President Trump claims he is putting America first, but by sacrificing our Kurdish allies at Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s altar, he has dishonored America’s word and degraded American alliances.
The Kurds will bleed. And American allies, foes, and in-betweeners will take note that this president cannot be trusted.
Let’s not dance around the edges here. The facts are clear. The United States military presence in northern Syria, that which Trump is now ending, is not the war-fighting presence that Trump suggests. It is a peacekeeping presence designed to constrain the Islamic State’s rebirth, to deter Turkey’s slaughter of the Kurds, and to prevent Bashar Assad’s slaughter of the Sunni Arab tribes.
Trump says this withdrawal will allow the Kurds and Turkey to “figure the situation out.” What an idiotic comment. The only thing that will be figured out is Erdoğan’s sated bloodlust for Kurdish bodies.
I do not exaggerate here. The Turkish military and Erdoğan’s Islamic-nationalist base despise the Kurds. They will make few distinctions between the PKK terrorist group (an issue the Turks have a legitimate gripe about) and other sub-militias that have avoided terrorism against Turkey. They will make few distinctions between civilians and fighters. They will have fun. Erdoğan’s bloodlust will only be strengthened by his domestic interest in throwing literal bones to the Turkish far right.
This is a disgrace made worse by the fact that the U.S. clearly owes the Kurds our loyalty.
We relied upon the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces and other Kurdish militias in order to substantially degrade ISIS. Yes, Western special operations played a crucial role in this effort. But the Kurds took the brunt of the casualties. And the Kurds kept fighting alongside us even after their northern heartlands had been retaken. Their tenacious courage saved American lives by denying ISIS the space and time to plot attacks against Western homelands. Plots that remain real.
Yet even if you’re okay with innocent Kurds dying in a Game of Thrones-style massacre, and with America’s word abandoned, the broader ramifications of this decision should give you pause.
For one, it will have Russian President Vladimir Putin crowing. Putin’s ultimate strategy in Syria has been to save Assad in order to present Russia as the primary regional interlocutor. That strategy’s keystone rests on persuading states such as Egypt and Saudi Arabia that only he, Putin, can be trusted. I wonder if Trump will be upset when the Saudis and Egyptians start buying Russian military equipment instead of American?
Trump doesn’t care. He could have consolidated Turkey towards a joint cease-fire zone that protected the Kurds, Turkey’s security, and refugee needs. Doing so, he could have brought NATO member Turkey back into America’s orbit. But Trump is bored and wants a campaign headline. If it’s forged with the bodies of American allies, so be it.
But don’t tell me this is America First.
If it is, America stands for betrayal and stupidity.
