This catastrophe is the result of Tony Blair and George W. Bush invading Iraq.
17
There is a very simple way the US can stop this: deny the Turkish air force access to Syrian skies.
Without air coverage Turkey is unlikely to continue its attack.
6
just as he gave mohammed bin salman the green light to proceed he now gave it to erdogan... that he has private interests in both countries is really just a coincidence...
22
Our Fearless Leader has now stood in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shot a whole bunch of people.
He was right, he's not losing any votes. At least not Republican votes. I see them beginning to claim it's all some big joke. All of it. Which it is.
What's to stop him from doing anything at all in this country?
Nobel Prize and Chancellorship of North America await, as the title of Saviour of The People. Think it's a joke? Just wait.
13
Trump green light’s the genocide of our Kurdish allies in order to presumably protect his Turkish business interests and help his master Putin; Pence and Pompeo (ever the obedient lapdogs go along) supporting the lunacy.
Seems like an International arrest warrant should be issued for the three lunatics along with Erdogan and the lot can be tried in The Hague for crimes against humanity. In addition, the three “Americans” have now earned the right to be tried for treason as they once again support Putin’s objectives, this time in the Middle East. Lindsey and Rudy can be their defense attorneys in both cases, the best that blood money can buy.
15
This is shameful. Time for Europe to throw Turkey out of NATO and to support the Kurds, the only ones able to fight ISIS. Trump does this to get a Trump tower in Turkey! when will the money grubbing corruption end.
78
@getGar
Ending international collaborations allowing for maximum diplomacy is NEVER the best way to obtain a political agreement.
It is precisely because Turkey is part of NATO that the EU will be able to exert pressure.
But of course, when the wealthiest NATO member, with the biggest military on earth, prefers to merely react by sending a tweet to Turkey telling them that this is a "bad idea", it's the negotiating power of NATO itself that is being undermined.
And that is exactly what Putin has always wanted.
26
@getGar
I agree completely. Trump Betrays everyone for his own gain. He only looks out for the Trump family pocketbook. No other country is ever going to help the US after this shameful betrayal of trust and hard work.
23
Reality Check the Great Deception our president was being impeached last week now all sudden we have war started . Guess means the impeachment is off .more drama.
3
It breaks my heart that I have lived so long to see the complete destruction of our democracy at the hands of this ignorant, inept, madman Trump. I doubt if we will recover from this episode in our history - the world will not forgive us this one and with it we have lost the glory of our past and all decency. I'm glad I won't be around much longer to see the results of this terrible mistake - the election and support of Trump. Even if he is defeated in the election to come , and is literally "removed" physically, the scars he leaves on our history will remain forever.
22
How many times should Kurds and other US allies in the middle east have to learn from US's behavior. They leave you whenever "American tax-payers" feel to. Don't trust the Americans!
6
@soroush
The problem is that many "American taxpayers" are totally ignorant, all while having the power to vote.
That means that people who don't know anything about the Middle East, can nevertheless vote for a commander-in-chief of the largest military in the world.
It's is a problem inherently related to democracy as a political regime, as Plato already pointed out, 2,500 years ago.
The problem is that its only alternative, a dictatorship, is even worse, as history has shown.
10
Donald Trump is MOST dangerous, because he doesn't listen. There are painfully few people in the country who knew this all-out assault on the Kurdish population. His own Secretaries of State told him. Even we the unwashed masses knew this would happen. Turkey has wanted to extinguish Kurds for well over a millennium.
Mr. Trump's GREAT and UNMATCHED WISDOM is already saturated with blood; he likely spawned genocide not seen since WW II.
When is someone going to stop Donald Trump? It doesn't make any difference if draconian economic sanctions are imposed to choke Turkey. The mad genie is out of the bottle and it will not stop the doom that faces the Kurdish people. This is a despicable betrayal to the Kurdish people and our once-upon-a-time allies. It's appalling.
11
What are we doing in syria with pkk&ypg? Our ally is Turkey.
That lands belongs to Turk Kurd Arab etc. let them alone we have been spending billion of dollars... That money can solve our healthcare system!
Also Turks are not attacking to directly Kurds they attack only Kurds who support pkk and ypg. That killed 30k more Turkish citizen been years.
5
First of all, no, it's not by withdrawing some hundreds of US troops at the Syrian border that we'll have money to "solve our healthcare system".
All Western countries except for the US already "solved" their healthcare system, and the result is that it costs less, not more.
Secondly, the GOP massively increased the budget for the military, all while cutting healthcare. It also doubled the deficit (whereas Obama cut it by 2/3), resulting now in once again a $1 trillion dollar deficit. Only to give a huge tax cut for the wealthiest. The GOP's priority will NEVER be to "solve our healthcare system".
And then there's the fact that the Kurds, US allies for decades in the region, are mainly responsible for getting ISIS out of Iraq and containing it in Syria. So from a merely selfish point of view, it's obvious that IF you care about national security and don't want the US to have to be engaged in another ME war, it is absurd to now let another US ally kill the Kurds, you see? This will force us very soon to send in more, not less US troops.
9/11 was concocted and executed by a handful of Islamist terrorists living in a country that we finally, after a long and extremely destructive war, "left alone". Today, more than 10,000 similar militants will be liberated because we allow Turkey to kill their prison guards.
That some of those Kurds adhere to a political party that years ago committed terrorist attacks against the occupying Turkish government, is irrelevant here.
8
Donald Trump is systematically leading the United States out of our proudly created NATO alliance — a noble alliance of freedom oriented Nations — and is instead aligning the United States of America with Russia, and its USSR / Mafia oriented leadership (Putin), and with Dictators like Erdogen. This is also why Trump is cozying up to North Korea: it is another Dictatorship under Russia's boot.
Trump is a traitor to the ideals of America, and to the men and women who have given their lives in service to our heritage of protecting Human freedoms and rights. The GOP has been clearly exposed as fascists, whose only alliance is greed, and power to protect their greed.
Trump will be impeached by Congress. Now that the New York AG is investigating his tax reforms, he will potentially be indicted for his (alleged) involvement in Russian and Saudi Arabian money laundering schemes, and I believe that he will also be convicted of this crimes.
By September of next year the fall of Trump will be over, and a new era of American commitment to Democracy, and global Freedoms will begin. Including a major effort to protect the global environment from Climate Change.
Many thanks to Mr. Schiff, Mr. Nagle, and Ms. Pelosi for their diligence in standing up for our Constitutional Laws. These Democratic Patriots will see that the truth prevails.
8
Trump: the weakest US President in modern US history. No integrity, no back bone whatsoever. His WW2 excuse about 'the Kurds not fighting in Normandy' is embarrassing. The Saudis didn't fight at Normandy either, yet he has no issues with supporting their war campagne in Yemen with US weapons, supplies and intel.
12
This is a disgrace, a betrayal and inviting disaster in that region and around the world. The consequences for the long-term will be even worse than the misbehavior at Abu Ghraib. Never has the US had better, stronger, braver and more sorely needed allies anywhere than the Kurds. How can we expect anyone to trust an alliance with the US again after this? We must urge Congress, executive branch officials and anyone else with any leverage to reverse this ASAP. Trump's acquiescence to Erdogan here is both an ethical and geopolitical catastrophe that must not stand.
6
This was a shameful and disgraceful day for all real Americans: we turned our backs on a true ally and on America itself. The Republicans enabled this by supporting a corrupt, incompetent, and ignorant president, giving him free reign to wreck anything he wants, including America.
9
The wretched thing is, this WILL come back to haunt us. Physically.
6
Hopefully, the Kurdish coalition troops can unite and kill a lot of Trump's Turkish goombahs, and slow Erdogan down, before the Turkish military invasion does massive harm to Kurdish women, children & old people in their homeland.
One wonders if Erdogan promised Donald a new Trump hotel in Istanbul, for having the US betray our Kurdish allies.
5
The saddest plight on earth today is to be a Kurd, knowing that Americans are only erstwhile friends who abandoned you to Saddam Hussein and now to Erdogan of Turkey. With Trump it was foreseeable, and the Kurds may have known this. An American president who threw wives, creditors, his country's allies and interests to the winds at whim could not be the one you put your families at the disposal of as they would surely be in his ash heap when your life or his hotels in Istanbul are the key factors to be weighed against each other.
5
The Republicans perturbed over Trump's betrayal of the Kurds should have been alarmed much earlier when he had betrayed his own allies, friends, and even the countrymen much earlier in pursuit of his petty personal goals. Turkey's autocrat Erdogan was only waiting for the tricky nod of Trump to kill and eliminate the Kurds that he got with Trump's policy shift of running with the hares and hunting with the hounds as this could be the only way to please Russia being Trump's ultimate benefactor.
4
The USA has other things to worry about.
This is not our problem or concern.
I’m glad out troops are leaving a place we shouldn’t be.
1
The Kurdish lives being lost are on the consciences of the Republicans, if any of them has a conscience. They have aided and abetted Trump and his erratic and unjust actions for far too long. They, and Trump, must go. They are anathema to democracy.
6
The ways in which presidential powers were enlarged after 9-11 is coming back to bite us.
The Congress completely lost their sanity in 2001, enabling W in truly deplorable ways.
Today, we've got a Manchurian president doing the bidding of Vladimir Putin and innocent Kurds will perish as a result.
End the Trump Presidency Now.
8
This is not a new situation for the United States or the Kurds. We have used them before only to abandon them to the tender mercies of Saddam in Iraq. Our history is riddled with our betrayal of the Kurds. Whatever the Kurd army did there is also no mention of the Iranian forces with out whose help ISIS would not have been defeated. Why not bring the 75000 Kurd army to America with their families as a reward for shedding their blood to protect us?
This situation will be played out again in Afghanistan when we leave abandoning our allies. It is what the neo colonialists do
4
I do not have any such evidence but I would suggest that Congress investigate whether Trump has business interests in Turkey. If so, that might be a reason for his betrayal of US interests in giving Turkey free reign over de Kurds.
2
Free fall
How low will this nation fall under the “unmatched wisdom” of a man who escapes any previously established definition? How far will Republicans support the slaughter of America’s international standings?
Looking at this very example, It should be clear to all that the situation in those territories is far too complex for Trump’s limited abilities to comprehend.
How many tragedies in the making this country is going to face because of the inept behavior of this “administration”?
4
What if Trump figured out a way to take a bribe in exchange for pulling out US troops? Nobody is saying that Trump definitely took a bribe, but if he has no explanation for his actions, maybe it’s time to look for evidence that he got paid off.
2
Shame on Trump. But cold rational analysis indicates that this cruelty could be a decisive move to end fighting and to finally stabilise the region again.
The two strong regional powers,Turkey and Iran, come out as winners. Turkey will control and silence the Northern parts of Iraq and Syria. Iran will oversee the rest of Iraq and, together with Russia, re-establish and strengthen Assad‘s dictatorship in Syria. There will be no space left for ISIS and Western values.
This sounds cynical and may be seen as disastrous result after 15 years of war. However, it is the consequence of irrationale US military interventions without clear justification and without long-term strategic vision and comittment.
1
And what did the stable genius, great and all knowledgeable trump think was going to happen? If he had asked almost anyone but Erdogen, he would have been told that. His fake shock now is laughable. His turning his back on our ally will go down as one of the largest foreign policy blunders of any presidency, ever. Another stain on what will be a very poor record when he leaves office.
2
Wow... The player from the TV PROGRAM THE APPRENTICE just wrote world history and sent thousands of people into serious life threatening circumstances... I am speechless
2
America does not retreat to be “out of harm’s way” from the Turkish military. What an outrageous distortion from our Secretary of State. Turkey attacked as soon as we moved out, not the other way around. Trump’s policy whims (really, whichever dictator he last spoke to on the phone) require everyone around him to use pretzel logic. It debases our country and our military.
3
The day before Trump gave free rein to Turkey in northern Syria, Pompeo was in Greece and Cyprus giving assurances to allies about the USA's support.
I invite you to imagine the reaction in these countries when it turned out the US Secretary of State had no idea what his President was about to do.
America's word is worth nothing.
2
Whew, good thing we have a president who has consistently demonstrated not only his superior grasp of complex issues, but also his unfailing commitment to the highest moral standards. Oh, and his exemplary courage and personal integrity. #theGOPisTrump
1
Too disgusted to read the news at length. But am I to understand, that Trump made this decision on the fly, without consulting with the experts who work at the State Department, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the CIA?
Insanity.
2
If we follow Trump's logic that Kurds doesn't deserve help because they haven't fought with us in Normandy, he shouldn't benefit too from American benevolence. Remember he evade vietnam because of his 'special bone spur' - he got no back bone, it moved to his foot.
4
I must admit being stunned that none of our fine progressive commenters has the ability to remember 9 or 10 years ago when a different American president pulled our troops out of Iraq.
The same chorus of complaints came from our military and the people there - but not a single progressive dares bring it up?
No wonder they buy into socialism - they have no hint of a memory, even of fairly recent events.
2
The Iraqis had a country then and a military that we trained and supplied without a far larger country with a history of genocide breathing down their throats.. Not even remotely the same thing but from your comment, can I assume your ok with us abandoning the Kurds?
1
As a retired military officer Trump's inaction on protecting the Kurds is a clear business case to benefit Trump's Towers in Turkey, aid Turkey's grab of Syria's oil fields, and release Isis fighters to Yemen where they currently are fighting alongside Saudi forces, all keeping Putin happy's about his Trump investment. Overall Trump is endangering America's security to benefit Trump Inc,. this shall not stand, Congress needs to impeach Trump while warning Turkey just as much.
5
There is one thing that is conveniently shadowed by the western media and the shortsighted politicians. ISIS is a terrorist organization and so called Kurdish fighters in the northern Syria are a wing of PKK which is also a ruthless terrorist organization that has been committing countless horrific crimes mostly against Kurds in Turkey and Turkish state. Why can’t any one see here that majority of Kurds in Turkey supports Turkish state’s incursion against PKK and its branches in Syria, Iraq and even in Iran?
Setting and supporting one terrorist organization against another terrorist organization is NOT a fight against terrorism but a clear indication of a hidden agenda. And this is exactly what USA and its European allies have been doing in the so called fight against ISIS.
3
@Izzet
You are showing bias in your loyalties to Erdogan, who is no lover of freedom and democracy. As you well know, the YPG is accused by Turkey of being part of the PKK, but has long denied the charge, and have been supported by various western countries. As you also know, the Kurds are split in many directions, especially once the borders change, so the opposition of a different Kurdish group proves nothing. The fact is that the YPG did the heavy lifting for the US in fighting ISIS, losing 11,000+ men and women in the process. And now that the job is done, Trump is turning his back on them. Did YPG become a different group overnight? Obviously not. Erdogan whispered sweet nothings into Trump's ear, and Trump gave him a blank check. There is no defense for that.
2
The perils of having a president be the commander in chief. Such decisions need to be made by congress, not on the whim of one individual. It’s akin to a dictatorship and we might as well be in Albania or Azerbaijan. The constitution deserves a serious revision, which will never happen of course. Didn’t Arthur Schlesinger jr. warn of the ‘imperial presidency some 60 years ago? While curtailing a president’s imperial prerogatives, they might get rid of the Electoral College and other undemocratic features of government.Just sayin.
1
If I'm Japan looking at this, obvious conclusion: we need to get our own nuclear weapons and missiles, can't depend on the USA. South Korea the same. And the list goes on, and on. WMD proliferation on one side, leads to the same on the other.
Whether you called it the Pax Americana or Forward Defense, that decades-long US foreign policy of global engagement is what the Trump Doctrine is now clearly dismantling. But reverting to isolationism is unlikely to prove feasible in an era of global-reaching military technology.
This Trump Doctrine approach is highly hazardous for our allies right now--and for ourselves in the foreseeable future. War-mongering and military adventurism were never a good idea, but neither is abandoning true allies and inviting their replacement by despots and terrorists.
1
I'm a former Marine Sergeant who served during Vietnam. I know what it is like to serve. I also know what it is like to be on the losing side of a war.
The Kurds have fought for our side for a very long time. We have depended on them. Now our nation has abandoned them and they are being attacked.
We, as a nation, should not do that to our allies. Right now, I'm about as frustrated with president Trump as I can get. He needs to go.
28
Well, the US has pulled out and left the Kurds between a rock and a hard place. My money is on Russia and the Syrian Assad regime offering a deal to the Kurds. The US has effectively given the Kurds no choice but to strike a truce at least, or perhaps even an alliance, with Assad and Putin. Iran is heavily involved on Assad's side as well so the end result of this will be, I think, an increase in Russian influence in the Middle East and a consolidation of Iranian influence next door to Israel.
12
@John Cameron
So win for Putin and win-win for Assad. Individual 1’s supporters should be so plowed....err, proud.
Classic example of the conundrum that going into war is easy, withdrawing from the war is a far, far more difficult proposition. In Syria, with ISIS defeated, having only 2000 Special Forces Americans to keep the lid on any outright fighting, the costs are relatively small and worth the relative stability just achieved.
3
Unless you’re a Kurdish kid, of course. Oh, well. Omelets and eggs, eh?
Well, it shouldn't be a surprise, America did the same thing to the Northern Alliance after the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, Vietnamese to name two.
8
@Scott
There was no Northern Alliance when the Soviets pulled out of Afghanistan. You are conflating different events.
1
I wish the Kurds will learn from the past not to trust the US ! since 1991 when Bush Sr. let them down in Iraq, but what alternative do they have ? maybe be united among themselves; and then what !! no alternative at all, they will be divided in the 4 countries of axis of evil, with no independent homeland at all.
8
@Sam
1991 wasn't the first time. Gerald Ford did the same in 1975. I pray that the fierce opposition in the US to Trump's indefensible move forces him to back off.
As if Syria hasn't suffered enough: hundreds of thousands killed, millions forced to leave, a beautiful, ancient land destroyed, and a ruler who should have been forced to be tried in The Hague still in power and now aligned with Putin. And then along comes Trump to make things even worse.
14
Congress could always take back its War Powers, declare ISIS an enemy of the US, and authorize the use of force in Syria. But they don't have the backbone.
4
Erdogan day he did this to prevent a terror corridor. How ironic given that his country was the gateway through which so many ISIS recruits passed unhindered, border towns served as its logistics centers and the rumors of Turkey buying Islamic State oil.
10
I have this horrible feeling that the Kurdish people would not have bombs raining down on them if Trump had not wanted to deflect attention away from the impeachment investigation and his wrongdoing. Is that why he made the announcement of immediate troop withdrawal?
And then for Trump to justify his action by saying the Kurds did not help the US during WWII just highlights how unfit this man is to be in any position where he has the power and influence to determine the futures of others.
Even if harm was not intended, harm has been done. Of course, I don’t believe harm was not intended, at least not in the usual sense. I think he just does not care if others suffer as long as he gets what he wants.
22
@Concerned:
Yup, you nailed it:
With the Buffoon-in-chief, nothing else matters beyond the incessant and perpetual feeding of his own Ego.
The astonishing degree of his narcissism not only cripples him from having any enduring and actual contact with Reality, but also puts our country -- as well as the rest of the world in grave danger of catastrophes arising from his ignorance and great distance from reality as applied to how the world really works.
Small consolation: he sets a very, very low bar vis-à-vis electing virtually anybody possessed with a greater grasp of Reality and understanding of how the Real World operates.
1
Lots of harsh comments criticizing Trump. Just to clarify, are these commentators suggesting for US troops to stay and fight the Turkish invasion- to get into a fight with a NATO ally? Sounds nuts to me. Trump made the right call!
4
Just to clarify: Turkey would not have invaded if it had not received a green light from Washington. If Americans were still there on the ground, Turkey would not attack.
4
@Qcell
Maybe you didn't notice. But when US troops were in position there, there was no Turkish invasion. That was, and is, the point of Trump's withdrawal--to allow the Turkish invasion.
Like Turkey was ever going to go into combat against American forces. There's a big difference between a real ally and an ally in name only, and what's nuts is refusing to see that difference.
The Kurds were our allies in a very dangerous war with IS, while the Turks were if anything aiding and abetting the other side. If you want to give IS a second life, this is just about the perfect way to achieve that.
4
Turkey would never invade with us forces stationed there. That’s the point.
1
"However, the United States was providing intelligence to Turkey until Monday that may have helped it target Kurdish forces."
How is this our country? This is unfathomable...
11
Easily fathomable when you think about who occupies the Oval Office
2
However awful you think Trump is, he always manages to do something worse than you could have imagined.
And I'm sure we'll now find out the same thing about Turkey. History has shown they can be unimaginably diabolical, but I'm sure they can tap some hidden reserves of inhumanity and shock us some more.
The last three years have not been normal, but this is beyond strange, and portends an evil time, great grief and carnage. We must hold on to our humanity. It may be all we have in this time of peril.
16
Trump is going down the tubes fast. The timing is perfect. You Dems can do the dirty work of impeaching him so we can get Nikki Haley vs Warren. You are doing us a great favor. We needed Trump to defeat Hillary and take the Media down a few notches. He's done a great job. Now it's time to move on. Haley vs Warren 2020. It's the obvious match up.
3
@Jack M In your dreams. The Republicans are too spineless to remove Trump.
2
When a political neophyte runs the greatest country in the world and then disrespects and ignores his diplomats, his military advisers, and his intelligence advisers you have the recipe for disaster. Are the Republicans going to let Trump drive us all the way over the cliff or will they come to their senses and reign in this impetuous narcissist?
11
@E. C. MD:
C'mon:
While once upon a time the GOP was actually a noble and respectable party, with the arrival of Cheney and Dubya the party ejected and lost contact with its historical values, which are now clearly extinct and all but forgotten.
Any rejuvenation of even a semblance of the Party of Lincoln (and Eisenhower) will require a sea change of attitude arising from an as yet-to-be-born generation. Parallel with such an unlikely minor miracle would be a similar emergence of a more centrist Democratic party.
As the presumed Adults In The Room crew of the current political atmosphere have uniformly rejected moderation and any recollection that "United We Stand, Divided We Fall", a toxic and fatal blindness has been subsumed by Congress as a whole. The White House crew is simply a clown-car of inanity utterly held hostage by the massive ego and ignorance of Fearless Leader.
Given these unfortunate realities, it's a mere fantasy that the Republicans any longer have even an iota of capacity to regain their former political maturity. (The final nail in the coffin was appointing Kavenaugh to the Supreme Court. )
Sad.
Bigly sad
Never again will any country trust in the words or pleas of the US.
14
I'm really sorry when I read these one-sided articles. Why do not you want to return to their homes of Syrians? you know very well that isis is a fake enemy made up of a tyrant boss. you know very well that the ultimate goal is the divided Middle East. It's easy to understand why you love so much the Kurds.
2
@1 misisipi
Go to Raqqa or Mosul or Kobane and tell everyone there that IS was a fake enemy. Good luck getting back from there afterwards.
2
Lemme guess...
In two weeks Turkey will release some dirt on Hunter and Joe Biden
8
With US made weaponry.
3
Trump Towers in Istanbul!
What more need be said?
7
Yet another second order impact of the Khasoggi murder, Erdogan has yet again played his cards perfectly.
3
This is typical Trump. Accept the accolades for shutting down ISIS, even tho the Kurds did all the fighting (the Kurds lost 10,000 vs 6 for the US) only to abandon them to genocide once he got what he wanted. Then he tries to denigrate them by making an asinine assertion that they weren’t there in Normandy. Is he so ignorant that he doesn’t know that the only countries who were with the US on the beaches were Canada and Britain? America, do you have no shame? Impeach now.
11
@Karen
This move by Trump has angered me far more than anything else he's done, and it's not a very close call either. The opposition he has received here has been fierce; I hope there is still time to undo the damage.
1
I think the reality is Trump distastes all these people, and sees no issue with them fighting among themselves. It's always the simplest explanation. From his and his followers perspective, why get in between warring middle eastern nations? I bet he sees it as a win-win. That's Trump. No further explanation needed.
8
I'm sorry, but the Syria policy was insane from the beginning. Both the US and Turkey have designated the PKK as a terrorist organization for decades. Turkey was never going to allow a group that associated itself with the PKK to develop a presence on its border. Would we allow a group that associated itself with ISIS or AQ to establish themselves on any of our borders? Of course not.
Our Syria policy was crazy from the beginning because it never addressed this issue. It seemed to just assume the Turks and the Kurds would be able to resolve their differences peacefully despite massive amounts of evidence to the contrary. This was literally a ticking time bomb waiting to go off.
Trump, of course, set this time bomb off in an oafish manner. But people shouldn't kid themselves into thinking it wasn't going to go off anyway.
If this wasn't bad enough, there is even another bomb in Syria waiting to go off: Assad never agreed to give up any part of his country. Was he expected to just hand over part of his country without a fight? If he did attack us, would we be willing to enter another major, large scale war in the Middle East?
Our Syria policy was doomed from the beginning.
6
@John Chenango
Sometimes you have to make choices, and sometimes those choices require commitments. We don't live in a world where you get to have everything your own way. The choice was between the Kurds and IS. Should we have made the other choice? Yes, choices have consequences. And this latest choice will have consequences too. If Turkey's view isn't our view, that's another choice we have to make, weighing up the costs. The US can also choose to be isolationist, or to try to be--but in the age of international terrorism and intercontinental ballistic missiles, how realistic is that choice?
5
@John Chenango
Your comment assumes that the YPG is part of the PKK, which is Ankara's position but not that of the western world. The YPG just lost 11,000 men and women while devastating ISIS as our Allies, and now Trump just sold them out. It is indefensible.
2
Well, it is a clear message that our foreign policy is lacking credibility. Very serious damage!
It won't surprise me, if we pull out of South Korea overnight alleging too expensive to maintain.
6
Donald J. Trump of Republican party, a Russian mole and asset, betrayed America, so he will betray all! No exception. Once a traitor, ever a traitor. ,
10
Congress must demand a transcript of Trump's call with Erdogan
12
Isn’t it obvious that Trump is out to harm the US, its Constitution, its laws, its 3 branches of co-equal government, its global trade and investment, its national interests, and its national security ? He may not intend to do that. But those are consequences of his words and actions. Who uses the word traitor? Who repeatedly calls the mainstream media as producing fake news ? The questions can go on and on, but the GOP will never ask them let alone listen to them. Trump is an unprecedented tragedy. And a dying party is enabling him.
16
@HS:
You're absolutely correct in your observations and conclusion.
Yet you don't go far enough: barring a sudden deep and visceral revelation within the majority of our citizenry of just how far we've deteriorated as a healthy, functioning democracy under this Administration, our days as a united republic are numbered.
The simply stated yet profoundly important concept of "United We Stand, Divided We Fall" has vanished from our national consciousness, à la an old television ad.
A genuine tragedy, that.
The ever increasing polarization of our politics will absolutely be the instrument of our demise as a country. The really sickening aspect of this is that it's an extinction of our own, mutual making.
And the rest of the world will suffer greatly as the result.
As the Cretin-in-chief is apt to say:
Sad.
Bigly Sad.
Indeed.
This.
This is what we were truly afraid of, with trump.
An absolute lack of diplomacy, that results in America being made less safe in the world
19
Far out question: Would it be possible / feasible for House Democrats to use trump's betrayal of the Kurds as an Arrticle of Impeachment?
Sadly, he 'is' the C.I.C of our Armed Forces but could this be presented an egregious abuse of power to benefit our enemies (Russia, Syria) and unleash Turkish forces to commit genocide against the Kurds?
I urge Pelosi to add this to Impeachment charges and have the Republicans ignore it at their peril.
11
@Bob Lupo
As an anti-Trump conservative, I would support impeachment on this count. The problem is that the Democrats have long lost all credibility re impeachment, as they've made clear that their goal is impeaching Trump, find the excuse later.
@Bob Lupo:
I'm with you in trying to find any legitimate means possible to oust the Buffoon-in-chief, but in the case of the Kurds its difficult to see how that conflict projects any actual threat to the United States.
I wholeheartedly back your desire and intent, however!
Because of Trump’s decision, we have abandoned one of our most loyal allies who fought side by side with us in Syria against ISIS and now we just sit back and watch them being slaughtered by Turkey? Has anyone even considered the safety of our troops in Syria? We’ve just lost what little respect we had left. Putin must be over the moon on this one.
16
Trump's acquiescence to a murderous dictator who immediately embarked on an adventure to occupy a border territory under the guise of protection brings to mind the Munich Agreement of September 30, 1938. Chamberlain's declaration of "Peace In Our Time" proved empty a year later. Trump's ill-founded withdrawal of a stabilizing force because it cost too much took just 48 hours to play out.
10
On the strength of his latest bizarre whim, President Trump instantly turned a stable situation into an unmitigated disaster. He did so without consulting any of his military advisers or those in his already cowered diplomatic corps. The Kurds are now being repaid for their loyalty and sacrifices in the name of curbing ISIS (now left unguarded and free to leave their compound) by being slaughtered by a hostile Turkey that dared not act on such aggressive designs until given the green light to do so by Trump for reasons that he himself desperately labors to explain with belated lame references to "the big picture". Donald Trump is an ongoing catastrophe both for this country and the world.
19
Like always America leaves its allies alone when they did their job for Washington....
4
@ Mitch McConnell.
So this is what the Kurds get for their massive role in the defeat of ISIS.
The Kurds deserve far more respect than this.
Trump's act of betrayal is an utter disgrace.
You can fix this by over-ruling Trump.
And while you're on the job, impeach him too.
17
It started on inauguration day with Trump’s preposterous claims of the “biggest crowd EVER”. Since then he’s continued his bumbling, bluster, and bombast across this country and around the world. Usually I find his combination of word salad interviews and Twitter lies amusing, annoying, maddening, or (usually) pathetic.
But now, on his personal impulse and whim, he has abandoned our Kurdish allies without even so much as a heads up to the Pentagon or the State Department, let alone any notice to NATO.
For the time being, forget about his mob boss meddling in Ukraine, right now his bungling in Syria is killing our friends who helped conquer Isis and is sending waves of refugees fleeing the invading Turkish troops.
This man is not just annoying in so many ways — he’s DANGEROUS!
(That shouldn’t come as a surprise to anybody who’s been paying attention.)
16
I’m ashamed. We are guilty of the murder of allies that had our word of support.
Anyone who helps trump stay in power is participating in the active killing of Kurds and the future resurgence of ISIS.
What did Erdogan promised Trump?
9
Let us not forget that there are two Trump towers in Istanbul.
11
Trump's decision to pull American troops out of the region will lead to a genocide of the Kurds. Those who manage to escape will become refugees looking for a sanctuary in Europe or the United States; in both places, they will likely fail. And worst of all, the ISIS prisoners will escape and regroup; no doubt, some will attempt to come to the United States and stage terrorist attacks here.
Perhaps we can thank Trump's stupidity or arrogance for this. Perhaps he was ordered to do this by Putin himself; no doubt he and Assad will profit from this. Either way, we will pay the price for Trump's actions for years to come. And we will pay dearly.
13
In the 21st century, I greatly hesitate to stand on any train platform knowing there may be Repugnant Americans waiting to give a shove in the back on a whim, maybe to post on social media. Dirty, lying, backstabbing traitors to a human. Can't say "to a man", that would be conceding the impossible.
USA: From much discussed, to much disgust. The very worst.
5
@ William Wallace
Let’s also once again remember who started this ENTIRE mess.....
G.W.Bush. Another American who at the time used bogey reasons to do this business.
After years of delivering „democracy“... the player who started this mess just pulls out before any! business is finished..
The people of America still stay inside and go after business as usual...
2020... By then the many! many! women and men of the Kurdish army will all be dead...
ISIS on the loose again. The entire region in turmoil.
For many, many additional years to come...
They walk in, they create a mess, then they walk out and leave behind the most horrible mess. No responsibilities for their own doing...
Thanks! America!
1
Another favor by the so-called American President for his fascist dictator friend Erdogan.
Here's the first one in May, 2017:
https://twitter.com/VOATurkish/status/864631567972540417/video/1,
https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-us-canada-39979879/erdogan-watches-as-turkish-security-guards-attack-protesters.
Trump is a fascist wannabe dictator. Watch what happens if he's re-elected. He and the Republican Party are already working hard to rig next year's elections by gerrymandering, voter suppression, broken machines, and a constant stream of lying social media courtesy of his other fascist dictator friend, Putin.
Trump=230 years of American democracy down the drain
7
Incredibly cruel and equally short-sighted.
Which pretty much sums up every. single. day. and decision made by this president.
So deeply disturbing, what a terrible day. Again.
34
Our policy in the MidEast has not been very good for sometime but the capricious nature of Trump's decisions take this to new low. This just emphasizes his policy is America Alone.
12
The brave Kurds need their homeland and an independent country. As our allies they have lost almost 10,000 men and women fighting the ISIS. Now just with one phone call they are left to be slaughtered. Their blood will on the hands of all Americans who support this immoral act.
23
Both Turkey and the Kurds are our allies. The former is a NATO member. Perhaps, the Kurds are lesser known, and only known to us for supporting our military, in Iraq and in Syria.
Why would we allow two allies to go against each other? While we consider the Kurds as our ally, they are not considered the same by Turkey, who have an age old animosity towards the Kurds. This being the case, did we appease Turkey to fulfil their objective to attack the Kurds? Could we not have prevented this? Where was our diplomacy and our foreign policy?
Seeing this situation between Turkey and the Kurds, what would we do if a similar scenario were to arise between two of our allies in some place in Asia or the Middle East?
3
@citizen:
Under the clown-car administration now unfortunately at the helm in our country, the notions of diplomacy and foreign policy are merely theoretical constructs, with scant resemblance to any reality.
Well, except for the Buffoon-in-chief's BFF Putin and the Ukraine crew.
4
While Lindsey Graham and Republicans warn Turkey to not attack Kurds, there can be absolutely no other purpose to Turkey's offensive. It's time for Republicans to stop the doublespeak. Congress has the power to kick Turkey out of NATO and in effect, declare war on any nation or anything up to but war -- e.g. 100% trade sanctions, etc.
12
We are back to the 1930's, a dystopian era that prepared the way for the rivers of blood that flowed through the 1940's. Trump's jejune handover of the Kurdish region of northeastern Syria to Erdogan, like his connivance at Putin's rape of the Ukraine, is the current version of Neville Chamberlain's cession of Czechoslovakia to Hitler in 1938. Trump's nod to fellow dictatorial strongmen--Putin, Kim Jong-un, Duterte, and Xi--is reminiscent of the Ribbentropp-Molotov Non-Aggression Pact of 1939. Trump's abandonment of the Kurds in this latest act of isolationist treachery is an echo of the America First Committee of 1940. We live in a dystopia from which mass violence, if the past is any guide, can only be a short step away. The pre-ecliptic United States--the country as it existed before Reagan and the Bush/Clinton dynasties, a country in which partisanship did not exclude discussion with one's counterparts across the aisle, where laws could be passed because party membership did not mandate ideological rigidity or a refusal to work cooperatively for some common good--no longer exists. Nor is it ever likely to return, whether Trump is impeached or not. It is a country that has lost faith in itself because it has abandoned its own principles, its own institutions, its own trustworthiness. It is not a country that deserves to be trusted. It is a fading colossus that, like Nazi Germany, destroyed itself electively, and the blood of that destruction is yet to come.
17
@Stefano445:
Your observations are absolutely SPOT-ON.
Every single member of Congress -- and our citizenry -- ought to read your commentary slowly, and thoroughly. More than once. More than twice.
The apparent obliviousness of the supposedly august NYT editors is reflected by not tagging your superb analysis as a NYT PICK.
Editors: C'mon! Give the credit due to Stefano445!
5
The world is watching and taking note.
How much trust in the USA do you suppose our allies will have?
8
This is worse than shooting a person than 5th Avenue.
And he did not lose one supporter.
The GOP senate .... that is only talk. Mouth only.
11
@gratis:
By continuing to support the Buffoon-in-chief, the once noble and mature GOP has utterly abdicated its principles and credibility.
Sad.
Bigly sad.
5
If you look at South America with the setting up of criminal dictatorships, the Vietnam war started with a fake terrorist attack organized by the USA, then the Gulf war to protect the oil fields at the border of Koweit pumping oil from under Irak, then the catastrophe the whole Middle East military deconfiture, you can see through 60 years of catastrophic US policies all over with world . Hundreds of thousands of people dead, tortured, enpoverished, thrown out of their land, without education, food, deprived of their freedom.
From the nation self appropriated champion of freedom !
Causing freedom all over the world with a 1 million soldiers army and 750 Billion dollar annual budget.
2
Another huge disaster the Democrats are going to have to repair.
11
The BBC now reports that the majority of those killed in Syria by Turkey today are civilians. Their blood is on Trump's hand.
18
The Kurds join the list of former US allies betrayed by the American government. They are in good company: my country was listed as a threat to US national security.
11
It seems that matter how disgusting Trump is, whatever he does winds up benefitting Russia. I am convinced Putin has something on Trump that would ruin him...that, or he is simply a Russian asset.
The days of America as any sort of example of decency and a functioning democracy..as dependable on its word, are over. The Republicans in Congress will, as usual, remain mute while Turkey once again wipes out a whole people. It's 1915 all over again. Only this time it's Kurds Instead of Armenians.
All a result of this tragedy of a president. I am beyond anger. I am sad for us all.
9
@Bob Burns:
Attributing the ongoing trainwreck that is the Oval Office's Buffoon-in-chief to Putin is logical but not necessary: the hollow head that thinks he's the most bigly intelligent person in human history proves himself to be an utterly incompetent and inane manchild on an hourly basis.
How he ever got within light years of the Presidency is a sickening reflection on a large segment of our society; that this is our reality is simply dumbfounding.
Sad.
Bigly sad.
5
Donald J. Trump is still secretly doing the bidding of Putin. In every scenario of this disaster for our ally, the Kurds, Russia wins. Same old same old. We have a traitor in the White House. Even if Trump changes course and attacks the Turkey assault, the NATO Alliance is severely damage for two of its member nations will be fighting each other. Congress is in recess, so they are powerless to do anything. Our goofy stable genius President has back the United States into a very bad corner. Tomorrow the Kurds will start to die in ethnic cleansing. America has given them a death sentence. Some thanks we have given them for their loyalty. Shameful!!
14
We all k ow why Trump did this - our insanely unstable president created this crisis to shift focus away from his impeachment troubles (like something as big as impeachment could be swept under the rug)!
Yet another abuse of his power for self preservation!!
9
We abandon folks regularly. It’s no wonder we don’t trust our government. Nobody does. I was one of 550000 guys fighting in Vietnam in 1968. We abandoned the army of South Vietnam 50 years ago. Now we have abandoned the Kurds...the friends who fought along with us.
We shouldn’t have been in Vietnam. Or Syria. OrYemen. Or any of countless other places.
Shameful conduct! But nobody seems to be ashamed. Very strange.
7
@John Perry:
With all due respect for your service to our country, the answer to your questions lay in a critical examination of our Military Industrial Complex.
1
US and Turkey have been allies more than 65 years. However, since 2015, US has been supporting YPG, a subsidiary of PKK , a separatist Marxist group which is a sworn enemy of Turkey (note PKK is regarded as a terrorist organization by the State department).
As a Turkish-American I am not a fan of neither Mr. Erdogan or Mr. Trump, but I am distressed by the self-righteous, holy than thou Turkey bashing language in US media and establishment.
Granted, Erdogan administration is using this military operation for domestic political reasons, but no Turkish government can or will allow creation of a PKK led proto-state in Syria, as it is against the vital interest of Republic of Turkey
5
An absolutely reprehensible disgrace, not only turning our backs to a trusted and loyal ally but also providing intelligence to their enemy.
12
Who is Lindsey Graham and why should anyone care? Some obscure history of the man will be far from flattering.
5
Someone please tell Lindsey Graham to shut up.
12
Unlike presidents past, Donald J. Trump is not into nation-building; that's why he withdrew US forces. The US spends too much money on this nation-building nonsense. The Kurds can defend themselves; they have done so for centuries, since Biblical days. What do they want next, an atom bomb? I support the President. His decisions have made America great again. I look forward to his re-election in 2020. Thank you.
1
This was not nation building. It was supposed ti be honoring a promise to support an ally.
Once again, Trump has shown that he cannot be trusted, just as he did with the Iran nuclear agreement and many of his business dealings.
Anyone who trusts a man like that is either a dupe or a crony.
23
@Southern Boy guess what, Trump did not withdraw any troups from Syria. He just ordered the ones near the border to stand by idly as the Turks started their atrocities
2
@Southern Boy
Trump tossed the Kurds under the bus. Shameful.
Turkey has the second largest military in NATO, behind only the US. It’ll be interesting to see how Trump threads this needle.
3
How long did we stay in Europe and at what cost to the American taxpayer to keep peace post WWII? More than 70 years and enormous cost to fight the Cold War. But it was cheap in lives saved and cost preventing WWIII. The Berlin Wall came down, the Communist Soviet Union collapsed, East and West Germany reunited. Same for our peacekeeping force in Korea. Surely protecting the peace in northern Iraq is worth it in lives and money now. Putin is pulling puppet Trump’s strings.
7
@Time - Space And that's exactly what Hillary Clinton said during one of the presidential debates" Putin wants you in the White House-he would like a puppet there"!! We should have listened.
1
Making the bad guys great again.
5
Turning our backs here is a grave error.
4
When was this deal made by Trump with Erdogan? Who is benefiting from this deal?Could this be why Turkey didn’t disclose any more classified intel they had on the journalist, Khashoggi’s death at their embassy when they pushed Trump hard to to back away from protecting the Saudi’s? Did Trump silence Turkish intel by brokering a deal with Erdogan?
10
This news is just another distraction from Trump Corp. from the real issues. Where are you going to be in 5 years when you get cancer and you can't pay the bills even when you have health insurance, sell your house that is not even paid off? Get a blowout on the highway because DOT cannot fix the concrete?
Lose your electricity like the folks in CA right now? There won't be any social security benefits left for XGens even though we have been paying into the system for decades because the Republican atrocity dips into this fund to pay off wars that we don't need and don't want. Meanwhile Pentagon gets billions every year, Senators enjoy great health insurance and long-lasting benefits into retirement when you do not. Yet "socialism" is vilified. I wonder.
10
Democrats love war as much as Republicans. That's a fact!
@PegeenMike
War is a jobs program. Always has been, always will be.
I am ambivalent about this. I completely get the dismay of those who believe Trump made a foreign policy blunder and also those who recognize he pledged, in the campaign, to get us out of endless conflicts where Americans soldiers die. I cannot see that he should be removed from office because of this. Let the two candidates and events be debated in the 2020 campaign and let all American voters decide.
@alan brown when ISIS prisoners that have been released due to Trump’s betrayal of the Kurds show up in your neighborhood, will you be so forgiving?
10
Trump's decision removes 50 American Special Forces troops whose presence on the ground among the Kurds was enough to prevent Erdogan from waging war on the YPK since 2011.
Those 50 troops will be reassigned elsewhere and as a result 2 million Kurdish military, civilians and refugees will come under Turkish attack. Tens of thousands will die, including Turks, Syrians, and Iraqis. And 10-12 thousand captured ISIS fighters will be released back into the world to make war on the West.
And you're ambivalent.
Personally, I don't know that word. Does it mean you're blind, or you just can't see?
22
@alan brown
Not only are you "ambivalent", but your analysis fails to acknowledge the serious harm that will be done well before the 2020 election: Kurdish blood will be shed, ISIS fighters will be released to commit further atrocities, and current and future allies will cast a wary eye before before assisting the interests of the United States. Your "ambivalence" and that of much of the GOP is seriously compromising the credibility and, thus, security of the United States.
12
Just a reminder. We had a terrible set of inconsistent policies and lack of leadership in the ME long before 2016. I get that trump is the cause of every malady that affects humankind from climate change to athletes foot but a little perspective might be in order.
115
@AT What is your point? We've made mistakes in the past so it's okay for us to keep making them? Where's your sympathy for the Kurds, a strong ally of ours?
413
No, but he is responsible for his total and utter lack of leadership or of an informed perspective.
349
Let’s also remember that this is a unilateral decision by the President. The Pentagon was not consulted or even informed about the decision. I am a proponent of reducing US Tripp’s around the world. This action, however, is the abandonment of allies and a gift to a tyrant.
413
Time and time again, we witness thug dictators describe "civil rights activists" or "protestors against their illegitimate regime", or god forbid-- a trapped ethnic group stuck on the wrong side of a "border", who are committed to winning their independence and creating an autonomous homeland-- as TERRORISTS. This faulty label then gives the dictator license, not to mention the full support of the international community to round up, disappear and murder their "terrorists". A truly convenient way to get rid of legitimate of protesting activists...
Wise up-- one man's terrorist is another's freedom fighter!
I am sure the King of England and his cronies called the American Revolutionaries "terrorists".....
It seems that Erdogan is the terrorist.
16
@Valerie
NO, I know you are reading lying media and politician, Erdogan the most humanist and honest politician. If you want to find the real terrorist, READ BELOW (Mike's comments). I worked in that region in Syria as journalist last year and talked with local people and Kurds, Local people in that region are praying Erdogan and Turks to rescue them from PKK, which is US ally.
2
@Mike With all due respect, Mike, you are wrong. I don't read manipulative, partisan, witless propaganda parading as serious journalism. I do not fall for that claptrap.
By the way-- Who on earth did you work for as a journalist in Syria?
I frequently travel around the world for very long periods, I take classes, read and meet people from every walk of life. I listen. I study. I observe.
I have seen with my own eyes what thug dictators do when their people rise up in protest against injustice and repression -- or an ethnic minority fights peacefully for an autonomous homeland. They get slapped down, disappeared, and murdered. Let us not be confused about who the real terrorists are in these cases.....
11
What is wrong with this man?
2
Monday was PUTIN’S BIRTHDAY.
5
The President is working for foreign governments. This becomes clearer every day. When will he cross the GOP Line,
so they will take notice and stop him??
4
A birthday present to Putin! The day he announced the withdtawal of troops from Sytia was Putin's birthday! His every action so far has been to benefit Russia and its allies including Iran (they are back enriching nukes) and Syria! There are very negative consequences of this action. None of our allies have been treated well by him. So who is next? Israel?
He is a danger to our national security!
3
Who was ashamed to be an American when the United States was providing weapons and financial aid to the Kurdish terrorist organizations (including the PKK) and not respecting the security of Turkey's borders, a NATO ally? Who was ashamed to be an American while the United States destabilized Syria and helped create the monster of ISIS? Who was weeping uncontrollably when United States was asking the desperate Kurds to do the dirty work against ISIS and spare thousands of lives? I think people who do not understand the Middle East should not mess with the Middle East. I find the "I am ashamed" chorus naive and comical.
This may not be so bad. The Turks are basically stepping up their game to eliminate ISIS. They are likely to do a better job than the tribal Kurdish fighters that the United States was supporting with limited troops and resources.
Turks and Kurds are not natural enemies. They are non-Arab peoples of the Middle East. There are more Kurds living in Istanbul than in any other city. Turks and Kurds marry each other and have been living together for centuries. I hope and pray this operation will save lives rather than spare them.
3
Putin never dreamed it would be this easy when he bet on trump. To add insult to the injury to our country and our ally, trump did this on Putin's birthday.
5
I feel we have to tell Turkey to stop, turn around, and go back. Or- they will go back or we cut them off- embargoes, sanctions, whatever bloodless actions we have to take. The rest of Europe would certainly support our effort. It's a win, win. Syria has seen SO much violence and death in the past several years. When we invaded the country (too) long ago, some political experts said we would have to stay, to have a presence in Iraq, for many years to come. And this latest problem is ten times worse than the "other phone call". Pompeo should be Screaming at Trump right now, but he's not a "man" either. A cowardly immoral inexcusable "policy"
- It Stinks!
4
Mark Esper and Gen Mark Milley should be arrested and tried for violating their oath of office, the Constitution, and for following an illegal and immoral order from the President. An order executed based on the whim of the President, not following any Senior military advice, and in no way following the 'Military Decision Making Process.' Lots of blood on Esper's and Milley's hands.
4
Trump will finally get his place in the history books—-right alongside Neville Chamberlain.
8
Who knew a draft dodger with zero morals would be this bad as CIC?
7
The quisling president has single-handedly created a dangerous crisis.
This could have been avoided months if not years ago by Congress by removing this Russophile.
Congress seems to have been caught off guard.
I haven't seen such incompetent blindness since Geroge W Bush's administration allowed faith-based terrorists to attack New York and Washington.
2
Trump's decision is the latest outrage that proves Trump is unfit for office. Russia is the big winner now. We have turned our backs on the Kurds. A group that has lost lives helping keep this country save.
Trump never knew what made America great & he has destroyed our stature in the world as a force against the machinations of dictator kleptocrats like Putin.
Every veteran & family members of those in active service should speak out against this murderous occupant of the Oval Office.
12
How in a so- called democracy is it remotely possible for a crazed maniac able to wreak such vast damage upon humanity and earth itself? What a frightening civics lesson. And no manner to stop him...unless republican senators determine guilt? No escape for our kurd allies and possibly ever increasing torture and death as isis rises again. For shame. best of fortune and courage for our children and grand children.
8
Well dang, looks like the Don got played by Erdogan biggly. Now what Mister I alone can do it.
6
I understand our desire to disengage from conflicts which we never should have gotten into in the first place, but I do not think I would start in Syria. I'd have started in Afghanistan where the dispute is wholly internal and is not really our business.
In the case of Syria, we started the problem there because our dumbest president ever, George W. Bush, decided to invade Iraq based upon the false claims that Iraq possesed WMD's and took part in 9/11. In essence, W created ISIS, (the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria).
As such, since we caused this mess we should stick it out until the mess is rwsolved. Getting Turkey and that nut Erdogan is a big mistake.
Turkey is allied with the fake, so-called islamic republic of Iran with its unelected, illegitimate, Twelver dictators who, even if we haven't noticed it yet, has taken over Iraq and installed their Shia religious cohorts there. That's what you'll get in Syria if Turkey and their buddies, the Iranian ayatola and his moolas, get their way.
4
The Kurds are our ally. They have fought alongside the US forces in Iraq, and later in parts of Syria. They are now being punished for unknown reasons. All because of a telephone call to the POTUS from the President of Turkey.
Mr. Trump knew exactly what would happen if the US forces are withdrawn from the area. Turkey was just waiting for the US to leave. We respect Mr. Trump's plan to bring back our troops from Syria. But, doing it with no proper plan, and not consulting our allies, or even the heads of our armed forces, has been unwise and careless.
We have let down the Kurds. A strange way to pay our gratitude fo their steadfast loyalty. We allowed two of our allies to fight each other. We are seeing a failure in our diplomacy, and foreign policy.
9
This is despicable. Impeachment can’t happen soon enough. In the meantime, hopefully some of the three letter agencies are providing intelligence to the Kurds, and maybe even arming them.
Someone should tell Trump that Turkey is a NATO member who is not paying the fair share.
7
I wouldn’t put it past Trump to think that perhaps if Turkey can get away with “resettling” (dumpling) refugees in this supposed “buffer zone” then he might just be able to invade Mexico in order to do the same thing on our southern border.
3
Come on people. Erdogon has something just as nasty on Trump as Putin does. Find that phone call, find the traitor.
6
@karen
it could be as simple as rump has a hotel in Turkey. he favors anyone who puts a dollar in his pocket. While the Kurds have been paying with blood and sweat, Erdogan pays cold cash. Easy choice.
4
Seems like Turmp is a Russian asset....probably in hock to Russian and Saudi Arabian and only too willing to capitulate when his personal situation is a stake. national nightmare.
7
Why does the lead-in say President Trump approved the operation?
The United States has used Gunboat diplomacy off and on since the days of our founding fathers. Mexico, the Philippines and the small weak nations of Central and South America and the Caribbean were, and still are today, the victims of US Gunboat diplomacy. Even China was subjected to US Gunboat Diplomacy during the early 1900's when under the unequal treaties, the US Navy patrolled the Yangtze River.
To their credit the Philippines and Iran finally saw the light and threw the US military out of their countries.
Peace will come to the Korean Peninsula and the Middle East when the nations of the world especially Japan and Germany finally see the light and they too send our US troops home and refuse ports of call to our 11 US Navy nuclear aircraft carriers. Until that time comes, the US will use Gunboat Diplomacy to force its will on military weaker nations across the world in a vain attempt to "Make America Great Again"!
1
I am once again outraged. Letting Turkey kill the Syrian Kurds is evil. How can Ralph Reed on the day Turkey invades Syria continue to support this evil behavior and call himself Christian?
1
I am sickened by this. Trump must go. If they can't or won'd or simply don't care about the Kurds, surely they should fear for the nation's safety when ISIS makes a full comback.
But mostly I'm thinking about the Kurds. They trusted us. Absolutely devastating.
12
All I can say is that Rex Tillerson was right.
Now the Kurds get to pay the price for this man's ignorance.
8
Well, Mike P. !! "We did not authorize this." This is not a surprise. If it does surprise you, perhaps we should question your competence,,,, in all matters,,, in all cases.
4
Give Trump to the Kurds.
11
Really! What a miserable despot Trump is to deal this body blow to the world’s largest transnational ethnicity. The Kurds deserve a homeland. I hereby disassociate myself from this shameless betrayal.
2
People. Read this article closely. Look how many other nations and NATO allies gave the thumbs-up for Turkey to go on the offensive against their enemy (and ours being a NATO member) the Kurds. Why? Because they agree that Kurds are terrorist who have bombed and killed innocent Turks in the recent past. Turks hold a big beef against the Kurdish terrorist and those of the same ilk that led a failed coup in Turkey.
As such when our military driven by Obama and his Neo-liberal foreign policy armed the Kurds (mercenary soldiers or solders of fortune) to fight Isis our shadow enemy, our leaders knew that when that “mission” was over this day would come and so did the Kurds. Today is that day. A day of revenge. Just like what we vainly sought in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Now the Turks will go in and kill their enemy, the Kurds, and massacre the Isis prisoners. Why else would the US military and intel give all the info on the locations of Kurd forces to the Turkish army? Why would our military hand over the task of guarding the Isis prisoners to the Turks. It’s so they will do our dirty work (killing) and wipe them all out.
One mans terrorist is another mans freedom fighter, so the Kurds were terrorist before they became our freedom fighters and the Turks who fought for our freedom in WWII then a NATO partner and then became a foe of our half-state, US helped a failed coup against the Turks and now they are going to be our freedom fighters again. Sick isn’t it. Diplomacy be damned.
1
Armenian genocide followed by Kurdish genocide - Let’s support Sultan Erdogan!
3
"Secretary of State Mike Pompeo pushed back against the idea that Mr. Trump had given Turkey a green light.
American forces pulled back from the border after “it became very clear that there were American soldiers that were going to be at risk,” he said in an interview on “PBS News Hour.”
“The president,” Mr. Pompeo added, “made a decision to put them in a place where they were out of harm’s way.”"
Or, we could have told Turkey that if they invaded Syria and therefore put our soldiers in harms way, we would shoot down their planes and then obliterate their economy with crippling sanctions. Turkey does not have the power to invade while US troops are on the ground, and if we kept the troops there, they would not have invaded for fear of the hefty price they'd pay. By pulling the troops out, we gave a greenlight to slaughter the Kurds. There is no other way to spin it, unless Trump wants to admit that he got bullied out of Syria by a deeply corrupt islamist authoritarian. He can't tell his supporters that he's a winner when he backs down to a pathetic ruler like Erdogan.
10
Maybe our "true" allies will step up and help until Trump is gone. (should be soon).
2
Betrayal was Trump's business model.
It's his solution to every problem.
Whether wife #1, #2 or #3,
whether a bank creditor, a contractor,
an Iraqi translator for US military,
or a long-term allied nation,
betrayal is the one-size-fits-all method.
One call from a brutal dictator is persuasion enough.
11
Americans should never forget that Donald Trump and the GOP care more about pleasing Erdogan and Putin than they do about supporting our allies and defending our interests.
18
Sacrificing Kurds for an election promise?- someone please tell DJT he doesn't have to fulfill every one - no president ever has
2
Was Trump's decision to hand the Kurds over to Erdogan, announced just after their phone conversation, based on United States' strategic interests, or on Edogan's promise of the future success of Trump Towers Istanbul?
11
Until Republicans are willing to use the word "impeachment", their "accusations of betrayal" mean nothing. They are now complicit in the horror show that is Donald Trump and his "it's all about me" so-called foreign policy, or any policy for that matter. He's a traitor, and so are they, every one of them.
10
“ And I alone can do it “ will forever haunt the GOP by standing by a incompetent president unconditionally.
5
No, no, no...not in my name...I have seldom felt so angry, small, and ashamed. Is there no one sane left in this administration? Until now, Trump's incompetence has not cost lives...now it does. The Middle East will burn for decades to come.
6
@kostja
That part of the Mideast has been burning ever since the 2003 Iraq debacle. Now Turkey is following in the footsteps of the US and UK and invades a small country just because it has a powerful military and it can.
It is sanctimonious to criticise a Turkish incursion and accompanying "collateral damage" when your own troops are already in that area in defiance of international law. The Turks are using the same case of preventing terrorism in their own country the US and UK are using to justify armed raids and drone attacks all over the globe.
Only when someone else does it does it, it seem outrageous.
2
If the Kurds had ran up big tabs at the Trump Towers in Istanbul, President Trump would almost certainly be more sympathetic to their welfare.
9
I felt ill reading this. This President - and his weasel supporters - 'know the price of everything and the value of nothing.' Another cosy telephone call - more ways to make money, this time in Turkey - allies betrayed, turned over to a government that's wanted to obliterate them for decades. And for Russia, and Assad? Just another green light from 'the Donald.'
8
To Trump, his supporters and his enablers:
You have sown the wind. May you reap the whirlwind a thousand fold. May your name be cursed for generations to come. May your downfall be swift. And may the planet and her peoples survive the horrors you have perpetrated and those you have set in motion.
15
I'm sorry - there's no 'civil comment' I can make.
6
You want to impeach me?
Let me torch the earth!
6
This is a craven, disgusting, and short-sighted act by Trump. God help the Kurds. God help America. GOP - this is on YOU for enabling this monster.
14
Say SOMETHING, Obama/Clinton/Bush! Too easy to fault the Republicans for not speaking up as they respond to their voters who elected them to represent them. Why are these ex-officials and Presidents holding their tongue? Too polite to speak against the office of the President? Really? That’s what you are going to hide behind?
Maybe everyone finds their own rationale for looking after their own power/position..while shaming others for doing just that.
6
A shameful betrayal of an ally; unfortunately for the Kurds, not the first time. Who will trust the U.S. again? Despite what Trump thinks, Putin, Erdogan, Mohammed Bin Salman et al are not friends of the United States. Still, Trump treats them with kid gloves and turns a blind eye to their criminal acts while treating U.S. allies with disrespect and disdain. This ill-informed recklessness will have consequences.
16
Well... I guess there goes almost 30 years worth of priceless on-the-ground human intelligence assets in the region...something that simply cannot be replaced by satellite photos, drones, internet / cell communication bugging or lame dictator -to-wannabe leader telephone schmoozing.
Of course, Trump never really valued intelligence in the first place.
16
This may sound cold, but I stopped supporting the Kurds when I read the huge percentage of forced female genital mutilation they perform on their girls and young women.
I know they’ve helped us, I know I should feel grateful, but I can’t get the image out of my head of the genitaly mutilated girls. Apparently they require it for the girls to be “marriageable”. Girls with a clitoris are girls of “ill repute”, hence only about 2% of Kurdish women are not “cut”.
2
Yes, the continued prevalence of this practice in so many parts of the world is disturbing. Though, is it preferable to you that the Kurdish women you claim to care about are slaughtered by the Turkish military instead?
3
@Lily Pro life? yeah right.
1
@Lily The rates of FGM have plummeted in Kurdish Iraq through education efforts.
The latest figures I saw were a couple of years old and they are 10%, down from much higher. The regional Kurdish government is dedicated to stamping out FMG.
It doesn't seem to me that the brave and fierce 1/3 of the Kurdish forces who are women, and the men who fight alongside them are of the culture you describe.
You might research a little more.
2
I felt physically ill reading this.This President - and his weasel supporters - 'know the price of everything and the value of nothing.'
8
note to Israel: you can not count on US promises to save you.
7
and a complicit cowardly and useless usa does nothing -
2
Another stupid decision by our president. Shame on him.
1
Has the transcription of the telephone conversation between Trump and Putin that took place very close to the conversation with Ukraine's president been requested by the House?
3
Countries are watching. We will never be trusted again. This is the Middle East, they will remember. Forever.
8
Trump's abandonment of the Kurds is an impeachable offense as egregious as his attempt to extort Zelensky of Ukraine.
Scratch the surface of his Kurdish betrayal and you'll find Erdogan and another Trump hotel deal, in Ankara, just like Trump's betrayal of the United States with Putin in 2016 trails back to the Manchurian president's failed hotel scheme in Moscow.
Here is a chance for Lindsay Graham and his pro-Kurdish, anti-ISIS, anti-Putin's- theft-of-Crimea fellow Republican Senators--moral patriots all--to take positive action to reverse Trump's fetid cowardice toward our allies: draft an article of impeachment on the matter & pass it in the House as soon as possible, then vote to remove him so Acting President Pence can reverse the impending slaughter.
If they have any guts.
If not, then say goodbye to the Kurds and to all of the other American allies we have supported for their active benefit and our passive: Taiwan, South Korea, Kuwait, Israel, Bosnia, Kosovo, etc.
Like the Kurds, they weren't with us at Normandy. Or in World War II.
They weren't with us at Korea. (Well, the South Koreans claim they were there, but that's not what Rudy says; he says his investigation has uncovered the fact it was actually Ukraine beside us at Inchon.) (Thank you for that, God's Mayor.)
And they weren't with us in Vietnam.
(Can you believe that? Fifty thousand Kurdish fighters available in 1969 to fight for this country and they ALL come down with bone spurs?! Really?)
Huh.
4
Now I know why trump betrayed our allies. We formed this successful alliance that defeated ISIS in 2015 under President Obama.
2
Dear People with Power, Authority, and Influence:
I beg you, please be rational. I beg you, please think about "shadow of the future." I beg you, please adhere to law. I beg you, please enforce law or strike, promulgate, and re-write for collective good. Why let innocent people be maimed and die? Does guiltless blood on your hands matter to you? Have you no remorse? I beg you, please care.
Sincerely,
...
2
"They didn't help us in the Second World War, they didn't help us with Normandy..."
-Decorated War Veteran Donald J. Trump
11
Trump and his sour bully personality polarized America , caused the GOP state in Texas to become the mass murder state of the nation and free world now he is responsible for selling out our Kurdish allies. The Dems in congress need to take the nuclear briefcase away from this traitorous out of touch genius before nukes are heading our way.
4
Now we see the dangers of having a man who is unfit to be commander and chief in the White House.
11
Shame on you, America!
8
@BW
Really?
Long time defense sponge Canada is more than welcome to pony up the troops to replace ours in Syria.
1
Shouldn’t the headline read former allies.
3
Russia first.
4
The US should just pull entirely out of the Middle East and all world affairs. It is pretty useless now. What a disgrace!!!!!
1
i would like to see the transcript of the telephone call between our president and Turkish president. Why no one is asking for this? Trump probably rolled over to Turkish demands and betrayed our Kurdish allies.
Secretary of State has no integrity and all he wants to do please his boss. I thought the president has to work with all his advisers and make the right decision.
Wait!! It is never going to happen as we are not functioning as a democratic government
13
Will young men and women signup to join the armed forces after seeing how the politicians recklessly sacrifice life and limb of our brave fighters in the name of national security only to then pull back equally recklessly and allow all gains made on the ground to disappear? This is not a chess game to advance and then pull back the pieces of the first or eighth rank.
8
The tweet (gosh, the word alone makes me ill) about the Kurds not helping with Normandy is so grotesque, that it shames any supporter of this man for a lifetime.
17
Lasting peace in the region requires separating out the Shia and their offshoots, the Sunnis and the Kurds into self-governed countries instead of living inside borders drawn for colonial administrative purposes.
Until someone bells that cat, the Turks will slap down the Kurds at every opportunity, Assad will continue with his murderous ways and ISIS will morph into some other sinister entity if beaten down while keeping to it’s agenda.
What exactly is the role of the U.S. in all of this except as a lightning rod for disaffection from the other if it intervenes on one side?
2
Do we really need any more reasons to remove him from office? If the Senate won't do it, then the people will.
18
What did Erdogan offer Trump, that trump would instantaneously and unilaterally abandon U.S. allies of FIVE YEARS FIGHTING TOGETHER?
20
Recip Erdogan told Trump that he would withold information inculpating Bin Salman of the murder of Adnan Kashoggi. Our president and the Saudi royals have a solid relationship and common interests. This seems like a plausible explanation. We'll see...
3
@M Since the 1950s working together, NATO has come to steer. Second big power after U.S. did you get it?
This is Afghanistan and the birth of Al Qaeda all over again. Betrayal of an ally - resentment - consequences for years to come.
14
I have never been more ashamed of my country. Putin is laughing at us again.
15
Wow. If Donald Trump roared up on stage during the symphony and tore the baton out of the conductor's hand and started waving his hands around, I think the resulting madness would pretty well match what we're seeing in the news daily. Absolute chaos, with the devil's henchmen ready to justify, blow smoke, obfuscate and misdirect at every turn. I'm stunned that anyone can fool themselves into thinking this will turn out well.
13
I propose a simple MRI of Trump's brain. This could provide all of the evidence needed in order to proceed with saving the presidency and the reputation of our country. It would save lots of time and money, too.
22
If only Dems were as concerned about betrayal of an ally in April 1975 as defeatist Congressional Democrats forced our abandonment of the Republic of Vietnam.
@EGD
Attack-Deflect-Distract
The MO if Putin and others of his ilk.
9
Some may argue that finally getting out of this never ending problem is wrong, but I have yet to hear even one reasonable alternative. Please Do Not say we should stay. What does "stay" mean? A week, a year, forever?
2
I don't believe for one minute that Trump betrayed our Kurdish allies in order to get the US out of endless wars. His decision was either to deflect from his impeachment troubles or to aid somehow in his reelection campaign. And he knows the Republicans, no matter how outraged they claim to be, are cowards and will do nothing to stand up to him. A dictator is taking over our country - why don't we respond as they did in Hong Kong and take to the streets? Do Americans really believe we are still living in a democracy? We are fools to put up with this corrupt president and cowardly "leaders".
25
@DB Trump betrayed our loyal allies for one reason alone. Money pure and simple. The moral bankrupt president of ours simply wanted to appease Erdogan to protect his business interests in Turkey. He cares not a wit about anything other than enriching himself and his hapless witless progeny....
20
@DB
I agree, can you organize it?
1
For Trump, people are like paper towels. When they are no longer of use, he disposes of them. Just ask his first two wives
22
Trump said protecting the Kurds was too costly. This coming from the president who has spent more than 110 million dollars golfing.
29
This aspect also needs to change in the future: the security apparatus is a racket. The legislature must put a limit onto these private trips by a President.
6
Up next: withdrawal from NATO?
6
Withdrawal from UN?
5
The former Marine fighting with the Kurds is apparently the only US citizen with the courage to stand with the Kurds, America's staunchest ally against ISIS.
Clearly he has more courage than the tub of guts President selling out a US ally while sitting in the White House.
If anything happens to this brave soldier dedicated to our ally it's on Trump's head for being a traitor and a coward.
19
This traitor President is letting another country now wipe out our allies. If he was in the military he would have known this move would be treasonous. Lock him up before he kills more of our allies. President Obama was supporting all our allies and left office on good terms with all of them.
12
Think about this in real time Americans and World People: Needlessly desert one of your best allies to be slaughtered!
Putin has a hot line to Trump(Whistleblowers proved this), Trump was told that Kurds were making Ankara too mad for Russia to hold them back and Ankara has some goods on Trump-Russia, so Putin's hot shots came up with using the Normandy fight, which dumb Trump had not 1 idea about, to act as a shield for why Trump was OK with their slaughter.
The unmistakable message in all this is to potential US allies, "Trump is Putin's Puppet & that puppet will obey the master, no matter what." Conclusion: Be an ally of the US at your own peril. Got that Germany, France, UK, Japan, S. Korea, AUa, CDN and EU.
9
This is what happens when some people expect 'purity' in the Democratic nominee and therefore go and vote third party. What you get is what we have: Caligula.
18
@Absolutely.
Thanks to the naïve Naderites -- who exuded both arrogance and disdain for those of us who knew that the Bush (Duhbya) / Gore election was going to be razor close -- our nation was inflicted DIck Cheney and crew, wherein the unraveling of our country's prestige on the world stage began its decline.
The echoes of THAT disastrous administration reverberate still.
Voting on principle is all good and well, until it runs into real world conditions that mandate a more adult choice.
If stabbing our allies in the back and leaving them hanging out to dry at the mercy of the Turks after they bore the brunt of our fight with ISIS is "making us great again" I'll take the "mediocrity" we had before this imbecile took office, when our word meant something other than betrayal and throwing our friends under the bus for his business interests and his man crush on dictators. Way to go GOP and Trump voters. Bet you're really proud of your boy.
disgraceful and disgusting.
13
“To the Turkish Government: You do NOT have a green light to enter into northern Syria,”
Who gave YOU the GREEN LIGHT to enter SYRIA???
2
@Awabnavi trump.
I think they mean who gave America the green light to enter Syria. The answer...the rest of of the world, when Assad gassed his own people and ISIS was committing genocide against minorities there while the rest of the world did nothing. We have international laws against such things that extend beyond national sovereignty.
Who gave your country’s military permission to commit genocide against the Rohingya?
1
America deliberately moves out of the way to allow a dictator to slaughter an American ally.
The POTUS: accessory to genocide.
Unconscionable.
14
US allied with the terrorists, the PKK, (by word games called DSG), who tortured and killed their people, the Kurds. Don't you see the Kurdish mothers crying for their kidnapped sons and daughters by PKK? PKK took innocent lives of over 40 thousand in territory of Turkey. This will go down in American history as a black mark. Only the Turkish army fought literally with Daesh. The American army never fought the Daesh, and even watched for it not to end, so that a puppet state of terror would be established in Syria, thus exploiting natural resources and threatening neighboring countries. Turkey hosted 4 million refugees but none of them want to go occupied region by DSG, which is equal to PKK, which is US ally. because sons and daughters would be kidnapped and forced to be the terrorists and killed if they escaped. Only they want to be hosted in Syria secured by Turks . US changed the ethnic composition of the region with YPG and DSG and Daesh games and Turkey would deliver the region to its real owners, will bring tranquility and peace, but this contradicts with selfish US interest, because US feeds by chaos in region and by chaos US settles in region, Daesh is the tool for US for all these.
5
America, represented by a President currently being investigated for crimes for which impeachment can be the appropriate process, betraying Kurdish partners who successfully fought ISIS, protecting America and its interests, and lost thousands, while 6 US soldiers were killed, will be accountable for an ongoing Turkish attack which could be genocidal in outcome.
Voices have been raised.
Not many.
Which policymakers will offer their condolences to unnecessarily “murdered” and violating Kurdish allies?
Which policymakers will not be complacent about or complicit in BETRAYAL?
Which policymakers will choose to make a difference that can make a much needed sustainable difference underpinning norms and values of mutual trust, respect and help, when and if needed?
5
Mr. Trump has insisted that “in no way have we abandoned the Kurds,” and on Wednesday said he firmly opposed the operation.
“The United States does not endorse this attack and has made it clear to Turkey that this operation is a bad idea,” he said in a statement.
“Turkey,” he added, “has committed to protecting civilians, protecting religious minorities, including Christians, and ensuring no humanitarian crisis takes place — and we will hold them to this commitment.”
This is the sound of Trump hypocrisy and dishonesty. He has turned his back on every other reliable American ally in favor of a dictator so what's new. This will be the end of Turkey's president and hopefully ours.
7
U.S. will pay a hefty international political price abandoning the Kurds in Northern Syria, a move which will rebound in discrediting the Saudi Arabia's own Wahhabi ambitions in the region but the world won't be enthusiastic about the Turkish war either.
This leaves the Russians, Iran and Syria as the logical winners.
And Israel is secondarily left with their own resources alone.
2
ISIS has launched terror bomb attacks in Turkey. Turkey considers them to be an enemy.
If Lindsey Graham actually thinks this move “ensures the re-emergence of ISIS” he is totally unaware of the history of Ottoman Empire, and the behavior of Turkish troops.
When Turkey gets done in the area, no ISIS types in the area will be walking - that's because they won't be breathing.
4
I’m familiar with what happened to the Armenians. Is this what you mean?
So we have Trump who: Removes environmental protections. Denies global warming. Only wants his family and stooges in the front office. Uses the public money to seek Kompromat from Ukraine. Lies constantly. Looks like a used car salesman. Loves dictators and listens to them over intelligence of our country. Now he betrays the cherished allies the Kurds who spent lives and years defending us from ISIS. The allies who freed the Yazidis held prisoner.
What is next? Will he refuse to leave office even if he gets impeached?
5
I wonder if the Kurds will help us again when there is a resurgent ISIS.
4
@Eric The Kurds fought ISIS to defend their own land.
Every American should hang their head in shame for allowing this to happen. No doubt millions of you are ashamed but you all, everyone of you, have allowed this to happen. You have allowed this man to become President of your country. You have allowed him to trash everything your country stands for. And now you're allowing him to kill the very people who have been your allies.
Why aren't there reports of people demanding, right now, the removal of this man? Why aren't people storming the barriers and saying, this is not what we stand for?
9
@Anne
The only ones responsible for this and are an accessory to all the innocent people being killed now is the Catholics and Evangelicals who all supported Trump . We must only blame these rotten to the core supporters . They are our fake Christians. Our Pope Francis said build bridges not walls.
1
If this doesn’t bring republicans on board, nothing will. Have you had enough? I have. VOTE!!!
6
Better yet : IMPEACH!
7
What a total disgrace.
Let’s remember who nominated, who supported, who financed, who enabled a sociopathic criminal to become our president.
The Republican Party.
November 3, 2020
6
Where are theTrump supporters now?? This MUST be the Democrats fault. The media did it. It’s all fake news. Where are you now? Explains this one to me. Or we just look the other way...Puppet in the pocket of PUTIN. How blind are you Trump supporters?
7
So the Turks will move huge numbers of Turkish aligned Syrian Arabs into the "safe zone" while displacing the Kurds...essentially a form of ethnic warfare.
Meanwhile, the approximately 15,000-20,000 ISIS prisoners may be released. This is effectively a small army which is currently under control.
And President Trump appears to have unilaterally decided, without Pentagon or State Department input, that maintaining a couple of thousand American boots on the ground was too costly?
These actions will echo for years. Our costs will radically increase in the decades ahead.
President Trump is acting counter to the interests of the United States. He is not a Sovereign. The 25th Amendment needs to be exercised. Our Founding Fathers established it for a time such as this. President Trump needs to be removed from office.
1535
@Winston Churchill
Our founding fathers did not establish the 25th Amendment. It was adopted in 1967.
32
@Winston Churchill I can't imagine the joy in Moscow at this craven president of ours and his casual abandonment of a staunch ally. Putin will be sending him flowers.
74
@Winston Churchill
How does your perspective square with the fact that Turkey is a NATO ally?
Fundamentally I have far greater sympathy for the Kurds than the Turks, and this article should make all of us sad. But can you at least acknowledge that there is a fundamental problem with criticizing Trump for abandoning "our allies the Kurds" and also criticizing him for calling for US withdrawal from NATO, the organization that calls for us to defend Turkey against attacks from terrorist groups like the Kurdish PKK?
11
Hopefully, the Kurds stashed away a good supply of US-supplied anti-tank weapons. I wonder how many Turkish soldiers/SDA members have to come home in boxes before the Turkish civilians say "enough". I am rooting for the Kurds- I hope the cowardly Turks are bloodied mightily and sent home with the tails between their legs.
7
@John E.
Turkey has the largest army in NATO. Plus, all the aircraft, artillery, armour, drones and so on that the Kurds don't possess. Sure, Goliath doesn't always win but he's the one to bet on.
2
FACTS: I am a Turkish citizen, a long time nyt subscriber and a liberal at heart. It upsets me to see how normally wise and educated people can be so easily maniplated if they don't ask questions to uncover the facts 1)Turkey is not attacking the Kurds. Turkey has a strong relationship with the Kurdish state in northern Iraq and is the #1 investor in the region helping their economy thrive. Turkey is attacking YPG 2) YPG is the Syrian arm of the PKK, the murderous org that killed thousands of innocent people in Turkey including children and teachers. YPG is made out by western media to be a democratic force fighting for freedom; yet even in highly sympathetic bbc documentaries we Turks can see they are carrying posters of Abdullah Ocalan, the founding leader of the PKK. 3) Turkey has 4million Syrian refugees, and it hosts the most number of refugees in the world for almost 10 years. It has been trying to secure a safe zone for at least 5 years for refugees to return through diplomatic means but western allies didnt care for that as it didnt impact their economies. 4) Turkey has been fighting with ISIS for many years and an enemy of this other murderous org., a point proven by ISIS' attacks throughout Turkey killing hundreds of citizens i.e. in Istanbul airport or Reina night club. 5) You (and I) maynot like Erdogan for good reasons, but this doesn't make this operation wrong. In summary Turkey's operation is just and against a murderous opportunistic terrorist organization.
3
@Mustafa
The SDF in general is probably a pretty broad coalition of people and the Kurds may be providing the leadership - marching to liberate their part of northern Syria - a multi-cultural, multi-party, multi-ethnic, multi-sectarian Syrian region being liberated from ISIS.
Just in:
Kurdish-led SDF repells Turkish ground attack in Syrian town - Reuters
3
@Mustafa — One should probably ask, what is a Kurd in the first place? Did they just appear out of thin air after the Ottoman Empire fell due to Germany being conveniently defeated for this purpose in WWI? The war didn’t start because of that but it sure did end because of that! The collapse of the great Ottoman Empire!
Everywhere around the globe there have been sections of cultures which have been devastated due to that unfortunate age-old practice of expansion at the cost of others. We don’t have too look far:
-In America it was the indigenous peoples being crushed whom were incorrectly coined “Indians” to cover up the fact that Columbus was more than a few thousand nautical miles off corse. Sometime later came the phrase: The only good Indian is a dead [American] Indian by General Sheridan. Oops!
-The real Indians were of course subjugated by the British. (We could write an encyclopedia reflecting British rule — all over the world)
-The Han Chinese somehow felt they’ve had this eternal connection to Tibet and so they took it and now even Muslim Chinese are under subjugation while the Prince of Saudi Arabia wants to build oil refineries there.
It would appear that them Chinese Muslims are the wrong type!
-The Russians gave Crimea to the Ukrainians and recently took it back again. That’s gotta be a first!
-Insert any country here...
We liberals and conservatives can’t play well with others. That’s what history tells us and the grass is always greener over there!
I have never been more ashamed to be an American. We have turned our back on a faithful ally, who is largely responsible for containing ISIS in the region, and are condemning the Kurdish people to likely slaughter, which is what the Turkish government’s promise to “neutralize” them amounts to. When this happens, will Trump make good on his threat to “obliterate” Turkey’s economy? No, that would upset Putin and his friend Erdogan. Will he feel an ounce of responsibility for the genocide he caused? No, because he is a sociopath. He and the Republican Party that enable him will have blood on their hands.
4232
@J. The majority of Kurdish people live, in peace and security, inside Turkey's borders. It shows how disingenuous western media is towards Turkey because they didn't say the US was bombing Arabs when it was fighting ISIS. When Turkey is fighting the YPG/PKK it's always "Turkey fighting Kurds"
16
@J. Turkey is looking to push back (or "neutralize") the Kurdish militia, not the Kurdish people. While it's regrettable that circumstances and events have led to this action by Turkey, there's no "slaughter" required if the Kurdish militia simply pulls back to outside the 20 mile deep zone that Turkey is aiming to infiltrate. That may be a bitter pill for the Kurdish militia to swallow, but it's better than destruction. The Kurdish militia will still retain control of roughly 1/4 of Syria; down from about 1/3 before Turkey's incursion (assuming the incursion succeeds).
11
@J. Wait till some of those ISIS prisoners are released and get to do more damage in Europe and the US.
105
America's "allies" in Syria?
Could they possibly be referring to the Kurds squatting illegally on Syrian land?
Land where they have no right to be?
Who were hoping that Syria would be dismembered so could claim their little spot as their own?
Those "allies"?
I think the correct term for those Kurds would be carpetbagging interlopers. And, they are about to be rightfully evicted.
2
The Kurds feel no sympathy for the Syrians. Why should we feel sympathy for Kurds? 400K dead Syrians and millions of refugees. Who's suffering the most?
1
@PegeenMike
This is about Trump's abandonment of allies. That is shameful. The word is watching the madman dismantle alliances right left and centre and we can see just how much America's word is worth.
Even the Republicans are taking Trump to task over this.
1
If Mr. Erdogan perpetrates genocide against the Kurds...So be it. It’s called Evolution! The Strong Survive the Weak Shall Perish! It’s been happening for 4.5 Billion years....
1
I have trouble believing the strong among us post messages like this anonymously. You should do it publicly! Let people identify you!
4
@W Here’s hoping for the same Turkish success that we had in Vietnam. The Kurds are fighting for a homeland. They will probably lose but they will cause a lot of damage.
Mazel tov.
@W Since when is genocide called evolution?
2
Before you comment about a subject, learn about i in detail, see lot of ignorant comments or fake news hidden propaganda people who login here and comment. Real Ypg, Pkk organization is this below, this is not about kurdish people, this is about these two organizations who are “allies “ of usa and supported by cia, pentagon, Trump is right about this for once. Deep state wants constant war and so called liberals bere are in closet war mongers also, kind of ironic.
From simple wiki research:
The role of suicide bombers, especially female ones were encouraged and mythologised by giving them the status of a "goddess of freedom", and shown as role models for other women after their death. On 30 July 1996, Zeynep Kınacı, a female PKK fighter, carried out the organization's first suicide attack, killing 8 soldiers and injuring 29 others. The attacks against the civilians, especially the Kurdish citizens who refused to cooperate with them were also reported at the same years. On 20 January 1999, a report published by HRW, stated that the PKK was believed to have been responsible for more than 768 executions. The organization had also reportedly committed 25 massacres, killing more than 300 people. More than hundred victims were children and women.[44][44][45][46][47]
2
@Dojo "The Deep State? "Fake News"? Sure, buddy. Maybe there is job opportunity opening up at Fox.
Turkey's attacks make it clear that any idea of managing foreign policy by 'balance of trade' against 'balance of power' is doomed to failure.
So much for 'greed' and 'markets' as motivation.
Let's get back to reading Churchill, Truman and even Bush Jr.
1
Russia is behind this. A Syrian friend of mine told me that they have been teaching Russian in the schools as a second language for several years. I confirmed this through on-line sources. Most countries teach English as a second language. Some long term agenda has built towards this moment. 45 is following orders, just not American ones.
7
Sadly, it's the families of those who go wild at Trump's "rallies" that will likely suffer the worst of us all by way the returning flag draped coffins filled with the remains of their soldier sons and daughters.
It's time Americans get grip on what a terrible mistake our deeply flawed "system of checks and balances" has produced. We should be thankful that our President isn't a brighter bulb.
Wasn't 600,000+ dead in our Civil War enough to wake people up to the obvious: our Constitution is a document produced by a tiny crowd of plutocrats of the day out to protect their own interests above all else. It's a tragically flawed document for modern times that still serves mostly the interests of the plutocrats of our day. No one should be given the powers of our constitutional executive without winning the popular vote, ever!
3
I simultaneously see Putin's hand and that of our Military Industrial Complex all at once. Peace is not to be considered when there is money to be made. And although we may not have personnel on the ground, we surely have as in Yemen, provided bombs and weapons to do the dirty work of others. Made in the USA.
2
Trump has sold out our allies. The Kurds held with us in both Iraq and Syria for years now. They have been a moderating force for us to deal with in the region, and now we have sold them out. How can anyone in this administration defend this shame and why should any ally ever trust us in any region now? Maybe this is the final straw for his GOP base, or at least for some. This is truly embarrassing for our country, as an American. I am not an anti Trump person generally.
4
Who is responsible for this slaughter of our allied forces in
northern Syria; Trump is the murderer for allowing this to
happen.
We need our NATO allies to descent upon our own State
Department and Defense Dept...to stop this murder.
Trump must be dismissed from office immediately; he is unfit
to be Commander in Chief...Amendment 25: Section 4.
1
Trump's Treachery. Who would ally with the U.S for the next 50 years?
2
Did anyone hear Trump's defense of this monstrous decision? The Kurds didn't fight with us in WWII, he observed.
It takes a brain that numbingly empty to condemn so many people to an uncertain fate as the result of a phone call, without having the first clue about those people.
It is a seamless, immoral, dastardly, disgraceful choice that will go down in infamy. Curse you, Trump.
9
Well these Kurds "didn't help us at Normandy" can this lunatic possibly make any crazier statements?
2
Am I missing something? How in the Sam Hill does the President of the United States approve a Turkish military operation?
3
Can there be any question that our President is in Vladimir Putin’s pocket?
4
Trump has a nasty habit of betraying our allies and appeasing our enemies. Far from putting “America First”, his actions are instead weakening our nation and jeopardizing our foreign policy goals and security
11
"Washington (CNN)Republicans savaged President Donald Trump Wednesday for allowing Turkey to attack US allies in Syria as the President offered varying reasons for giving Turkey the green light, including the fact that Kurds did not fight alongside the US in World War II."
Fantastic. Trump wasn't born when WWII ended and the Kurds weren't even a country. Trump has really lost it.
10
Apparently, Trump thinks Normandy is in the Middle East, and Kurds could have just hopped over a bit to pitch in on D-Day. He actually was in Normandy for a WWII commeration; maybe he would remember better if he had attended the ceremony at the cemetery with other heads of state, rather than bail out because it was raining.
1
He never had it.
It is so very tragic to watch our president taking orders from the Kremlin. There can be no other reason to have left the Kurds in this way.
15
Trump’s decision to pull US troops out of northern Syria confirms he’s working for Putin and Erdogan. Trump abandons our allies, the Kurds, to imminent slaughter at the hands of Turkish ground and air invasion while ISIS prisoners go free. Impeach him now.
11
I would assume that the source of all of Trump’s actions begin solely with Putin wishes.
Was the latest action in Syria a favor for Erdoğan from Putin via Trump?
The upcoming slaughter of Kurds in Northern Syria is the kind of reason Trump should have been removed from office LAST YEAR.
If not then then surely now is the time ---Today!
By giving him that extra year to play his game we only increase his ability to destroy our Democracy. What will be next --- World War 3?
4
Trump understands his shortcomings. He can con the US but cannot con the world. So he opts for an isolationist agenda. What is wrong with us?
2
On this day October 9th, 2019 under Commander in Chief Trump, the US military is withdrawing protection of our allies the Kurds in Syria, while protecting from harm our enemies, ISIS prisoners. Trump approved today's attack of the Kurds in northern Syria by Turkey, and removed at least two ISIS prisoners from the path of the attack. Is there any doubt this president is unfit to serve, and has many times broken his oath to protect our nation?
4
Trump is a disaster to the US foreign policy and will create a long term damage to our credibility. Either he is naive, of he got something in return from Ardogan. It's dangerous because the Turkish do not want to have a free Kurdish country along its border.
Erdogan is hypocritical, because he wants a Palestinian state, but for the forty million Kurds he is against such an idea.
2
Well, now Trump will get his Trump Towers built in Istanbul. This is his motive and should be cause enough for his impeachment by both parties.
4
A more accurate and informative headline :
"America’s Nato partenr Turkey Attacks U.S. Allies in Syria"
clarifying in 9 words the US President’s dilemma
2
This is exactly what Turkey and Russia want the Kurds crushed in Syria, The are the only viable opposition to Assad. Donald Trump is an American Coward and Russian apologist and someone who elevates his financial interest in Turkey above US interest in the region. Lets dare call it treason.
8
Trump's Life Philosophy: "Let's you and him fight".
He is a coward of the lowest order.
7
Yup. This this happening.
It is a tragedy, but it has wider implications, as I've mentioned elsewhere.
There had already been mutters about how steadfast the American commitment to allies are in this age of trump.
With this move, those mutters are now being spoken with a clarity that I have yet to see. I'm seeing words to the effect of "Trump and the Americans cannot be trusted" being printed (admittedly in the opinion pages) in major newspapers in Australia. There are reports that the defence white papers are being re-examined in this age where the American cannot be depended upon.
While trump is (hopefully) and aberration, this is a particular bell that cannot be unrung. An alliance depends on both parties to the alliance trusting each other, and when that trust has been shaken, it is not easily undone.
As a Vietnamese friend once told me, his parents still remember bitterly the American betrayal.
Good luck gathering a coalition of the willing (or anyone really) next time.
Editor’s note: This comment has been anonymized in accordance with applicable law(s).
3
TRUMP:
"Well I also have, I have a little CONFLICT OF INTEREST because I have a major, major building in Istanbul and it's a tremendously successful job. It's called Trump Towers -- two towers instead of one, not the usual one, it's two. And I've gotten to know Turkey very well and they are amazing people, they're incredible people, they have a strong leader."
-- Donald Trump Dec 1, 2015 interview with Steve Bannon of Breitbart
9
Keep in mind, Bannon was trying very hard in this interview to tee up easy questions for Trump to flaunt his foreign policy acumen.
It was supposed to buffer Trump's image.
Instead, it incriminates him.
5
Don Trump’s knowledge of Foreign Affairs can be reduced to his decision to abandon the Kurds.
3
Should we as a nation actually be suprised by what, unfortunately, is just the latest and arguably the most flagrant example of an act of betrayal by the US government? Anyone who knows but a little of our nation's history must be aware of the fact that said history is littered with similar acts. One needs to look no further than the plight that befell the Native Americans after the Pilgrims set foot on the continent.
2
It seems we will do anything for Russia (now aligned with Turkey in this move against the Kurds)- even allow the reconstitution of ISIS in Syria- putting Americans around the world at risk.
3
Why should anyone trust us again?
3
@Tom Does trust come into it? More a matter of kowtowing to the largest economy in the world.
Once again, Trump has been played like the fool he is by foreign dictators infinitely smarter than he is. Once again, we are witnessing the reckless and traitorous actions of a stupid and dishonest man, a man without even the remotest understanding of what it means to be loyal to our allies and to have their backs. Even his most uncritical sycophants, Graham and Rubio, are finally awakening to this.
5
what kind of planes are being used by Turkey?
1
Turkey insists that they did not commit mass murder against the Armenians. They're committing mass murder against Kurds right now. How will Turkey lie about this chapter of history? Erdogan should be tried and convicted of crimes against humanity with Trump as the accomplice. We wonder how the world can stand by as Armenians and Jews were slaughtered in the first half of the 1900s. Now we know. I'm terribly ashamed to be an American today. The increasingly insane Trump Show now had blood on its hands.
4
Trump can't remember what he said one day to the next. He is loony and needs to be removed from office immediately. He just threw the Kurds, who we supported against the isis fight, under the bus or in this case under the bombs. Maybe Lindsay Grahm is waking up from a deep sleep and realizing trump is a wacko.
5
Lindsey Graham and the Republicans are complicit in Trump’s betrayal of the Kurds. You cannot support an ignoramus like Trump and then be outraged by his actions.
The United States will never be trusted as long as Trump is President and Pompeo is Secretary of State. A very large broom is needed to clean out the White House.
4
Wow. Turkey laid down the law and Trump rolled over.
Make America Weak Again.
How can anyone support a wimp like this as president? I guess the same people who are terrified of refugee women and children.
14
Perhaps Putin threatened Trump with disclosures held over from 2016? Putin's fingerprints are all over this unconscionable act of state, making Trump Putin's Petain.
3
I hope Trump’s allies in Congress are paying attention. Trump’s allies don’t fare too well with the chosen one.
11
Is Trump risking the lives of Kurdish allies as a diversionary tactic in light of the impeachment inquiry?
8
After the bombardment Turkish troops will cross the border. That provides the Kurdish forces with their lifelong wish - to slaughter Turks. Turkey hasn’t won a war or even a campaign for 150 years. Kurds are fighting for freedom. We will see who wins.
4
I see Turkey is building their border wall with blood.
5
The Trump legacy.
6
When the “Times” reports, that, “Michael Maldonado, 31, a former Marine lance corporal from California who was among a handful of American volunteers fighting with the Kurds, said it did not matter to him that Turkey was a NATO ally”, which sounds very much like the “Lincoln Battalion” — who bravely stayed loyal to allies and the democratic interests of beleaguered people against a fascist strongman — consisting of American volunteers, including Earnest Hemingway, of the XV International Brigade, a mixed brigade of the International Brigades also known as Abraham Lincoln Brigade (Spanish: Brigada Abraham Lincoln). It was formed by a group of volunteers from the United States who served in the Spanish Civil War as soldiers, technicians, medical personnel and aviators fighting for Spanish Republican forces against the (fascist) forces of General Francisco Franco and his Nationalist faction. The Lincoln Brigade was the first American military force to include blacks and whites integrated on an equal basis.” [Wiki]
Emperor Trump’s gutless deceit and lies on this matter ring like the same hollow praise that FEMA Chief Michael Brown received from George Dubya Bush saying, “Brownie, you're doing a heckuva job."
BTW, “did you hear the one about two cowardly Emperors and a Marine sitting at a bar?”
7
Turkey's position is right!
Contrary to the common saying that "enemy of my enemy is my friend" is absolutely incorrect here.
The Arab population along the northern strip of Syria have been displaced intentially in these past 20 years. In order to stop romanticizing nation building and cross border incursions, what Turkey has done and plans to do is correct.
1
Kurds are not Arabs.
9
Turkey has been slaughtering Kurds for decades.
Its record for genocide is third only to Hitler and Stalin.
Erdogan fits the role of murderous dictator perfectly.
3
@✅Dr. TLS ✅ That's the point. Kurds displaced them.
The credibility of the United States is approaching zero. It will takes decades to repair. Trump presidency cannot end soon enough. The next president has a huge job ahead.
10
@J: If it isn't in a treaty ratified by the Senate, don't count on anything.
Let the Russians handle that geopolitical mess. It's their backyard anyway. It isn't as we have no important matters back at home to contend with like our southern border.
1
@PegeenMike: Still, you have to admit that moving a handful of troops out of the way of a Turkish military operation, based on a phone call from Erdogan, doesn't look much like a careful, thought-out withdrawal from the region. If we are going to turn it over to the Russians, let's let our own military know what we are planning, wouldn't that make sense? Not just move 50 troops from one place to another, then wait to see what happens next.
3
How much money is Trump making from this betrayal?
13
"Those who don't learn from the past are doomed to repeat it"
I hate to say it, but the Leader of the free world is completely ignorant of such truisms before he lands in such a situation, where shallow , impetuous (and probably wrongly motivated) thinking becomes an accelerator for such outcomes.
The next time he raises a cry for more involvement and commitment, he might discover that those he reaches to have considered the wisdom of joining....because they have weighed the truism by studying beforehand.
7
@lecourt... Trump's recollection of the past goes back as far as five minutes ago.
4
Not that it was a secret...Erdogan telegraphed his discontent for a year now and outlined his plans to kick the Kurds out of Northern Syria, most recently at the UNGA. You can scream all you want, but this is a step towards ending the war in Syria and unite the country.
By committing genocide?
Turkey has plenty if experience doing that.
It has one of the most viscious regimes in the world.
2
Trump's days are now numbered.
7
@Michael Kenny
Nah. The GOP have mouthed their pretend outrage, and that will be as far as it goes.
Anyone who doubts that chimpanzees are our closest living relative need not doubt that fact any longer. That we elected Donald Trump as our leader makes clear that we aren't really all that different from our close relative after all.
5
It's not just the horrible decision Trump made: It's how he came to the decision. A little chat with a dictator and a need for a distraction did the trick for the Commander in Chief.
7
Putin and Iran will be delighted to hear this, whereas once again, a GOP president is doing something in the Middle East that all our most important Western allies strongly reject and experts across the political spectrum explain will make America less safe as more chaos in the US mean more anti-US terrorists.
This is horrible.
3
Well it seems Trump lied again and backtracked from destroying Turkey's economy if they struck. Of course, this is typical of a lawless President only concerned about himself. My heart goes out to those folks being attacked with their lives being lost and lives being destroyed by a President that know no loyalty, except to himself and his interests.
5
Trump has betrayed our loyal ally, the Kurds, to be slaughtered by the Turks (Trump Towers Istanbul) and Putin’s Army (Trump’s boss). You can’t get much lower than that. We must impeach Trump and remove this Narcissistic Personality Disorder man from office before he destroys everything.
10
A few years back Isis said they would be on the White House lawn one day. Well. Now they may get their wish.
3
In a historical perspective, it is my opinion that America's betrayal of the Hmong was more grievous. Still, not anything to be proud of.
4
America words matter. We must keep our word our oath. It sends a direct message to the world America has lost their way. We are not who we say we are democracy.
bad faith
1
This has nothing to do with withdrawing troops and everything to do with Trump looking out for his own interests and bowing to yet another authoritarian leader
2
Only one thing will stop our deranged madman..."Lock him up!"
2
Man-baby in the Oval Office squirms and flails. Real, worthier, human beings die. Thank you Republican base.
5
War crimes?
1
We left the Kurds to genocide. Horror!
5
Hey Republicans and Trump supporters. You must be so proud. Your boy just sold out our allies and stabbed them in the back. The very ones that did most of the fighting against ISIS on our behalf. Is that your idea of making America great? Revolting, disgracefully, shamefull!
14
The Kurds have been deceived by us again!! What a disaster and one that is meant only to serve as a distraction and to feed Trump's base to help everyone forget about the Impeachment. It will be important to see how many Republican Senators remain quiet during this international embarrassment and shame.
6
Those who do not know history (e.g. Donald Trump) repeat the same old mistakes. Today Trump picked up the mantle of Neville Chamberlain who met Hitler over Czechoslovakia pre-WWII and agreed to Adolph taking over Czech's Sudetenland by pulling out our troops that guaranteed Turkey's fear of crossing the Syrian border. Erdogan is Turkey's new Hitler and Trump relates to tough guys who know how to get their own way. Fortunately, Trump is more like Mussolini and will be equally inneffectual despite all the unnecessary grief he will cause the innocents of this world. More justification for impeachment IMO. Wake ujp Republicans, the future of America is in your hands.
7
They've not only given up being the "family values" party and the "law and order" party, they have given up being the "world's policeman" party. Tell me, what exactly do they stand for?
4
@Stevenz
Treason
4
Once gain a Republican President has abandoned the Kurds==Bush Sr in Iraq and Trump now .
4
The day America betrayed is most stalwart ally in the fight against ISIS and terrorism, in the words of FDR, will live in infamy.
This Traitorous President has single-handedly destroyed America's reputation in many ways already but this betrayal is an all-time low for him and America.
I can only hope he's going to pay the ultimate price for his glib foreign policy, indictment, trial, and prison or death. Treason is the most serious crime anyone can commit and Trump has committed it publicly in front of the television cameras.
7
Turkish troops invading Syria from the north, Russian-backed forces from the south, ISIS fighters attacking Raqqa. Impossible to understand why Trump is leaving America’s allies to be slaughtered and enabling the return of ISIS but at least he hasn't worn a Tan suit!
6
Just learned today is Putin’s birthday. Now we know why Donald withdrew our troops from Syria. What has our government become.
8
President Cater, President Clinton, President Bush, President Obama,
We Need you to join in on theses issues? We need to hear from you! Our democracy depends on your voices!
4
Who is responsible for allowing a mentally ill US President
to commit murder in Northern Syria.
That is the question to be answered by the NYT journalists.
Trump is mentally ill: so who is responsible for allowing
Turkey to kill innocent civilians in northern Syria.
I challenge the NYT to answer this question.
4
Those who do not know history (e.g. Donald Trump) repeat the same old mistakes. Today Trump picked up the mantle of Neville Chamberlain who met Hitler over Czechoslovakia pre-WWII and agreed to Adolph taking over Czech's Sudetenland by pulling out our troops that guaranteed Turkey's fear of crossing the Syrian border. Erdogan is Turkey's new Hitler and Trump relates to tough guys who know how to get their own way. Fortunately, Trump is more like Mussolini and will be equally inneffectual despite all the unnecessary grief he will cause the innocents of this world. More justification for impeachment IMO. Wake ujp Republicans, the future of America is in your hands.
1
The United States withdrew 50 to 100 troops from the border area in advance of the operation, and American military officials said that the United States was not providing assistance to either side.
That’s the American presence we’re abandoning! Couldn’t we just replace them with a few temps for awhile if it will restore sanity and bring everyone back to their original senses which coincidentally just also happens to be insanity?
2
I want a whistleblower to tell us what Erdogan said to Trump to get him to change his mind so rapidly. I wonder if the conversation alluded to Trump's hotel interests in Turkey. This Traitor in Chief is becoming more brazen in his self interest. It's a disgrace.
15
What do Fox and Trump supporters say about this action by their great stable genius? How many red lines of morality can he cross before his mob feels shame and finally deserts him? WWJD?
9
Trump alone is responsible for every death that now occurs.
Did he also get a quid pro quo from Turkey?
10
This is what the GOP enables.
The GOP does not seem to value allies or the rule of law.
The Republicans should lose the Senate for their lack of leadership.
7
Every day when I wake up, I hope he's gone.
14
Now Trump has an opinion. Where was he when he unleashed death and destruction on our allies? This guy does not know more than his Generals.
5
Trump must have business interests in Turkey, there's no other explanation.
8
This is why Putin hired Trump.
14
Pity the good people of the USA have to wait till November 2020 too 'Fire" this obviously imcompetent but now deadly White House apprentice!!
6
The comment about Normandy is beyond nauseating.
8
And beyond all realms of reason.
4
Whatever Trump is smoking or taking. Stop him! Every time he opens his mouth it creates chaos!
Where are you Republicans??????
Do you ever exist????
7
America’s credibility isn’t with anything. As far as the the world is concerned, America did this. Pathetic!
4
The Kurds have fought along side us for over 20 years and this is how we treat them? This is how we treat strong friends and allies who gave their lives fighting alongside us? Turning in them on a dime? What has Turkey done for us under Erdogan (not much).
6
Kurdish "terrorists" are not crossing the border into Turkey committing terrorist attacks, so why Erdogan feel the compulsion to attack the Kurds in Syria?
Thousands of Kurdish fighters fought together with American troops to destroy ISIS, now for Trump to give green light to Erdogan to attack these Kurdish fighters is an act of betrayal - of a magnitude that the world has not seen in recent times.
The damage Trump is doing to America will not be overcome for the nest few decades. Which nation will trust America again?
4
I'm not sure what all the panic is about. Now, Trump will unleash his secret plan to defeat ISIS. After all, he's a successful businessman and a stable genius; only he can fix the world problems.
4
“The president,” Mr. Pompeo added, “made a decision to put them in a place where they were out of harm’s way.”
so...he knew first hand this is the outcome...instead of getting tough..he folded...what a strong leader. Eh?
3
Trump has just given permission to Turkey to commit genocide of the Kurds, making him now an accomplice of war crimes.
9
This does not make sense.
Our presence held in check Iran, Russia Syria and enable Kurds to take out ISIS.
I think “Think I Am King Trump” at the cost of lives, our relationship with the Kurds, just want to divert attention from the impeachment.
What you think?
1
Many in Australia laud Trumps brilliance I hang my head in shame that the deaths of innocents that will happen is seen as a brilliance.
6
After betraying and throwing our real ally to the wolves who will trust USA ever again.
5
First Trump looked the other way at the horrors inflicted on the World by the Saudi's who murdered Khashoggi. The Trump agreed to attacks of Kurds who helped save the world from unimaginable horrors. Now Trump is the horror who brought hate, anger, and division to not only our nation, but the world.
Don't ever harm Trump physically. Put him in a permanent cage.
4
The American nightmare continues.
3
Shame on the U.S., shame on Trump, and shame on anyone who apologizes for Trump. Erdogan, like Putin, is a murderer. The Kurds are our allies. Well, not any more of course. Trump making Lord Chamberlain look like a far-thinking freedom fighter. Amazing, not a bad distraction from the impeachment inquiry-- but not really necessary, they've already got everybody thinking Biden is the crooked one.
1
Why are you Impeaching Trump? You should have arrested him, and because he hasn't been, now you know who arranged his election.
2
" they didn't defend us in WW2?"
So we should let them be slaughtered in 2019?
What kind of sick criminal makes such a remark?
Trump must be removed from office. He is insane.
9
Let us not forget that Turkey was our ally and friend during the last seventy years and helped our country, especially during the cold war with the Soviet Union, allowing us to install listening post all over her Black Sea cost and having large NATO Air Force bases in her territory which are important for European and US security.
Turkey is now bearing the burden of sheltering about three million Iraqi and Syrian refugees which ran away from Iraq and Syria as a result of our short sighted policy in this region.
Middle East situation is a complex one involving many religious sects and minorities and cannot be understood and judged easily without a good knowledge of its past.
2
@Turgut Dincer Turkey is killing America's friends. Simple enough?
2
If your friends are terrorists, then do not cry about terrorism, there is no my good terrorists. Learn your friends first, this is not about kurds, most kurds in turkey supported erdogan in every election. This is about pkk and ypg organizations who are declared by usa, eu as twrrorists, so we should not trust eu, usa state dep? Fake news?
Read this from simple wiki
“The role of suicide bombers, especially female ones were encouraged and mythologised by giving them the status of a "goddess of freedom", and shown as role models for other women after their death. On 30 July 1996, Zeynep Kınacı, a female PKK fighter, carried out the organization's first suicide attack, killing 8 soldiers and injuring 29 others. The attacks against the civilians, especially the Kurdish citizens who refused to cooperate with them were also reported at the same years. On 20 January 1999, a report published by HRW, stated that the PKK was believed to have been responsible for more than 768 executions. The organization had also reportedly committed 25 massacres, killing more than 300 people. More than hundred victims were children and women.[44][44][45][46][47]”
1
You’re citing reports from 20 years ago to justify Turkish genocide against the Kurds.
It doesn’t compute.
1
Reports from Turkish news have stated that Trump knew the exact intentions of Erdogan when US troops were withdrawn. Somehow I believe Turkish reports over Trump. Congress needs to subpoena those phone conversations of Trump and Erdogan, especially since Trump seems to have acted in self interest with Ukraine and now we know he has large conflicts of interests in Turkey with his multiple investments in dozens of companies and properties.
16
Congressional and administration Republicans have blood on their hands. Trump has reviled our allies for the past three years, while his GOP enablers kept quiet. Now that he has triggered genocide, the Republicans cannot pretend to be shocked. They are complicit.
23
Government by Tweet. What could possibly go wrong?
16
@RAB The world would probably be a safer place without tweets.
@Bev I have been thinking the same thing. And I'm not too sure about social media generally.
If you're ever in the Bay Area, my wife and I would love to get together with you over coffee and solve the world's problems!
"I'd like you to do us a favor, though,..." When Putin told Trump he could find a way to help him be elected President, is it possible that he may have used those same words? And, is Putin now calling in that favor with regard to Syria?
18
The Turks are killing the wives and children of US allies because Trump gave them the green light to do it. Trump is so incompetent it's off the charts.
21
Killing wives and children!? Sir, please stop spreading fake news. My god, misinformation about this campaign is just unbelievable.
@retep,
What part of bombing cities do you not understand?
1
Mr Trump.
"Have you no shame? Sir, have you no shame ?"
23
This is just a small example of what trump is capable of in his insane stupidity. Now it’s being reported he calls McConnel three times a day trying to keep the senate on his side. Donnie is getting desperate and I don’t rule out him destroying the planet.
17
*Dumb.
*Un-American.
*Shameful.
*Treasonous.
*Trashes trust with foreign allies.
*Greenlights Turkey to promote crimes against humanity.
*Trump the dealmaker fails use our leverage to heal rift between Turks and Kurds.
15
Mr. Trump can now add genocide to his long resume of accomplishment....
21
Your country’s word is useless. You cannot be trusted at all.
28
Ironically, Trump’s policies will only make it harder for the US to stay out of wars. Whereas we have historically shared the burden with our allies, policies like this force us to go it alone.
MAGA, indeed.
17
Didn't anyone in the administration balk at this betrayal, which borders on genocide against the Kurds? I see that Pompeo defends Trump's action, but he would defend anything and few others have joined him. . Good luck to the next military officer, foreign service officer, or intelligence official who tries to get the Kurds, or other indigenous groups, to work in common cause. There are several persons who benefit from Trump's betrayal: Erdogan, Arafat, and Putin.
13
I’m in agreement with you in spirit, but Arafat died 15 yrs ago.
1
Meant Assad, of course.
2
God help us when we need international help in the future. Apparently we are not to be trusted to follow through with our commitments and will throw our allies to the wolves at any given time.
17
Why would any future potential ally trust the US? We have cut and ran. I expected nothing less from Commander Bone Spurs and his extensive military background.
13
Funny how the Republicans would not stand against Trump's lawlessness creating a Constitutional crisis.
Maybe now that the spigot for their military contractors is threatened, they'll find the spine...
13
Foreign policy is neither moral nor immoral. It is amoral. Only one question is relevant: What is in your country’s best interest? While this is a bad optic for Trump, I think he made the right decision. These people have hated each other for centuries now. As far as I’m concerned, the situation is perpetually hopeless. We cannot remain there indefinitely holding back warring factions. It’s not in our national interest.
2
@FreedomisPriceless
Civilians and our allies are dying because of Trump’s attempt to distract from the House’s impeachment inquiry. Is that in our national interest?
5
@FreedomisPriceless Really? That's the conclusion you came to? What about the world's best interests? What about the live of the people who have risked theirs to help us fight ISIS? Grow up.
6
When someone has been a valuable ally against a brutality enemy, leaving them to the wolves is not only immoral, it’s stupid. Who will fall for our nonsense again?
6
A good rule of thumb is to ask yourself what would trump do, and then do the opposite.
13
Too bad I didn't get into politics. If I were running for Prime Minister of Canada in the current election, I would run on one issue, and one issue only. I would promise the people of Canada that I would buy anti-ballistic missiles and deploy them along our border-our Southern border of course. Where would I buy them? Wherever I was able to. Don't even think that the corrupt government in your country wouldn't sell them to make a buck or to get phoney information about some Democratic candidate. Come on up to Canada, Rudy, I'd love to negotiate with you in some dark. back alley. Allowing a thug like Erdogan to cleanse the Kurds is incomprehensible. He's Trump's kind of guy. Too bad, because the Kurds are the only sane people in the area. Even their women gave their lives to help the Americans and other allies. And please Lindsey Graham keep quiet. You are not helping the situation because you have no credibility and no dignity.
8
Another shameful betrayal of an ally for political gain. How ironic the bulk of the Turkish Air Force are US-made combat aircraft, no to mention the lethal ordnance we freely supplied to Turkey, now being dropped on former Kurd allies. And no US resolution proposed by either republicans or democrats to force Turkey to stay inside its borders. Shame on both political parties. Does anyone really believe Trump and Democrats didn’t know Turkey’s intentions? What a joke!
4
@Son of A. Bierce
What do democrats have to do
with this?
Trump owns it.
1
Thanks to the stable genius in office, the U.S. just made another 25-35 million enemies. Republicans, when are you going to wise up and help Democrats get rid of this human wrecking ball?
12
Wow I'm not alone. You took the words out my mouth.
2
The Kurds should have talked to Native and Black Americans before making a deal with uncle Sam. Talk about betrayal!
6
This will turn out to be a very costly mistake that will have long term effects on US policies, and its role in the world. If this goes on, the Kurds will have to turn elsewhere for their survival. Their choices are: China, Russia, and parts of the ME, and Iran.
7
I am so sorry for all of the families. Regular people like all of us. Just living, raising our kids, loving our spouses, honoring our parents.Wishing you all safety, but I fear you will not have any safety.
20
All the boo-hoo’s are meaningless. Impeach and vote Democratic!
5
So many times during Trump's presidency have I thought "Now, it cannot get worse".
Nowadays I know it can always get worse. It is a free fall into the abyss.
The only thing that surprises me is the people that support him. The GOP. McConnel. How they mobilize to fight to protect Trump and allow this to continue.
Is there any good in those people? I really want to know...
24
@Truthseeker In short, NO.
2
American lives have been saved by the Kurds who did the tough fighting against ISIS, as a result, American troops didn’t have to die. They were able to continue mopping up ISIS with a small American contingency (only 1000 troops). The United States owes the Kurds and needs to continue backing them by keeping a small contingency of troops on the ground. These men and women fought and died expecting us to continue being an ally.
Trump needs a backbone, not everything is about money. Sometimes you have to spend a small amount to keep your commitments to your friends. Without friends, the US is nothing, and our friends are probably wondering if we’ll back them up in a bad situation.
Trump makes us look like traitors, his Republican allies are correct in condemning him. And while Republicans are at it, why not impeach him as well?
9
The so-called U.S. backed militia(YPG) is viewed as a terrorist organization by Turkey. The U.S. made a major mistake when it decided to work with this group to fight against ISIS despite the strong objections of Turks. With the U.S. arms and training, this group wants to create an autonomous/independent zone in northeastern Syria which will bring more chaos and fighting to the whole region especially in Turkey. So, Turks have every right to go after that existential threat and eliminate it.
7
@Haci
And what about the thousands of ISIS prisoners?
1
@Haci Yeah like The Turks were willing to help us eliminate ISIS. Also it IS where The Kurds have lived, for generations.
3
You need to brush up on your history. Intellectual laziness is no longer an acceptable excuse for ignorance or inaccurate information.
6
The world has suddenly become a much more dangerous place to be a US citizen.
9
"A bad idea," but you agreed to it? You can't play it both ways. The sooner Trump is impeached, the better for our country and the world.
11
@Blueandgreen802 Trump is blaming The Turks for his messed up foreign policy.
Wonder if trump towers instanbul has anything to do with this... He said during his campaign, "I have a little conflict of interest cause I have a major, major building in Istanbul." Sounds like a major, major conflict of interest yet again, again.
9
CNN just showed video of one of the prisons housing ISIS which had been bombed by the Turks. The entire roof was in flames.
Maybe they got cooked.
CNN interviewing Trump a little while ago asked him what would happen if the prisoners escaped.
Trump assured CNN the escaped ISIS prisoners
would run to Europe.
“Traffic was jammed with terrified civilians fleeing south in trucks piled high with possessions and children”
Bombing terrified civilians with children fleeing for their lives.
7
Today Trump dismissed concerns about the Kurds being attacked by saying the Kurds did not help us at Normandy.
Just to make it clear, he said we don't need to help them because they didn't help us at Normandy. This is too bizarre.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/trump-withdrawal-explanation-syria-kurds-isis-europe-215740775.html
16
Yes. And someone so spectacularly irrational and callous is POTUS.
1
I know I speak for every Republican when I say that we just hope that Trump's Turkish hotel is going to be alright!
7
What Erdogan probably told Donny:
"Look, I know your Saudi buddy chopped up that journalist. You and I, we're deal makers. I won't keep asking why you let your 'allies' get away with murder in my country, and you don't push me on why I have to push a terrorist army away from my borders."
And that looming "humanitarian catastrophe" the Kurds warn about? Let's start with the millions of refugees long flooded into Turkey. Given our "policies" on refugees fleeing slaughter, torture, rape at home, let's give the Turks at least a little thanks and credit. Lindsey, your head in the sand (likely "no aid" exhortations) while refugees flooded into Turkey for years, shows meaningful "red lines" exist largely in your imagination, and firmly placed on drifting sand.
2
90 percent of America has no idea where Syria is.
4
Right. So Trump supports ISIS. nuf said.
2
There is officially a special place in hell for Trump, Pence and the GOP.
6
Only Trump can make Assad look good
12
Can we PLEASE get this madman out of the White House?
30
It's pretty obvious that when Erdogan proposed this, the only thing floating in the head of the stable genius was that this would distract from his current problems. In essence he again has used U.S. foreign policy for his personal political benefit!
21
This is a travesty... just a sad day for the US and our Allies who have stood by us thru thick and thin... sad that we have a president who literally doesn’t have a clue...
4
It's really outrageous how the rich in this country, including most Republican politicians, their offspring, and all the current Supreme Court Justices, avoid serving in our military, war after war after war. You know, our "well-regulated militia."
20
I feel ashamed. We have betrayed these people.
26
There is nobody Donald Trump will not sell out, be it his wives, his workers, his base or the Kurds.
30
The shameful betrayal of an ally aside, one possible scenario to Trump's new policy with Turkey vs. the Kurds, alas, could be, that Putin has 'dirt' on Trump, forcing him to do his bidding to strengthen Assad's Syria - or else !
12
@Jak The "dirt" Putin has on Trump is that Trump greedily accepted at least $30 million from Russia, funneled through the NRA. There are Kremlinologists who believe that Trump has accepted much, much more from Russians, and that he's in hock to them for a number of his failed real estate deals.
5
This is a common theme with Trump: there’s no thought given to cause and effect ahead of time. Or maybe there is and peace and prosperity just aren’t good enough or something? Sure it’s not the most dramatic goal in the world (well, maybe it is now), but it takes necessary, often thankless, backend work to get us there. You don’t notice it if it’s working, only if something’s gone wrong.
In any event, blood shed here is firmly on Trump’s hands, and I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s one of the major things that gets immortalized about him in history textbooks. Other things may include, “3am Twitter diplomacy,” “impeachment inquiry,” and “what NOT to do as Unites States President.” People in the future will certainly care a lot more about genocide than yesterday’s stock prices, that’s for sure—and that’s regardless of any attempts by the Trump administration and its allies to cover it up. See WWII Germany.
This is how we can prevent an international tragedy in 2019:
News Media reports event —> People see news, form idea —> People communicate idea with *each other and local and congressional representatives (messages, protests, etc.)* —> Large-scale action by Congress
This is how our democracy works, and it may seem fairly obvious, but sometimes I wonder if our adversaries understand it better than we do. A great thing about the Internet is how fast this feedback can happen from your chair, right now. No waiting or transportation required, and it’s compatible with busy lives!
2
The slaughter of innocent Kurdish victims, our allies in the fight against ISIS. For what personal gain of Trump this time? His hotel in Istanbul? His cowardly devotion to Putin and Erdogan? What? Let him, Barr and his accomplices in the Republican Party cover this up too. They got their pro-life Supreme Court justices to protect the life of the unborn while they turn a blind to pending genocide. They got their tax cuts. So much winning. Hope they enjoy it.
9
They didn’t fight because they love America. They fought so they can get the richest part of Syria. The oil . They are a terrorist organization as well although maybe to a lesser extent than ISIS . The general population and yourselves need to go to the bookstore and buy some history books.....this is a useless war. Why does the US have to be involved in every war on the planet. We should first and foremost be worried about our own people and land.
2
It’s where the Kurds have always lived.
Not American today.
11
When we backstab our friends...
9
Kissinger betrayed the Kurds in Iraq in the 1960s, when we still supported Sadam (remember him?). The problem with the Kurds is they're always in the Whey.
3
Sorry, not funny.
7
And this is why we are abandoning the Kurds in Trump's words:
"The Kurds are fighting for their land, just so you understand, and somebody wrote a very, very powerful article today. They didn't help us in the Second World War, they didn't help us with Normandy"
10
@Padfoot
I just heard him say that!
Unbelievable!
Is there any shame in the Republican Party?
12
I understand that US people want to make America great, but surely America should stand with its ally. I'm a Canadian, and I must say that this tells me not to count on America. Surely the House and the Senate can do the right thing - sanctions take too long, people who supported America need your help - please make America great ....again.
14
Just figured this out today? I've known that for a long time. It didn't just start with their current government but have been going on since Vietnam and Southeast Asia, throughout Central America, and more recently in Afghanistan where they were supposed to grant citizenships to Afghan allies but decided not to, once they were finished using them. With a friend like that who needs enemies?
2
I concur. Some of the electorate may believe that America is ‘great again’ but at what price for it’s international standing? The UK would be better advised to trust it’s European allies than throw its hands in with this treacherous administration.
2
@Brian,
America has never been great. It was built on slavery and genocide, and on the bones of the working class.
The slogan is abhorant, not least because it is code for “Make America White Again.”
Turkey allied with U.S for a hundred years. There is a deep state tradition of Turkey (Ottoman Empire) that ruled the lands around it for thousands of years. Turkey is a NATO member. Turkish soldiers died in Korea for U.S. Also has been fighting separatist Kurds for many years. Kurds are a community that has not even owned a state throughout history. They have only been with the U.S for five or ten years. So, who would you choose?
3
@Soner: Whatever decision I made, I'd want to be sure it didn't result in attempted genocide.
9
No rationalization offered here changes the fact that Donald Trump has the blood of those people killed on his hands. They were alive yesterday, today they are dead.
14
Turkey under Erdogan is a dictatorship that jails opposition, judges, journalists and intellectuals. Kurds have been the loyal US proxy in Syria against Assad and Putin. Erdogan is consorting with Putin. Pretty easy call for me. Of course, I'm not writing from Izmir.
10
Turkey must deploy troops into northeastern Syria.
By launching an incursion into northeastern Syria, Turkey will crackdown on the PKK's Syrian affiliate, the People's Protection Units (YPG), which forcibly seized the area with U.S. assistance before turning it into a training ground for prospective suicide bombers and improvised explosive device (IED) experts.
The PKK in Syria may have helped Washington carry out a military campaign on the cheap, but the group continues to kill innocent people on Turkish soil. And it is the Turkish government's number one responsibility to protect its own citizens.
In recent days, the PKK in Syria has become far more dangerous, threatening to release thousands of Daesh prisoners from poorly managed detention camps to fuel chaos.
To pressure the Western governments to repatriate their citizens, the group had invited reporters to al-Hol, a prison camp near the Syria-Iraq border, pushing the narrative that the situation was unsustainable. Now, when Turkey volunteers to address the Daesh problem, America's supposed allies are openly saying that they will free terrorists in retaliation.
The same people, who let the YPG tail wag the dog, now claim that Turkey, which boasts NATO's second-largest army, is ill-equipped to perform the same task that a militia was trusted to do for years.
Instead of complaining about an incursion, the world, should get behind the Turkish plan as it is an act of liberation.
3
Trump defends his cowardly betrayal: The Kurds, "didn't help us" in Normandy.
No, that's not The Onion, he actually said this.
18
Trump and Erdogan are just creeps., pandering to their base,
while the Kurds die.
I am waiting for The New Yorker magazine cover, illustrating this. Erdogan, seated, facing us. Trump, back view (as we will recognize) on his knees in front of him. I should not need to explain more.
8
I love Pompeo’s characterization if Trump’s actions. “Trump put troops out of harm’s way.” I have to admit this soon sounds better than “Trump beat a hasty retreat.” That would have sounded too much like Trump’s draft dodging.
Trump’s treatment of the Kurds is like how he treats woman, i.e. abuse them and then lose them. But still Lindsey Graham loves the guy.
13
Ug ! Is Trump acting in the interests of the USA national security or the financial interests in Turkey 119 investments that Trump himself admitted would be a "conflict of interest" . I am sure Rudy and Barr are cleaning up any mess that could hurt Trump's re-election as Barr has power to disclose any agents we have world wide and whisper them into Trump's ear to keep his job as Roy Cohn clone.
7
The only way to restore our nation’s credibility is to imprison Trump.
14
This is his first in what I predict will be a series of FU's to the world from a sick and dangerous man who knows he's going down. I wish I had a more dignified way of saying this, but this whole mess is exhausting me.
13
So Trump does Putin's bidding, but also Erdogan's. The blood of America's allies, who fought ISIS terrorists to keep America safe, will be shed on Trump's watch, and by his decision. We will not know the quid pro quo for some time, what benefits Trump got from Erdogan for his investments and business interests in Turkey.
All the evidence so far, and Trump's own actions, indicate he is deeply compromised and will stop at nothing to trade favors using the presidency for personal enrichment. To what extent Russia and other countries also have seriously compromising material on him and his family, and are blackmailing him, we do not now know, but surely will over time.
Trump's actions on the global stage are not surprising in themselves given his fundamental lack of integrity and any substantive standing to be president.. That the gang around him (Pompeo, Giuliani, Graham, Jordan, Johnson, etc.) should eagerly run down American institutions and civil servants only to protect a plausibly corrupt and bought president points to their own guilt and commitment to illegality.
5
So now the great folks who brought you the Armenian genocide a century ago will now, with the cooperation of Donald Trump, bring you the Kurdish genocide.
Where are the US generals who praised the Pesh Merga and the Kurds for their professionalism? Why are we abandoning our best ally in the Middle East? Doesn’t anyone remember who saved tens of thousands of Yazidis who were surrounded by ISIS in 2014? The US provided air support then so that the Kurds could provide passage to safety for a people who otherwise would have perished?
Trump will bear the responsibility for this, and for the resulting chaos that will follow.
10
Trump wants his name on those two Trump Towers in Istanbul, Turkey to remain good. Erdogan gave him a choice; your two towers and their income, or, lose it all if you continue backing The Kurds. Trump folded up like a house of cards, in my opinion. He sold out our Kurdish allies for his towers. What's a business man to do? Would he risk the income on the Istanbul Trump Towers, or, play ball with Erdogan? What would you do if you were in this situation? Would you sell out Kurdish Allies on the frontier of Syria and keep your towers solvent, or, would you risk the tower income and stand with you allies, the Kurds?
We all know Donald Trump by now, so we know the answer to my question.
7
"Turkey has launched attacks in northeastern Syria, aimed at a U.S.-backed Syrian Kurdish militia. This attack pits two American allies against each other"
Gee! who could have possibly foreseen this?
Maybe the Department of Defense? State? NSA? CIA?
But go-at-it-alone stable genius knows all there is to know about everything, so we should rest assured American interests are being safe guarded, right?
7
For America, our new reputation is as a betrayer of allies as well as of our own constitution.
5
Where were all of the commentors on this section when ISIS almost overran Damascus? Syria's army has done more to fight ISIS than the Kurds have. By far. How do we express our gratitude, an economic blockade!
1
We've betrayed our allies. We don't deserve this country.
4
one more rung up the ladder of authoritarianism.
5
It is impossible to believe that the incompetent oaf in the Oval Office came up with this one on his own. It has been obvious from day one the oaf gets his marching orders from Putin and here is yet another example. But this latest move has dire consequences. We must brace ourselves because putin is going to wring as much as he can out of his stooge, before he (the stooge) is shut down.
4
"The United States does not endorse this attack and has made it clear to Turkey that this operation is a bad idea,” President Trump said in a statement on Wednesday. "
Seriously ?!
Was it "Fake news" that Trump spoke to Turkey's leader on Sunday evening, gave Turkey the green light to attack , and withdrew troops from the region. ?
I suppose the real question is whether Trump gave Turkey the green light to attack in exchange for a promise that Turkey was would produce false testimony against Joe and Hunter Biden.
After all, Trump is shopping countries the way others might shop stores for the best deal on a big screen T.V.
Ukraine. China. Why not Turkey ?!
7
For all the people who scream about liberals who have no sons or daughters in the military, consider this. As long as the US remained in the Kurdish lands, nobody was getting killed. There have been something like three military deaths in Syria. They were actually safer there than they might be on an American base. In 2009 13 Americans were killed at Fort Hood by an army psychiatrist and 30 wounded. There had been some rumors of an aborted plot planned against a New Jersey base by terroristi.
I listened to some of the news of the Turkish action on FRANCE 24 today. They used the words “absndoned by the Americans.” I remember the old tee shirts from way back that people used to wear. They showed a flag with the slogan, “These Colors Never Run.” Trump never saw that one. Bonespurs was too busy fighting his war with STDs.
Vets, Evangelicals and all you people out in Fox Land, you sure have a funny idea about unmatched wisdom and great men.
9
I'll go out on a limb and suppose that just about every nation in the Mid-East is now chomping at the bit to join Trump's coalition to bring a war to Iran, now that there is fresh evidence of what a reliable ally a life-long con man can be.
5
"TRUMP'S KURDISH MASSACRES," or "TRUMP'S GREAT BETRAYAL OF THE KURDS, as this tragically foreseeable, preventible, and completely unnecessary episode should forever be known -- let Donald (in-his-great-and-unmatched wisdom) Trump OWN it; it is HIS baby -- instantly and indelibly takes its place among the most shameful, and shamefully disloyal, acts perpetrated by the leader leader of our once-great United States.
So much for the U.S. as moral beacon to the world!
So much for the criminally reckless #45's much-trumpeted lip-service to the concept of "Loyalty"!
What a breathtaking betrayal of all our country stands for, as well as of the lives of the brave men and women of our military who fought and died to prevent just this!
2
This is shameful. Who in the future will trust America's word?
8
Today our "president' allowed the murder of innocent families--the elderly, men, women, children, and babies. Our allies. Who sacrificed their lives to fight alongside out troops. This is the most evil and cowardly and twisted thing any president has done in my lifetime.
6
What kind of a person would walk away from a friend and ally who has helped us against a vicious, lethal enemy, knowing that they will be slaughtered as soon as we leave? What kind?
Who will trust us now about anything? Turkey? Europe? Anybody? No, no, and no. The only one I can think of is Russia, because #45 always does whatever benefits Putin.
Who among us will watch the coming blood bath and think it's OK? The GOP Congress people who always stand by him? How could they? How could anyone? He has shamed and is shaming our country for all to see.
8
Why aren’t journalists asking at least one key question among many: Will the Trump administration admit complicity in a quite possible genocide as they the Turks attempt to destroy the Kurds, as perhaps as grave as Rwanda or Armenia?
Of course Trump and Pompeo will wiggle out of taking responsibility, but the evidence of American dishonor under their leadership is out there for all around the world to see.
Blood on their hands!!!
6
Somewhere Putin is playing three dimensional chess while our awful excuse for a president plays checkers.
6
@pditty: I don't think Trump can handle a simple game like tic-tac-toe.
4
A big happy birthday to you, Vladimir! With love from your Siberian Candidate and future Moscow hotel goon, Donnie T.
8
Trump the Traitor has hotels in Istanbul !
What the hey?
This president wants due process?
Impeach, Convict, Remove, Indict, Prosecute, Imprison !
How's that for your due process?
5
One stupid, ignorant, and weak man, submits to the wishes of a tyrant---and plunges the whole region into chaos and a new wave of slaughter.
A bull in a china shop, Trump breaks everything.
Learn the history, friends.
5
First was the degradation and division of American society by hatred and anger. Then Khashoggi was butchered and Trump coddled the Prince. Now Trump has waved his Mafia like hand to condemn those who fought in Syria against a truly wretched biblical curse of hell.
We have a problem we should run from.
We cannot win.
3
More dangerous stupidity causing untold harm. This is Mr. Trump’s trademark specialty. His position? Let them die.
1
Trump is Evil!!!
7
Our putative president is a fool
3
Trump is a monster. His enablers are monsters. The bright beacon of America, once admired by the world, has been brought down by a reckless president who has again chosen to pander to another foreign autocrat. He could have called the Turks back, but chose to let people die—people are dying—to protect himself from humiliation. All Americans should be crying for our country.
6
Trump gave Erdogan permission to invade and then removed the US troops that were in Erdogan’s way. Trump gets out of the way of aggressive autocrats. He respects them.
The bad idea is that it may cost Trump a lot of political capital with Republican Congress people.
Is Trump imploding as a personality and the President or is this just more proof that his supporters are an amoral, stupid mob, as he has crowed, that would never abandon him even if he committed murder in plain sight on Fifth Avenue?
Our democracy and world reputation is on a certain decline that will dramatically worsen in his 2nd term. Continue handwringing and proclaiming how stupid and unpresidential he is and believing that he will be impeached or defeated or do something like protest marching, registering voters, etc.
6
All this land is part of the Ottoman Empire. If the Ottoman Empire was there we will not have all this mess in Middle East. Thanks to England and France!!
1
By pulling out of north-eastern Syria, trump is now actively engaging in genocide, in the name of the US.
And Graham and ilk stomping their little feet is not going to help stop this. And once Erdogan has wiped the Kurds off the face of the earth, these repugnant republican politicians will be right back where they were before, namely licking their master's boots.
Those of us who had been hoping that we will be able to recover the US' standing in the world once the trump nightmare is over, will have to accept that there is no way for us to recover from this action.
I know, I grew up on the post-Hitler Germany. The guilt follows you wherever you go. And you really don't want to let it go because it is the only hope that we will never allow anything like this happen again.
9
This blood is on Trump's hands.
7
Here you go Lindsey. A chance to be a relevant.
4
The stable genius has said about the Kurds: "“They didn’t help us in the second world war, they didn’t help us with Normandy..but they’re there to help us with their land.”
This is jaw-dropping. The Kurds fought ISIS and succeeded (at the cost of 11,000 lives). And now they're supposed to have helped the US defeat the Nazis? Crikey!
7
Way to shoot an ally in the back, Trump.
Oh, sorry- you're letting someone else do the shooting, because you don't have the courage to do it yourself.
Betray the people who fought alongside Americans, and clear the way for Erdogan and Putin' other puppet Assad to have more power.
You have no honor. You have no good ideas. You have no business being where you are. The sooner you are gone and become a pathetic cautionary tale the better.
7
Cut and run Republicans!
8
Impeach, indict, try, convict, imprison.
Now!
12
America lost ....its way.
Simply by voting for the Republican Facist Party member’s! I didn’t think they’d become “that” either. But, they have.
The voters have allowed “Party” over Constitution, Law, Democracy, & many years of Worldly diplomacy!
The Voters & Legislators allow a severely disturbed individual to daily tarnish most of all the goodwill & world stability that America built ......in less than 3 years.
It’s not Trump’s Fault. He’s severely mentally disabled.
It’s the Republican Voters & Party Members fault.
I’m old.... will pass before having to live within a fascist run country & the outcomes of this Administration.
I’m terribly sad for my children & grandchildren.
I don’t foresee changes that will recover whats been lost.
Even if Democrats win big. Life doesn’t recover whats lost.
The depravation of what is American-Honest- Democratic-Financially Stable- Worldly Connected is lost.
Something else will replace that. That’s the way life works. What that will be for the next 100 years.....looks very bleak.
Sad, sad, sad.
Mark, Boise Idaho
7
"trump Towers" in Istanbul, Turkey. Now I get it;)
7
The Turks have been practicing Kurdish ethnic cleansing since the Arabs brought them to wipe out the Kurds 10,000 AC. Alongside the Arabs here come others who hate the very existence of the Kurds who harmed absolutely no one. Not unless you are a terrorist invader you are not respected.
1
Sorry there was no Turks or Arabs 10000AC The Kurds are tribes who lived originally in Asia. Show me a book or a map with the name of Kurdistan. Our republicans senators are angry because they lost a very lucrative oil deals .
Gross incompetence and malfeasance. Putin dangled kompromat and Erdogan flattered. Kurds left it on the field, nothing left to bribe with, they were just fighting for their families, homes and honor. Trump adheres to enemy. He is a traitor.
7
And the slaughter of the Kurds begins---thanks to our fearless leader who lacks a brain, and the GOP that supports him.
7
Faced with no good options, Trump has instinctively chosen the worst possible course. Civilians are dying, and their blood is on our hands. This president is a coward and a disgrace to our country.
3
Every Kurdish death - every.single.one - is on donald trump's head. His and his supporters.
6
This is the Trump-Graham-McConnell-Erdogan ethnic cleansing of the Kurds.
3
Didn’t see that coming.
smh
Lindsey Graham: “To the Turkish Government: You do NOT have a green light to enter into northern Syria”
Note to Lindsey: As if your feckless GOP crew has any power against your chosen and voraciously defended charlatan leader.
Now sit back and enjoy/endure the product of your 2 years of malfeasance.
8
Con men are easy to roll. Just ask Putin.
1
What is the reason that Congress could not have stopped this idiotic move?
2
Giving comfort to the enemy, trump is a puppet, maybe a Russian mole, and a traitor. He would probably hand over his mother, if he could make a buck off of it. Trump must be removed, ASAP. Shame on those responsible.
4
Trump is a traitor and Lindsey Graham is his sycophant. Russia, Turkey and North Korea are not America 's friend.
3
Resident Trump, you are co-responsible with Erdogan for any bloodletting in Syria. Whatever "deal" you cooked up with Erdogan needs to be reviewed immediately. Sir, you are dangerous and amoral. Everything is trans-actional in TrumpWorld. The real world is suffering for your imperious approach to your job. You're a national and international disgrace.
1
""Pray for our Kurdish allies who have been shamelessly abandoned by the Trump administration,” Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, usually a staunch Trump ally, wrote on Twitter. “This move ensures the re-emergence of ISIS.”"
PRAY? Prayers aren't going to save the lives of the innocent Kurds that Trump has abandoned and betrayed. Why would any of our allies ever trust us again after this?
If Congressional Republicans can't stand up to Trump when he greenlights the slaughter of our allies, they are no better than Nazi collaborators who enabled Hitler.
6
He knows T&P are useless. That’s why it is their solution for everything! Vote Blue, no matter who!
Oh yeah thoughts and prayers GOPs answer to everything
The Kurdish fighters are the one of the few true "freedom fighters" who actually want the Americans to be there, and we turned our back on them. What a strange world we live in.
7
@Brian
Trump turned on us.
3
The Kurds forced the Syrian people out of their towns . They helped the Americans to fight ISIS but really their goal was to establish a country which never existed. Everyone uses ISIS as the scapegoat, even Assad used them and the Turkish let them cross Turkey to enter Syria. As president Trump said we have no business to be there. We have more important problems home.
@Alan
Yeah, like a treasonous President who attacks our own allies for bribes and distractions.
1
It is obvious who will benefit from this;
Russia,Turkey, and Assad.
Soon, I'm betting there will be a further (known) alliance of these 3.
Turkey has already bought Russian missile systems that require Russian tech's to maintain.
That news got buried along with everything else that's important by coverage of Trump's disingenuous tweets.
5
Is it not possible the Motorola experience in Turkey , and the scheme that allowed a family member of the telecom monopoly swindle and the resultant deposit of a condo sale in trump tower NYC, part returned since the occupant would be arrested when arrive in the U.S. be a bridge too far to connect the dots , hmmm Turkey may be ostracized ,trade wise ,for the president may be wanting revenge , using the office for obscure purpose. Millions were lost by Trump.
The comments from Central Europeans I just read are along the lines “ this is how Trump treats his friends- let Turkey attack them” ....
This will have far reaching consequences for the world and diplomatic cooperations- we just squandered the idea of democratic idealism USA was always a champion.
1
TRANSLATION: Erdogan is not intimidated by Trump's threats to destroy Turkey's economy.
9
I am not sure why people are surprised by this unilateral action? They need to do in a sense what Pakistan did ... develop a deterrent i.e. in Pakistan case nuclear weapons to keep India at bay.
Pakistan has the most aggressive weapons development program that it has not shied away from telling India. Its policy is to develop enough capability that if India decimates Pakistan, India will be awarded the same fate.
So there is peace and both countries will co-exist. Now watch slaughter of the KURDS enabled by the USA. I say this with lot of pain.
1
Used to be when America had your back there was no need to turn around.Now when America has your back you better have eyes in the back of your head. Our word used to be our bond and you could take that to the bank.Trump didn't just become a loose canon he was nurtured by the likes of Senator Graham and many other sycophants.There are many reasons why empires of the past failed we should maybe all take a history lesson.
4
Erdogan got a go ahead from Trump, simple as that.
America has wanted to get out of the Middle East in general. But if you ask those who want a pullout that the price is to abandon the people who fought alongside America against ISIS to be slaughtered and to cause a resurgence of ISIS, chances are they have more concerns about the way America is cutting and running. The two Bushes have done a lot of damages to the Kurds. This is outright betrayal
3
It is n abuse of power for a President to unilaterally - without public debate, Congressional consultation, US National Security establishment involvement, NATO consultation, or even a rational basis - reverse longstanding US policy effecting an entire region that predictably green lights an invasion and slaughter.
Trump did this via PHONE CALL.
Impeach.
3
Syria first, then maybe Urkraine for Russia , then who knows maybe Taiwan for China or even South Korea for the North.
Can any of our allies trust that we will defend them?
4
When the sorry history of the Syrian "civil war" is written, it will be the Americans -- not the Iranians, or the Turks, or the Russians, or even Assad -- who will be condemned for this useless carnage. It will be the Americans. First for starting the whole thing with their regime-change obsession, and then for abandoning their most important ally. Trump will be rightfully pilloried, but Obama and Hillary Clinton are on the hook for this, too.
1
I am a Kurdish living in Turkey. The reason why subscribed to NYTimes was the confidence I had in that paper. But it has nothing to do with the country. We the Kurds will never and ever trust United States anymore. Enough is enough. How many times should we be betrayed and left alone like this? I can't describe my feelings.
18
@kamuran how could you blame US for betraying you even though you're staying in your house in Turkey and not be with your people in Syria. First you back your people up with your presence, then blame the others for not being there. So, if you want to talk about who's betraying who in the future, i strongly recommend you to think twice.
This is beyond DISGUSTING. Took Erdogan - a 2-bit dictator/strongman - all of 36 hours to unleash his “pre-planned” attack, an attack that will inevitably lead to the decimation of Syrian Kurds - thousands will die. History will show that Trump’s green light to Erdogan is but another illustration of Trump’s betrayal of his oath of office and his treachery to America, our people, what we as a country stand for and an unmistakeable signal to our REAL allies that America’s word can’t be trusted.
Now Turkey is a country with a lengthy geo-political history which there’s no need to refer to, other than to state that the 2nd worst case of genocide in history was conducted by the Turkish government against Armenians around 100 years ago - I’m not particularly knowledgeable about this but I understand that around 1 million Armenians were slaughtered by Turkey - to this day, Turkey denies that this took place. Turkey has NEVER been an ally of the US - they sided with Germany in both WWI and WWII and their claim to fame in recent years was they did business with Israel and that they SUPPOSEDLY (as a Member of NATO) were a natural physical barrier against Soviet and now Russian expansion.
3
This may be the worst thing Trump has done. Most of the time, he watches TV, takes phone calls, golfs, and in his endless wisdom l, issues illiterate policy statements, often based on the last person he spoke to. This time it’s not Tucker Carlson, but Recip
Erdogan, an authoritarian Islamist who has a long history of supporting Trump’s multiple real estate ventures in his country. This time it looks like a lot of people who have done the heavy lifting for the US against ISIS in Syria are going to get killed. It’s not so much a stab in the back as a stab to the gut by a man who has no real sense of strategy and absolutely no ethical sense. It’s so bad that even Graham and Ms Cheney have summoned up some indignation. But of course it’s too little too late.
9
Wake up America! Our house is on fire.
We can douse it with water - Impeach Trump!, or admire the fire, and watch the Republicans destroy our, once great, country.
9
Call my a cynic but my first thought was that Erdogan must have agreed to investigate Biden. I hope someone will get the transcript of that conversation to know why he (Trump) , against all advice, decided to make this move. Why?
4
he wants to build real estate in turkey
3
Can the outrage at Trump grow any larger? Which will occur first -- Trump's impeachment, his resignation, his failure to be re-elected, his removal under the 25th Amendment because he's crazy, or a revolution? Something has to break to get rid of this walking disaster.
3
This is beautiful! Turkey is using F4s, F16s, Bell and Chinook choppers plus other US made equipment. We equipped the Kurds. It’s perfect for America’s industrial military complex. Nothing like war to get some Americans excited. Russia is happy too, as they gain influence in the region.
4
Another nightmare brought to you by the Trump criminal juggernaut. Can anyone intervene to stop this? The pope? The UN? The Hague? There has to to be some entity that can put an end to this horror before it spirals our of control — more than it already has.
Why the firestorm engulfing the entire establishment, media and political, over the movement of a company or so of US troops? Because they are the only thing standing between the Kurds and the Turks who are going to slaughter them. That's why the Lindsay Grahams are so upset. They love the Kurds, you see, along with Uyghurs in China, Rhohingya in Myanmar, and the people of Hong Kong. But what is really going on? In fact, they are so upset because what is on the line here is the project, in which Israel is a junior partner, to create a Kosovo-on-the-Euphrates in ALL of eastern Syria, most of which is occupied by Arabs, and not just in the Kurdish north. See the map on this article. Netanyahu endorsed the idea of an "independent" Kurdish state in 2014. In fact, this plan is now shambles, but it never had any possibility of succeeding anyway, being land locked and surrounded by states firmly against such a scheme.
1
Seven civilians were killed in Turkey's invasion of the Kurdish forces today. Lay those deaths at the feet of Donald Trump.
1
Did Trump plot with Turkey against the Kurds, or just abandon them?
So that's the GOP's foreign policy. First they invent massive lies, send hundreds of thousands of our finest and bravest youth to fight a war based on lies in Iraq, fail to secure its border so now Al Qaeda militants flood the country, fire all the generals, which end up deciding to take the situation in their own hands and found ISIS, and then, when thanks to the Kurds (the strongest US allies in the region), two decades later, Iraq finally stabilizes, the GOP decides to ... let Turkey destroy the Kurds.
This is TOTALLY unacceptable.
It's beyond immoral. I actually don't think the words exist to describe my disgust of what the GOP does to this great country and the entire world.
3
Policy via Twitter is and has been the WORST IDEA IN AMERICAN HISTORY! Couple that with the fact - unreported in the Times - that Trump has a great, perfect history with Erdogan because there are - not ONE, BUT TWO - TRUMP TOWERS in Turkey. Oh, Donnie's taking care of his friends, all right, while the Kurds are slaughtered and our 1,000 or so troops in Syria are cannon fodder! Just another reason IMPEACHMENT is so necessary! This cannot stand!
SO. Why are our sons and daughters here.
More proof of the Trump administration's sorry grasp of how the world works. The region is toast without support to the Kurds. I hope Trump is happy when ISIS comes marching back in about five minutes.
to Richard Burr...where is the line?
News releases insist on referring to the Kurds as "American backed" - we should change that to American abandoned. The bloodshed has already begun.
To #45: how's that unmatched wisdom going for you?
2
What is to be said, the betrayal of the Kurds by Trump/Pence is a criminal act driven not by U.S. interests but of Trump's business interests in Turkey. What is insane is Trump reportedly justifying this betrayal because the Kurds did not aid the U.S. in WWII! Republicans consider this as NORMAL?
It is really terribly embarrassing to be an American!
2
I can't believe how many comments are blaming Trump for this. He's just following orders from Putin.
1
“I did the same thing that you’re doing now for 10 years. I protected Mr. Trump for 10 years,” Cohen told his former allies. “I can only warn people. The more people that follow Mr. Trump — as I did blindly — are going to suffer the same consequences that I’m suffering.” GOP...Michael Cohen warned you!
3
President Trump is nothing else than a murderer second degree. He knew exactly what would happen, pulling-out the us troops of the northern Syrian territory. Take him to international court and imprison him with these other egomaniacs, ruthless dictators and war criminals. Not only him, please invite Mr. Erdogan to join. They would give a pretty good couple in cell mating. Each of them deserves the other for the rest of their dreadful lifes. As an european Citizen I cannot vote for death penalty but exceptions for those special guests should be possible. USA what happened to you? Once you fought for independence of the unfree. Your word had power and was trustworthy. Now you prefer to kill innocent people just for the convenience of your president. I am terrified by your loss of humanity.
So on the long list of impeacheable, indictable offenses Trump just declared war on ourselves.
Call your Republican Senators and demand to indict this entire administration:
202-224-3121
4
Trump Towers Istanbul has been granted
a 30 year tax exemption.
5
11,000: Kurdish-led fighters killed battling ISIS in Syria
5-7: reported US casualties in Syria (2 died in vehicular accidents)
1,000: US military and advisors stationed in Syria
33,000: US military currently stationed in Germany
7: months since ISIS was defeated in Syria
74: years US troops have been stationed in Germany and Japan
90,000: refugees and ISIS families in camps, and imprisoned ISIS fighters under Kurdish control in Syria. (They will now be under Turkish control)
Spare me the sob story about how burdensome the "forever war" (that ended all of 7 months ago) against ISIS in Syria was for America. We threw the Kurds under the bus when they were at their most vulnerable, and now they're losing literally everything. Think 1,000 troops will be able to solve the catastrophe we just caused?
8
Heart breaking and stupid beyond belief. Trump crowed about how he was going to massively increase the Defense Budget and then refuses to use our military in such a limited way to protect our stalwart allies who have done so much in both Iraq and Syria. Shameful!!
1
I'm ashamed to be an American today.
10
Every day this man is in the Oval Office, I am ashamed to be an American. I know he has put all of life in danger denying climate change, weakened our potential for positive influence in the world, but for some reason today feels different.
Today, knowing that he has caused the death of a brave ally, I am physically ill.
5
I have heard stupid ignorant comments come out of Donald Trump's mouth, but within the last half hour I don't know if lack of sleep, too much bronzer, too much hair products has just made him utter to paraphrase the "ISIS Prisoners can escape to Europe that's where they want to go anyways, Europe should have dealt with them when I told them to," does this incompetent person realize that the Kurds are the ones guarding the criminals, that unlike him they have loyalty to their countrymen and will go fight alongside them, Trump has joined the ranks of tyrants who have allowed genocide to occur, must be a proud moment for him, here is the scoop, we must remember Trump doesn't read nor does Jr. or Erik, there are over 10,000 ISIS prisoners, 50,000 family members who have been close to radicalization, being held all this time chances are very high regarding this above comment, there are over 2,000 dissidents, does he not realize how easy it is to travel from Europe to the US, does he not realize that the chances of them having had internet access during their imprisonment was low but now the dark web is their friend, but he knows more than generals, commanders, military personnel, no he is a coward who refused to fight for his country, the Kurds stepped up, Let us all remember the sacrifices that the Kurds have done for the world by fighting and guarding the vilest group of criminals we have seen and may their casualties be minimal that however is doubtful. Thanks Trump!!
6
We’re all flawed to some degree, but will THIS finally bring these loathsome Republicans in Congress to retrieve their souls and their senses?
5
This Turkish killing of our nation's longtime Kurdish allies is on Trump. He gave the go-ahead.
3
The blood of one of our last allies is on Trump.
And, it is on every Republican who defends this absolute disaster of a president.
2
So Trump approved the attack, then said it’s a bad idea. He is insane.
10
This is hugely frightening. A possibly compromised American leader that appears to acquiesce to Russian demands. Secret meetings between our leader and Putin. What was said at those meetings? How is it OK that those meetings ever happened?
Putin is aggressively is pursuing the destabilization of Europe. He badly wants access to a strategically important port in Syria, so American pull out is necessary.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/08/world/europe/unit-29155-russia-gru.html
So... who is whispering in the stable genius's ear?
4
Please tell me. Who has Erduwan promised to investigate in exchange for the US withdrawing its Troops from Syria?
7
In NYC we didn't have any major terrorism issues for a number of years - of course our NYPD, FDNY, FBI, CIA, etc., and countless swatt teams I see all over within the last several weeks are doing their job. How is it going to be when the Kurds (who were /are a major ISIS controlling/jailing force) are being attacked/ murdered by the ever Kurdish-blood-thirsty Turkey ??
As a fmr WTC professional, whose life sort-of-ended on 9/11/2001, I know the address where to send the "Thank you" cards when we are attacked by the ISIS again: the White House, and, the Trump Tower.
1
Last time Erdogan came to Washington, things did not go well
He’s been invited to come again in November.
I’ll be there and if I get a clear shot, I’ll throw my shoe at Erdogan’s head.
2
And all this because Trump needed Erdogan's support for his Trump Towers in Istanbul. What an unspeakable man.
3
Turkey will not slaughter Kurds, so you can rest assured. Turkey's enemies are PKK, YPG and ISIS not Kurds. Most of you probably not know that there are almost 20 million Kurdish people live in Turkey, which is 25 percent of its population. PKK, Turkey's most fearsome enemy, killed 35000 people from 1980's to present. Just last year they killed 11 month-old infant and his 25 year-old mother with bomb and YPG is the extension of this terrorist organization, even your administrators knows about this. You must keep this in your minds, terrorists are terrorists, their actions define who or what they are, not their religions or ethnicities. Sadly, most of you also think that Turkey will release ISIS terrorists which are killed 200 people and injured 1100 people in Turkey. So why on earth Turkey want to release these murderers? These are the facts, not Western media misinformation. FYI, i am not an Erdogan fan and i will never support his politics. Finally, when 9/11 happened, believe me, turkish people felt your sorrow and righteous anger. Because for decades they have tasted the same feelings, unfortunately. I hope some day you will learn the truth and sympathize with them.
1
???
wasn’t the goal of turkey to attack kurds?
turkey doesn’t want kurdish presence, especially a strong group like the militia who attached isis...
pse explain.
The Kurds blood is on Trump's hands. Shame on him, and his administration for this betrayal! Our Allies can no longer trust America. This is a sad day to be an American. Shame on Republicans for allowing and maintaining this man mania.
2
What Trump did makes me sick. The Kurds lost 10,000+ fighting against ISIS. To turn our backs against our ally, just to see them be invaded and slaughtered by the Turks is beyond ludicrous. I do not like our country being over in the Middle East, but how can you betray an ally whose interest aligns with ours. Many American's wonder why most of the world dislikes us. I personally would like to see the transcript of the call between Trump and Erdogan. I believe there is more that we aren't told.
2
Senator Graham is the fool in all this. He got his judges and his tax breaks. I support the President on this issue. He took a decision - foolish- but he is consistent with his (largely Russian) views. I just hope they won’t argue about this too long. It might affect their golf game.
Trump bankrupts his Casinos, American Civility, American Laws, the American Treasury, American Honor and American Morality, and Evan-hypocriticals call him “God’s Elect”.
More like Roman Emperor Nero.
3
Not everyone in Idaho agrees with AT. Trump owns this pullout. Shame shame shame
2
I am speechless how low we have fallen! How one crazy person with power clinching enablers can hijack democratic government benefiting dictatorships all over the world...
Turkey, Russia, N Korea....
Republicans in Congress are equality culpable.
1
Are we going to see American planes flying out of Incirlik to bomb the Turkish troops and save the Kurds? Is this what what we get when two crazy, corrupt old men rule two countries now in conflict?
1
In just two days, your president started a war and a constitutional crisis. Seperately! That's amazing.
4
This catastrophic president makes me physically ill. I despair.
2
The Kurds played dirty during the Syrian revolution, rather than joining the forces of the opposition to fight the vicious dictator Assad they rather opted for destroying the opposition under the disguise of fighting ISIS, just what Russia did: they pretended to fight ISIS but the bombs were falling on the opposition to keep such horrible dictator on the throne.
Many Kurds died while helping us fight ISIS in Syria. Trump and his criminal and treasonous administration are literally allowing them to be slaughtered. Why? Because Putin wants it. Not complicated to understand.
2
Bush moved US troops from Afghanistan to fight the ill fated war in Iraq; giving life back to ISIS there. Now Trump is abandoning the Kurd's who helped the US stop ISIS in its Syria, based on a call with the Turkish leader this past Sunday night. All without consultation of defense, state, intelligence; and what about the 10,000 ISIS held in camps by the Kurd"s (when now released) who want to attack Europe, and the United States. This is just dangerously stupid, the Kurd's will be slaughtered, Trump has again shown to the world why he is untrustworthy-why we as people are included makes me want to vomit.
1
Where are Mattis and Kelly?
4
What must it be like for US troops to be pulled back, only to watch their comrades in arms die at the hands of Erdoga/Trump/Putin alliance. How gleeful must ISIS be that Trump's action has breathed new life into their fight to the death with America. Impeach him. Vote.
1
Gee... Follow the money.... did Turks and the Kurds both buy US weapons and will they soon get a fresh resupply from Trump?
1
I am physically nauseated at this betrayal of our longtime allies. Good people will die because Donald Trump is unfit.
In every way, he is unfit.
3
Criminally insane describes best who Trump is.
The only thing he is able to do right now is copy and imitate his masters, Putin and the Saudi royal crown prince. These men live by murder and Trump wants that same power.
Criminally insane.
2
Betrayal is what Donald Trump does best.
3
Lindsey Graham should be ashamed and the People of South Carolina should defeat him neither will happen.
2
If it wasn’t for trump, we should be fighting the Turks
False. There would have been no fighting.
The Trump-Pence Administration, the the Republicans who keep them in power despite unambiguous violations of the United States Constitution and the security of the nation and the free world, must be removed from office in a blue wave.
Corruption, treachery, genocide, bribery, treason, children separated from mothers and fathers, polluters of air and oceans, massive trillion dollar deficits, alliances with despots.
These people are attempting to make the United States the American Federation of Russia, run by a Mafia of American plutocrats.
We need to use every Constitutional weapon provided by the Founders to stop the rise of Tyranny in America - accelerating Impeachment; prosecution by state Attorney Generals; investigation of the Russian oligarchs massive investment in McConnell's Kentucky; and most of all supporting the American intelligence services as they do their jobs and stop the takeover of a free democratic state by Russian thugs like Trump and his band of zombies.
Thank you to all the pro life women and men who voted for this man. The deaths of these people belong to you.
3
Trump is obviously insane. He must be removed.
2
Americans are now in danger more than ever before. Betraying the Kurds is unconscionable and horrific! ISIS will re-form in this region and their ability to strike globally will once again be a viable and credible threat. Americans traveling on business and traveling for leisure will be targeted. Stand up, Republicans! Stand up you faithless hypocrites and cowards and remove Trump from office when he is tried in the Senate. Remove this clear and present danger to the United States! Do your job as mandated by the Constitution!
1
Impeachment is too lenient. Jail!
1
Trump has become a war criminal with this action. He had aided and abetted genocide.
https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/genocide
http://legal.un.org/ola/Default.aspx
According to Article 2 of the 1948 United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide defines genocide as "any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such: killing members of the group; causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group; deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life, calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part; imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group; [and] forcibly transferring children of the group to another group."
Under most legal constructions of genocide (e.g., under the statutes for the International Criminal Tribunals for the Former Yugoslavia and for Rwanda), liability for genocide extends to those who “planned, instigated, ordered, committed or otherwise aided and abetted in the planning, preparation or execution” of one or more of the aforementioned genocidal acts [ICTY Art. 7(1)]. In general, both public and private individuals are punishable [ICTY Art. 7(2)]. Leaders can be held accountable for the criminal actions of their subordinates if they knew or should have known about the actions and failed to prevent or punish them [ICTY Art. 7(3); Krstic, ICTY, Appellate Judgment § 140].
2
Such a sad day for Americans. Another horrible decision by a horrible person. There is no denying that his supporters are indeed deplorable. There's blood on their hands. The blood of our allies. Putin rolls on the floor laughing, as our politicians fumble and falter in the face of this greatest horror. So far.
1
President Trump: Hello Valdy... I mean Mr Putin. How can I help you?
Putin: hello Donald. If you want me to help you get RE-elected, I want you to do something for me.
Trump: anything Mr Putin you need, I am here for you. And I would of course appreciate your help again. Last time Muller couldn’t figure it out. Let’s use the same thing. But first tell me, what can I do for you?
Putin: we don’t like the Kurds. They are a small nation with big money and lots of oil. Please pull your troops out so we can hit them. Ok?
Trump: you wish is my command.
1
Trump is a terrorist, a murderer, and a tyrannical, unhinged monster, -as are his enablers. How much longer will we tolerate this insanity before the majority of Americans stop showing up for work and fill the streets in peaceful protest? We must amend our constitution to prevent anything remotely resembling the situation we're in now from ever happening again.
1
With allies like this who needs......
1
So President Trump, are you going to destroy the Turkish economy now? How will you do that? Or were you just lying to us again?
2
Pax America no more.......The Decline of the American Empire.....History repeats itself......
1
It occurs to me that Trump might not be aware of the Kurds at all. It's known that he does not read and history of any kind is likely out of his grasp of understanding.
He's just plan stupid and a very dangerous leader. He's a sucker for anyone that knows how to play to him.
I don't know the answers to problems in the middle east but I know enough to listen to people with expertise before making important choices. He does not do this.
This is known and yet millions of people support him. We live in strange and scary times.
1