Posted on 10/13/2019 5:39:56 AM PDT by Enlightened1
Washington — The U.S. is "preparing to evacuate" about 1,000 U.S. troops remaining in northern Syria, Defense Secretary Mark Esper told "Face the Nation" in an interview airing Sunday.
The move comes a week after President Trump announced the repositioning of several dozen American troops embedded with Kurdish forces in northern Syria, opening the door for a Turkish offensive.
Esper told "Face the Nation" the troops remaining in the country were caught between Turkish forces and the Kurdish-backed Syrian Defense Forces (SDF), the main U.S. ally in the fight against ISIS. Esper said Mr. Trump had authorized "a deliberate withdrawal" on Saturday night, saying it would be done "as safely and quickly as possible."
Shortly after the initial pullback, Turkey began its onslaught, attacking the northern part of the country. On Saturday, the fourth day of the offensive, Turkish forces captured a key border town from the SDF. ISIS prisoners were also able to escape imprisonment when Turkish artillery hit a prison compound.
While the U.S. move is a gift to the government of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, it's seen as a stark betrayal by the Kurds who have fought alongside U.S. forces for years to defeat ISIS. The Kurds, former U.S. officials and senior Republican lawmakers have warned the U.S. pullout from the region could give ISIS room to rebuild, and send a message that the U.S. is willing to abandon close allies when the political winds change.
(Excerpt) Read more at cbsnews.com ...
The real number finally revealed.... Actually I heard on the web it was 5,000 but okay.
Remember whatever number the public is told means it is really between 3 to 100 times that number.
The 50 Number represented the advisors operating along the Northern Turkey Syria border. The other 1000 are a combination of advisors and support personnel operating near the Syria Iraq border. The 50 Advisors have already been pulled back and apparently the remaining 1000 are on their way out.
I don’t mind the pullout but I can’t stand the Turks. My Grampa said they were the meanest guys he fought in WW1. You add in the Armenian genocide,the relationship with Russia and the animosity towards Israel,it doesn’t give you a warm and fuzzy feeling. And with them being a NATO member nothing makes sense in this deal. Trump’s strategy is a little confusing.
There are also reports now that hundreds of ISIS prisoners have “escaped.” Impossible to verify, but plausible in the fog of war.
I read it that 50-100 guys were stationed at outposts near the border, and were withdrawn back and repositioned. All the others are farther south of the border. There are currently some SOP marines in Kobani.
The other number refers to the US forces within the area Turkey is attempting to establish as a buffer. The Turks do not have air power (No air power allowed by the US and Russia) and lack the troops to accomplish that task of creating a buffer. If they do, they will be stuck with the ISIS people.
Actually, the factions of the Kurds in and around Kobani are not the same factions that were US allies in Iraq. These Syrian border factions (140,000) are very well armed and supplied behind heavy fortifications and many tank traps. Turkey can only use arty and troops to push them out. Does not look good for the Turks, unless they are willing to suffer very heavy casualties.
You must not have paid very good attention. The 50 number was the number of troops President Trump ordered out of the 2 outposts last week that were right in the middle of the area the Turks were going to target for their military operation. 1000 is the total number of troops in Northern Syria.
Not confusing at all. He’s explained this verbally and on twitter, don’t know how you could have missed his explanation, I’ll provide a paraphrase since I cannot remember the exact verbiage: President Trump has stated in so many words that the US simply does not have any vital national interests in Northern Syria that would require US military personnel to be at risk there any longer. Also the Syrian Kurds were not allies of the US so much as they were our paid mercenaries, we paid them very well for their help thus we owe them nothing now, they acted only in their interests, as we act in our interests. To analogize we’ve decided to cancel our contract with them as the Syrian Kurds are as much of the problem in that area as the Turks, and they’ve been fighting each other for the same reasons for thousands of years let the regional players figure it out with their blood and treasure the US need not be there anymore. For at least the last two years President Trump has told the Syrian Kurds to stop supporting the Kurdish terrorist groups that keep attacking the Turks, they would not abide by that. President Trump has concluded the US has no vital national interests that require our military to be put at risk in Northern Syria anymore, if we ever really did. Thus our troops are being pulled out of that area.
That could be a blessing actually. Now that they’re classified as escaped prisoners they can be hunted down and killed. Either way, everyone of them should have already been delivered the death sentence.
So I guess when the Turks started shelling our troops, our A10s weren’t available to give them protective cover fire?
50 US troops were keeping the entire Turkish army at bay, not bad. With that one move, President Trump a) made the impeachment monkeys look even more like monkeys than do real monkeys; b) brought the isolationists and other paleo-libs out of their wish-they'd-voted-for-Trump / watch-me-pretend-not-to-be-NeverTrump closets; c) sobered up the EU-holes (with an assist from the Islamofascist Erdogan); and d) stepped out from between four enemies who have been pretending to be friends and allies. Thanks Enlightened1.
We could have changed that - for the better. But we chose to believe that ‘all cultures are equal’ and our one chance at making things better ended with that belief.
So there's no reason to be there. If the biggest thug or Mullah or Imams or whatever attacks us we fight back with everything we have. Full out war...every weapon is on the table. Starting with ‘leader assassination’... then nukes. No more blood and treasure to feed their war machine... or ours...
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