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 ...
The Hmong of the middle east?
Links don’t work in a thread starting post. Saw this first:
As US Troops Leave Northeast Syria and Turkey Preps Invasion, Kurdish Christian Lives in Danger
JERUSALEM, Israel – President Donald Trump on Monday defended his decision to pull US troops out of northeast Syria, clearing the way for Turkey to invade and abandoning the Kurdish fighters who fought alongside US troops to defeat ISIS.
“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,” Trump tweeted.
“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!” Trump continued.
Didn’t POTUS Just speak about religious freedom and the danger Christians are facing around the world???
I wonder why he is pulling out the troops? Miss Q.
Countries don’t have friends. They have interests. Henry Kissinger. To bad for them, I hear the Kurds are “good people” but at the same time the answer is not to bring them all here. We tried that with Somalians. Look how that worked out.
We have been supporting them when Saddam was in power-20+ years if not more. Time to cut the cord.
Get out of the ME. We have are own oil and gas now. Let the euroweenies help them.
Don’t want to have to fight another protracted war against Turkey. Our soldiers helped the Kurds with Syria. Fighting against Turkey would not be wise. Let Israel do it.
So if US doesn’t stay in Syria permanently it’s a “betrayal”?
BTW if you want us to fight Turkey on behalf of Kurds, do you favor kicking Turkey out of NATO?
Let Israel do it.
Fighting against Turkey would not be wise. “
Since Turkey and US are both members of NATO, wouldn’t fighting Turkey be like fighting Britain France or any other NATO ally? Totally self-contradictory?
I am as sympathetic to the Kurds as anyone.
They really should have their own homeland.
Unless we are willing to take on Iraq, Iran, Syria and Turkey to help them achieve that, we should stay the heck out of it.
How many decades, and how many US lives would the neocons have us spend in Syria?
I thought initially in Iraq following the toppling of Hussein that, while the Kurds didn’t get to declare independence from Iraq, they had autonomy in northern Iraq. Where does that stand today?
If they have autonomy in Iraq, then we cant be responsible for their conflicts in other countries, granted they have existed in Turkey forever as well.
Like it or not we are the Policemen of the World! Who are you going to trust? Ghost Busters? UN?? What a joke they are!
Turkey is in Europe. Europes problem, not ours.
i am concerned that just cutting and running is very bad policy
it encourages terrorists and terrorist nations (Muslims, etc) that USA can be relied upon to cut, run, and give up.. anytime they attack us or any of our allies or interests around the world. Just listen to the Muslim terrorists and they keep repeating this very observation, that America is a paper tiger who roars loudly but then runs away. We are only encouraging more attacks this way
thus, this makes, encourages more Muslim aggression and terrorism, more wars, not less.
I do share the sentiment of several here to scale back as much as possible, and certainly we could work out something decent for the Kurds before leaving there...)
When all our friends around the world are killed off, who will be our friends?
The Kurds have not attacked US forces to my knowledge.
They hold similar views to ours concerning Iraq, Syria, and Turkey.
As far as I know they are not anti-Israel.
We have the power to stop them from being slaughtered.
If we allow them to be conquered and killed off, when we have the ability to stop it, it will say a lot about us, and nothing good
What is our night worth, if we are unwilling to do the right things with it.
The lesson: Don’t trust Fed.gov
America cannot be the crutch of the world, people need to stand up for themselves.
Correction:
What is our might worth, if we are unwilling to do the right things with it.
That’s a great lesson to learn. These nitwits complaining about the President’s decision are more concerned about the U.S. government’s dealings with foreign interests than they are about the government’s threats to its own citizens.
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