The White House abruptly announced Sunday night that President Trump had endorsed Turkey’s plan to launch an offensive against America’s Kurdish allies in northern Syria.
Brett McGurk, who resigned last year as the Trump administration’s top official leading the coalition against the Islamic State terrorist group, berated the president for his decision to pull U.S. military personnel from Syria.
“Donald Trump is not a Commander-in-Chief. He makes impulsive decisions with no knowledge or deliberation. He sends military personnel into harm’s way with no backing. He blusters and then leaves our allies exposed when adversaries call his bluff or he confronts a hard phone call,” McGurk tweeted Monday.
The WH statement tonight on Syria after Trump spoke with Erdogan demonstrates a complete lack of understanding of anything happening on the ground. The “United States” is not holding any ISIS detainees. They are all being held by the SDF, which Trump just served up to Turkey. pic.twitter.com/vYr7j0q6mR
— Brett McGurk (@brett_mcgurk) October 7, 2019
McGurk resigned in December over Trump’s decision to pull U.S. forces out of Syria. At the time, Trump had announced the “full” and “rapid” withdrawal of U.S. military from the war-torn country, declaring that the U.S. had defeated ISIS.
The Kurdish fighters who lead the Syrian Democratic Forces have been among America’s most effective partners in the fight against ISIS.
“Turkey will soon be moving forward with its long-planned operation into Northern Syria. The United States Armed Forces will not support or be involved in the operation, and United States forces, having defeated the ISIS territorial ‘Caliphate,’ will no longer be in the immediate area,” the White House said in a statement.
“The United States Government has pressed France, Germany, and other European nations, from which many captured ISIS fighters came, to take them back, but they did not want them and refused. The United States will not hold them for what could be many years and great cost to the United States taxpayer,” the statement added.
McGurk said the statement shows “a complete lack of understanding of anything happening on the ground.”
The U.S. “is not holding any ISIS detainees,” he said. “They are all being held by the SDF, which Trump just served up to Turkey.”
The U.S. still has about 1,000 troops in Syria after Trump reluctantly agreed to maintain some troop presence there to prevent the slaughter of Kurdish allies.
