuminate the central issues for U.S. policy.
(Excerpt) Read more at thefederalist.com ...
Excellent overview. As usual the MSM totally misses who the players are and their objectives.
Another excellent commentary ….
10/15/2019, Victor Davis Hanson, "Kurdish, Syrian, and Turkish Ironies"
I don’t give a rats ass for Syria or the Kurds or any of these 7th. century barbarians and their sectarian blood feuds. I’m tired of seeing our young men and women dying and being maimed for life fighting endless wars in some Mid East craphole for a people that would just as soon KILL US INFIDELS!!!!!!!!!!
Trump made his decision after a phone call with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, but it was a long time coming. The Turks have been critical of U.S. support for an armed Kurdish organization they have considered the country’s most serious national security threat for five years. Trump’s move then should be seen in the context of his efforts to undo Obama administration policies, particularly its initiative to tilt away from traditional U.S. allies, like Turkey, and toward the Islamic Republic of Iran.
The bipartisan anti-Trump din (amplified by prominent GOP lawmakers) denouncing the withdrawal has obscured not only Obama’s disastrous 2014 decision to team with a terrorist organization at war with a NATO member but also basic facts about the ongoing conflict, the region, and the significant actors. The following ten questions are designed to illuminate the central issues for U.S. policy.
(Excerpt) Read more at thefederalist.com ...
Excellent overview. As usual the MSM totally misses who the players are and their objectives.
Another excellent commentary ….
10/15/2019, Victor Davis Hanson, "Kurdish, Syrian, and Turkish Ironies"
I don’t give a rats ass for Syria or the Kurds or any of these 7th. century barbarians and their sectarian blood feuds. I’m tired of seeing our young men and women dying and being maimed for life fighting endless wars in some Mid East craphole for a people that would just as soon KILL US INFIDELS!!!!!!!!!!