Ordering a withdrawal of U.S. non-combat advisers from Northwest Syria, 73-year-old President Donald Trump was slammed by Democrats and Republicans alike for so-called abandoning the Kurds. Kurd’s YPG militia helped beat back the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria [ISIS], prompting Democrats Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), ranking member on the Foreign Relations Committee, to lash out at the White House. “To be clear, the administration’s chaotic and haphazard approach to policy by tweet is endangering the lives of U.S. troops and civilians,” Menendez said. “The only beneficiaries of this action are ISIS, Iran and Russia,” exploiting the Syrian situation for political purposes. Menendez, who was indicted in 2015 on federal corruption, knows that Trump did the exact opposite: He protected U.S. troops Turkey launching a military operation against the Kurds.
Menendez knows that Trump was not about to go to war in Northwestern Syria to protect the Kurds from their age-old war with Turkey, something they’re used to with or without U.S. support. Defense Secretary Mark Esper said Sunday that removing U.S. troops from the war zone was a top priority, not, as Menendez says, to endanger U.S. forces. “We have American forces likely caught between two opposing advancing armies and it’s a very untenable situation,” Esper said. Yet Menendez, and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), known for his hawkish views on Iraq, Afghanistan and Syria, would let non-combat U.S. advisers attempt to beat back the Turkish army from driving the Kurds away from the Turkish border. Whether in Turkey, Syria, Iran or Iraq, Kurds have a long history battling sovereign states for what they call Kurdistan, an autonomous region outside sovereign control.
Trump’s decision to relocate U.S. advisors in Northwestern Syria keeps U.S. troops out of the crossfire between Turkey and the Kurds. Trump isn’t abandoning the Kurds, he’s letting them, like they’ve always done, fend for themselves after supplying them with cash-and-arms. Trump’s policy to relocate U.S. troops out of harm’s way doesn’t betray the Kurds, it keeps the U.S. from getting drawn into a conflict with Turkey, Russia and Iran. While Menendez exploits Trump’s decision to score political points, he knows the U.S. is not about to go to war against a NATO ally. Menendez knows the long history with Kurdish terrorism with the PKK [Kurdistan Workers Party] dating back 40 years. Whether or not Dems or GOP war hawks see the Kurd’s YPG militia as part of the PKK, they know that Turkish President Recp Tayyip Erdogan has no intent of letting Kurds encroach on the border.
Trump made it clear he will not put U.S. troops—whether advisers or combat forces—into harm’s way. “Others may want to come in and fight for one side or the other,” Trump tweeted. “Let them!’ Menendez calls Trump’s policy “chaotic” but does he really think that the small contingent of U.S. advisers in Syria should be taking on the Turkish army, Russia or Iran? House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Eliot Engels (D-N.Y.) said today the U.S. should consider expelling Turkey from NATO. “How do you have a NATO ally who’s in cahoots with the Russians, when the Russians are adversaries of NATO.” In case Engels forgets, the European Union [EU] buys 30% of its petroleum and natural gas from Russia. Should the EU’s member-states get expelled from NATO with Engel’s logic? Engel, like Mendendez, wants to take shots at Trump, not protect U.S. troops.
Whatever problems the Western Alliance has with Turkey under Erdogan, they should not put U.S. troops, especially advisers, in the middle to Turkey’s ongoing war with the Kurds. “Very smart not to be involved in the intense fighting along the Turkish border, for a change. Those that mistakenly go us into the Middle East Wars are still pushing to fight. The have no idea what a bad decision they have made. Why are they no asking for a Declaration of War?” pushing Democrat or GOP war hawks to take a stand. Trumpstill criticizes the GOP and Democrats, like 76-year-old front-runner
Sen. Joe Biden (D-Del.), for supporting the Iraq War. Trump believes the Iraq War, not Afghanistan, was a colossal waste of U.S. blood-and-treasure, leading to the rise of ISIS and other terrorist groups. Pentagon officials confirmed it would not support U.S. military operations in Northwestern Syria.
Separating political statements from genuine war hawks isn’t easy. Democrats like Menendez and Engels look political when they suggest the U.S. should confront Turkey in Northwest Syria. No one in the Kurd’s YPG militia, or Syrian Democratic Forces [SDF] for that matter, think the U.S. should go to war with Turkey. If Kurds encroach too close to Turkey, they’re driven away from the border, back into hinterlands where Turkey has no vested interest. “In the past 24 hours, we learned they [the Turks] likely intend to expand their attack further south than originally planned—and to the west,” Esper said, emphasizing that the U.S. has no intent of confronting Turkey militarily. Instead of spewing more anti-Trump rhetoric, Democrats and Republicans should praise Trump’s wisdom of keeping U.S. troops out of harm’s way, letting the Kurds deal with Turkey.
