Just send them arms and weapons and let them defend themselves !!
Headline is poorly framed.
They’re a tripwire, and they can act as Forward Air Controllers and bring down H*** from above in large quantities.
No, the response has not been” brutal across the board”.
How is it that the Kurds survived for centuries and in the recent decades without us having any troops in Syria? Maybe the big picture is that Turkey doesn’t do itself a favor by being seen as an invader. Ultimately Turkey’s reputation in NATO is suffering . And there is the risk of suffering economic consequences with the United States. Having troops in Syria, a country which is very hostile to the United States, is an awkward positioning for us.
There are no good choices except to leave.
I hope he does. They are not our problem.
They provide artillery and air support among other things. Take that away and the Kurds are at a tremendous disadvantage against the Turkish army.
Not my circus, not my monkeys.
Like finding the money and building the wall as much as he can in spite of the outcry, this is the same sort of test. Either Trump is draining the swamp and taking power away from the Deep State and their paid cadre of RINOs, or he's not.
If Romney and Cruz want him to stay, he should know damn well that staying is the wrong thing to do.
I really really despise Hotair blog.
Abandoning the Kurds.....
The last 4 damned presidents have abandoned US!!!
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.....
...figure the situation out, and what they want to do with the captured ISIS fighters in their “neighborhood.” They all hate ISIS, have been enemies for years. We are 7000 miles away and will crush ISIS again if they come anywhere near us!
Donald J. Trump @realDonaldTrump
7:40 AM · Oct 7, 2019
Unless we are going to take on Iraq, Iran, Turkey and Syria to get the Kurds their own country, what exactly are we going to do for them?
They will have support from the Gulf Cooperation Council.
Those are the fun folks who actually defeated ISIS on the ground in Syria.
““WE WILL FIGHT WHERE IT IS TO OUR BENEFIT, AND ONLY FIGHT TO WIN.” He said it will now be up to the region to decide what to do with captured IS fighters, and warned of retribution in response to any future attacks.”
This is common sense and reasonable. IMO Trump wants troops out of these hellholes but will respond to any threats if necessary. This doesn’t necessarily mean he would never go back to Syria or wherever and kick their butts if needed ... but we just won’t stay there forever and ever.
The Left may portray this as Trump changing his mind. I don’t see it that way.
“ If Erdogan’s forces come blasting into the border region this week and begin slaughtering the Kurds wholesale, the disaster will land squarely on the plate of Donald Trump and nobody else.“
Except, maybe, Erdogan, you idiot author.
Just let they Kurds go their own way.
You have to look at a map of the area involved in these decisions regarding a Turkish incursion into Syria.
It is less than a full pull out of U.S. forces, but it is still a giant gift to Erdogan that has zero to do with fighing ISIS or even keeping it under control in Syria.
Erdogan’s move is not about Russia, Assad or ISIS & Al Queda in Syria, it is 100% about the Kurds, and 100% about setting things up for a squeeze play involving Russia and Assad from the south, Turkey on the north and the Kurds to be squeezed out of the middle between them.
Erdogan says he seeks a “safe zone” and yes it is only about twenty miles in width. But where? It would be only twenty miles wide but is to stretch the entire length of Turkey’s boder with Syria. Erdogan contols only a bit of the eastern end of that area, around the city of Afrin. The entire rest of it is under the control of the Syrian and Kurdish forces led by the Kurds own militias.
So what is the true meaning of the “safe zone”?
It is to cut off the Kurds in Syria from ease of access to the Kurds in Turkey and Iraq. It is to make the Kurds in Syria caught, bound up, between the Turks to the north and Assad to the south.
To do it, Erdogan will have to take the major cities in northern Syria that the Kurds now hold - peacefully other than continued clashes with ISIS remnants - which are all in what Erdogan lyingly calls his “safe zone”.
Once he can hold that “safe zone” he will fill it with “Syrian refugees” from Turkey and anyone who knows the history of Erdogan and the extremist groups we and Assad have been defeating in Syria, then you know what that “ssfe zone” will become. It will become a sanctuary for Erodgan supplied extremists to continue to pursue Kurds south of the so called “safe zone”, just as the extremist “refugees” in Afrin do today.