Posted on 10/09/2019 6:42:09 AM PDT by robowombat
“If you had done your research you’d know the PKK is a communist faction and is not representative of the Kurds in general.”
Bad time of the month, perhaps?
Anyway, sounds to me that we’ve been helping the PKK, regardless of intentions. Glad to see that ending!
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/25/world/middleeast/turkey-kurds-syria.html
Wow,so ironic that the author’s last name is Bolton.
I think the American people decide “who” is our enemy or our “ally”. Not these people.
I would say that Trump took Eisenhower’s “Military Industrial Complex” speech quite seriously. About 60 years too late...but we can see the disaster and degradation that permanent low-level war can wreak on a nation. It is a significant part of the overall deterioration of America as a nation. It only benefits the politicians, who have become the Corrupt American Oligarchs, as they are the modern day profiteers and gun-runners.
America makes the Aegean Stables look like a Class 1 Clean Room.
What is the vital US Security interest involved in the US giving the Kurd’s a US backed military shield to hide behind while they continue their separatists attacks on the internationally recognized Governments of Iran, Iraq and Turkey?
So were just suppose to endlessly continue the “Emperor of Earth” polices of the last 4 US Presidents? We suppose to write a blank check payable in US blood and treasure to every oppressed group everywhere?
Frankly I prefer Trump’s return to the pre Bush family traditional US policy. Bush the 1st made a massive mistake ending our “Over the Horizon” posture in the ME. By failing to decisively win Desert Storm in 1991 Bush locked us in a full body hug with the Middle East tar-baby ever since.
It is time the USA start figuring out how to pry ourselves off that mess. Now that we are a energy exporter since the 1960s, our national security interest in protecting the flow of oil out of the ME is greatly reduced. It is time we start re-thinking our national polices.
Actions like this by the President certainly brings out all the Hawk Neocons that lurk here on FreeRepublic.
If only we could have a NeoCon Army Division or two. I am sure we wouldn’t hear from all them around here as they would be out persecuting yet another Foreign War without victory as a goal and no end in site.
I’m not sold on the theory that Saudi Arabia was instrumental in the origin of ISIS. Perhaps elements within SA, but not official policy. ISIS was a real threat to the royal family. There’s more evidence to the Muslim Brotherhood being its true source - which explains why the Obama administration (including Hillary) only had a policy of containment towards “the caliphate.” The ivy league intellectual community that has trained most of our governmental elite believe the West’s injustice towards the Middle East is the ultimate source of terrorism. Hence the desire to undo that “wrong” by creating a unified Muslim state to replace the old Ottoman. Why else was Sec of State Clinton allowing the US to be involved in arms smuggling in Libya as well as regime change? Why support the toppling of every ME government that has Western origin?
The U.S. did not remove ISIS, Kurdish fighters with U.S. assistance did. You can’t defeat an enemy from the air unless you bomb everything that moves. That wasn’t an option. If President Trump had ordered to bomb everything that moved, he would have been removed from office with 80+ senators voting for his removal.
The U.S. used the Kurdish fighters to defeat ISIS and then threw (or has decided to throw) them to the lions (the Turks). That’s dishonest in the extreme. The U.S. has always known that the Turks hate the Kurds. If the U.S. has never wanted to guarantee the Syrian Kurds some sort of protection, it should not have used them.
Would you prefer if President Trump had sent U.S. ground troops (not only some special forces) against ISIS? Or would you prefer if the ISIS caliphate in Syria still existed?
No the Public attitude is more like Teddy Roosevelt had a little over 100 years ago. Walk softly but carry a Big Stick. The public is tired of this endless intervention and war that has takes place since 1991.
What I am saying is that the territory which is now contested by both the Kurds and the Turks is newly freed land. It’s not the area which is the Kurdish homeland, but an area in Iraq and Syria invaded by ISIS. The Kurds control it because Iraq is unable to do so given their problems in the south with Iran. Syria is also unable to regain control of the area. Therefore, what is now happening is a redrawing of national boundaries. Turkey does not want the Kurds to control territory along their eastern border because of past terrorism against them by Kurdish fractions. It is not an unfounded concern.
I agree, therefore, with the President that this is not a fight that entails US national interest. American resources shouldn’t be used to redraw the map of the Middle East. The Kurds have our financial support. They have been trained and have probably even better fighting ability than the Turks. They have tons of military equipment. The Turkish government also has been given limitations by the US government.
Finally there is the question of captured ISIS fighters, many who are Europeans. Those nations have refused to repatriot them. The Kurds are guarding them now; but are unable to do that long term w/o US troop involvement. That is not sustainable. Turkey has agreed to take control of the prisoners. The President has decided that is the best solution and I also agree.
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.