Posted on 10/07/2019 10:38:34 AM PDT by huldah1776
The US decision to withdraw forces from northern Syria in anticipation of Turkish assault is only the most recent betrayal Kurds have faced
A popular saying goes that Kurds have "no friends but the mountains".
****snip***
The decision on Monday by US President Donald Trump to withdraw American troops from northern Syria in anticipation of a Turkish invasion is only the latest in a long line of betrayals.
*****snip****
In 2016, the Turkish military and allied Syrian forces launched Operation Euphrates Shield and entered northern Syria with the express aim of defeating the so-called Islamic State (IS) group that still controlled chunks of the country. However, the PYD argued that they were the ultimate target of the Turkish forces.
Since 2015, the US had supported the PYD's armed wing, the People's Protection Units (YPG), in the fight against IS, viewing them as the most effective fighting force on the ground. As the main component of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), the YPG managed to wipe out much of the group's territorial control in the north, including capturing their "capital" Raqqa.
However, anyone who has hoped that the US government's backing would include protection from Turkey was disappointed - then US Vice President Joe Biden warned the YPG against expanding west of the Euphrates River if they wanted to keep Washington's support, effectively preventing the creation of a contiguous entity linking the Kurdish "cantons" in the northeast and northwest of the country.
Operation Olive Branch in 2018 saw the Turkish army and its allies entering the northwestern region of Afrin and overthrowing the YPG presence there, leading to widespread lawlessness and what some said was demographic displacement of the Kurdish population.
(Excerpt) Read more at middleeasteye.net ...
If the Kurds bend the kneee to Trump he will be wise and gracious !
Good point. Americans are tolerant and have patience. But there comes a point where they say no more. The Turks have more at stake here than the United States does. I to feel for the Kurds, but there is only so much we can do. They must make accommodations with the regional powers like they have done for hundreds of years.
I don’t think Turkey is just like Britain or France. For one thing: Turkey is muslim.
So are the Kurds. We’ve helped them more than anyone.
For them to complain now is absurd.
They should be thanking us.
Profusely.
“What is our night worth, if we are unwilling to do the right things with it.”
As I understand it we had about 150 people there. That’s not enough to stop anything. We would have to commit to attacking an “ally.” It would be a major effort with hundreds of us servicemen in Turkey at bases like Incirlik. How, when we attack Turkey, are we going to get our people out of Turkey? Now, on the other hand, if we give the Kurds hundreds of TOW missiles and tell Turkey they have them, this whole thing may become a tempest in a teapot.
The politics in the region make the Byzantine Empire look like a kindergarten class. I think Trump is making the only call he can in a situation where there is no “right” thing to do.
The problem in the middle east is that you have to kill about 750 million people to end the fighting over there. And our country is not going to do that.
Another question: the Turks and Kurds have been fighting for centuries. Why should we give a rat's ass? IT'S NOT OUR WAR. I'm tired of us sending our blood and treasure off to fight SOMEONE ELSE'S WAR.
See? GOP Neocons and Globalists are stupid little military-industrial complex whores who want to get us killed, and the world would be better served if they all fornicated themselves and died in a fiery bus crash.
As I recall, none of the Hmong were communists.
Therefore, obviously not.
No, fighting Turkey would be a return to sanity.
Turkey should have been booted from NATO in 1973, or the United States should have left.
And with four words, you get to the core of this. Israel is our sane country in the middle east. This is their baby."
Horseshit. This is not Israel's problem. They didn't start it. This is EUROPE'S problem. The inbred Euro-trash royal dynasties have ignored this massacre for centuries, and certainly long before Israel was established as a nation in 1948.
What the US needs to do is reinforce the hell out of Israel and let the savages around her kill each other to their hearts' content.
Not anymore. Time to find a new policeman.
I don't think the Turks are shaking in their boots at that prospect. A lot of difference between them and Iran.
You seem to think that there is some “we” who is obligated to be the world's policemen. Well, get your ass over there and fight those Turks until you grow old and die.. If you don't get your butt over there then you never meant “we.”
You meant someone else go die for a lost cause because it makes you feel good.
Man up.
At what point is it up to the Kurds to right themselves, or find other strategic partners to help defend them?
How did this become an American obligation in perpetuity?
-PJ
The Kurds are not our friends. They are less bad than ISIS, but they are not our friends.
The first question in any foreign policy needs to be “what does it do for US?”
Since WWI we have spilled our blood and emptied our doffers for everyone else. All of our friends around the world are our friends until we ask something of them. The Kurds too.
They too, love us until they don’t.
All of “youse guys” who think we ought to get all up in the Turks faces- the enlistment age for the Army is 42. If of age, go to it. If over, then send your sons. Otherwise you are full of crap.
And yes, I have children in uniform. I used to swear them in at re-enlistment/commissioning,, no longer. I ain’t like that no more.
Turkey is in for a much tougher fight than what they are planning for.
There are multiple external restrictions on their actions. Scorched earth and wholesale slaughter will not be tolerated, under threat of US sanctions, and Syrian/Russian military intervention.
Not to mention the Kurds are well supplied and well trained.
Turkey just grabbed the tar baby.
But by us pulling out, we will allow the region to achieve its own equilibrium, something not possible when Goliath roams the mountains.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.