Posted on 07/19/2017 12:13:37 PM PDT by thoughtomator
ISTANBUL—In the latest display of Turkish anger at U.S. policy in Syria, the state news agency has divulged the locations of 10 U.S. military bases and outposts in northern Syria where the U.S. is leading an operation to destroy the so-called Islamic State in its self-styled capital of Raqqa.
The list published by the Anadolu news agency points to a U.S. presence from one end to the other of the Kurdish self-administration region—a distance of more than 200 miles. The Anadolu news agency even listed the number of U.S. troops in several locations and in two instances stipulated the presence of French special forces.
Turkey has openly criticized the Trump administration—and the Obama administration before it—for relying in the battle against ISIS on a militia led by Kurds affiliated with the Kurdistan Workers Party or PKK. A separatist movement now at war with Turkey, the PKK has been listed by the U.S., EU, and Turkey as a terror organization.
To avoid the appearance of allying with such a group, the U.S. military set up the Syrian Democratic Forces, which have a large component of Arab recruits. But they are led by officers from the People’s Protection Units (YPG), the Syrian affiliate of the PKK.
(Excerpt) Read more at thedailybeast.com ...
Hi,
I don’t know anything about military security, but shouldn’t you ask the mods to delete that map?
Jive turkeys.
Agree.
The next time there is a major Turkish Army incursion into Syrian territory which happens pretty often when they’re going after Kurds they want to kill not Isis, we need to have a little Air Force “accident”. Then Trump can call Erdogan and apologize for the “accident” and also suggest maybe some things he could be doing so there wouldn’t be another “accident.”
The PKK are indeed hardcore commies. But let’s look at a list of their enemies; Isis, turkey, Syria, Iran. And who have they consistently and loyaly fought alongside for 20 years; Uncle Sam. If they ever get their own free state and the pkk is at the head of it, it’ll be a socialist nightmare like Venezuela but unlike all their neighbors they don’t want to kill Americans. So I’m happy to help any flavor of Kurds.
The Turks really really don’t want the Kurds comfortable on their border. This could be why Trump made it public he was ending the program to arm rebels - turning the heat down on the hotheads we seem to have just about everywhere nowadays.
Great. Our ally clintonized our military tactical security.
Delete a map that had already gone viral on Twitter?
To what end, exactly?
If an authorization passed in 2001 authorizes involvement in a war that didn’t even start until 2011, our form of government is in question.
Congress has the power to declare war - previous Congresses don’t have the power to declare that later Congresses don’t get to decide!
A similar map appeared in a story posted at FR about a month or two ago, from Turkish sources as I recall.
No big deal. ISIS knows where our troops/camps are, esp. since they have attacked a couple of them and got bloodied in the effort.
Some of the Kurds are not members of the KPP so we have several different Kurdish forces/factions at play in Syria.
However, they are damned good fighters and more loyal to us than the US has been to them (remember the Barzani betrayal of decades ago, possibly after the Gulf War)?
And for infantry, close with and destroy... even if the weapon you point is a laser designation signature painter!
Unofficially this is already true. I have a close friend who served in one of XX K-stand diplomatic postings where the US and our other US Ally trained K-stand military forces on the US order of battle after 911.
btt
In any case, staying in one location is generally a bad idea.
It’s all one war, which started in 1979.
This is all open source and well known info.
Nothing new, I’ve posted info on most of these sites, here on FR many times.
Every goat herder on the planet is now on Twitter.
It is beyond me how Turkey was ever brought into NATO.
My question is, how long will it be until some Moslem group SUV bombs one or more of these USA bases?
Are USA commanders doing anything to protect USA troops there? Maybe even remove most of them.
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