Sources:
After working with the Kurds in the past to fight against ISIS, Trump has decided to withdraw troops from Syria which would allow Turkish forces to move in.
The US had been allies with the Kurds while they were working against ISIS by providing military advisors and equipment. However, the US is also allies with Turkey and after a phone call with Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Trump decided to withdraw US troops from the Syrian Border with Turkey where ISIS had been operating previously and many ISIS captives are still being held. This would allow Turkey to invade Syria as they want to extend their safe zone into northern Syria. The Kurdish fighters that helped the US and allies against ISIS were also involved with terrorist factions working in Turkey to overthrow Edrogan’s government. So while the US considers the Sunni Kurd organization YPG to be an ally against ISIS the US NATO ally views this same group as a terrorist organization. Many officials are upset as they think that the rash decision Trump made overturned years of work that might give rise to the revival of ISIS. Because many ISIS prisoners are kept in this area threatened by Turkey and if the Turkish decide to invade they may be able to escape.
Trump suggests that the US should simply withdraw from the conflict in the middle east all together since they can not support the Kurds, their allies without going against their alliance with Turkey. There is still the problem that Trump made this decision on his own without confiding with his military advisors first. To calm the backlash against his decision, Trump tweeted out that “if Turkey does anything that I, in my great and unmatched wisdom, consider to be off limits, I will totally destroy and obliterate the Economy of Turkey.”
Does this decision overstep his presidential power he has over military decisions?
What alternative options should the US consider to placate both Turkey and our Kurdish allies in Syria?
4 comments:
This is honestly kind of shocking to me. First of all, when Trump says that he is removing troops because it undermines their alliance with Turkey, he is now undermining the alliance they have with the Kurds, so it's a double edge sword and he's taking the side of Turkey. Also, I feel like Trump is disregarding the reality of the situation in the Middle East, as well as the suffering of so many innocent people from the violence terrorist groups such as ISIS have contributed to. I understand wanting to stay "home" and make sure things are going well, but I also believe that it's important that the US do what it can to help the innocent people being slaughtered and terrorized in the Middle East. Giving Turkey leeway to attack is not helping the situation. And honestly homies, this guy cannot crush anyone's economy with the snap of his fingers. Why is he making promises he can't keep? Is this actually reassuring to anyone??
Though I’m fully aware that I sound pessimistic, I’m not entirely surprised by what the President is threatening the Turkish government with, given both the conduct of the Erdogan administration and the President’s trend of “hard diplomacy” tactics. Do I believe it will amount to anything? Not really. Though, interestingly enough, the President walked back from his statement of the “[obliteration] of the Turkish economy”, already a statement on par with the “fire and fury” comment, by tweeting that “our relationship with Turkey...has been very good” before going on to say that “any unforced or unnecessary fighting will be devastating to their fragile currency”[4]. Talk about consistency. Though Erdoganist Turkey has been showing signs of an authoritarian state, the United States has acquiesced to Turkey for strategic reasons, from refusing to classify the Armenian Genocide as a “genocide officially” to temporarily barring Turkish passports from applying for US visas in 2017. Although I believe that the Executive Office, no matter how erratic the position has been recently, has the directive to go-ahead with any military operations, this is a very bad call of the President, on both a diplomatic and military standpoint.
Memories of the Bush-era withdrawal from Iraq came into mind when I heard about the withdrawal, whereby the sudden loss of a security measure in an unstable and chaotic region gave way for power vacuums, thus allowing the rise of radical extremist groups from an unhappy populace. The ramifications of such happening again is further complemented by a 2019 Department of Defense report stating that the Islamic State “solidified its insurgent capabilities in Iraq and was resurging in Syria”[3] with an ISW report that the Islamic State are trying “to replenish its ranks from members held in detention facilities”[5]. Thus by relinquishing an American presence in Syria and leaving it to the Turks, as the President had promised to Erdogan in a 2018 phone call stating that “it’s all yours”[1], the United States has further jeopardized the security of the region and put many more lives, especially non-Sunni minorities, in danger at the hands of radical Islamists.
But, in an arguably more damaging effect, the withdrawal of American troops from Syria would prove a serious blow to America’s stance with the rest of the globe, especially those in the coalition against Syria. Foreign Policy reports that the President’s latest action “rewards a fellow NATO member for behaving badly”, listing the state sponsored hostage taking of US employees at the American Consulate in Istanbul to helping Iran circumnavigate US sanctions to fund their nuclear program[2]. Since the attempted coup in 2016, Erdogan has been trying to portray himself as a strongman figure, which unfortunately led to gross human rights abuses, especially in regards to Turkish Kurdistan. Though numerous foreign governments have condemned these actions, the United States has given Turkey, a country implicated in the bombings and artillery strikes of numerous Northern Syrian towns ,the discrete thumb up to do whatever they so please.
SOURCES:
www.cnn.com/2018/12/23/politics/donald-trump-erdogan-turkey/index.html [1]
www.foreignpolicy.com/2019/10/08/trumps-capitulation-erdogan-turkey-syria-kurds-destroys-us-credibility/ [2]
www.dodig.mil/Reports/Lead-Inspector-General-Reports/Article/1926689/lead-inspector-general-for-operation-inherent-resolve-quarterly-report-to-the-u/ [3]
www.twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1181553630354259968?ref_src=twsrc^google|twcamp^serp|twgr^tweet. [4]
https://iswresearch.blogspot.com/2019/10/isiss-campaign-to-escape-detention-in.html [5]
Most, if not all, of Trump's actions are done to consolidate American power and sovereignty, however at the expense of American allies and reputation. Why would the US abandon an ally that has helped in suppressing a major terrorist organization, in addition to the ally being threatened with invasion by another country? A mere empty threat via Twitter is not enough to guarantee the security of an entire body of peoples. If anything, the Kurds should be offended or somewhat disgruntled that their freedom and security is valued at an insignificant tweet over social media. Turkey, in my opinion, is very likely to invade Syria and displace many Kurds, as a result of Trump's insulting tweet about him and his "unmatched wisdom" annihilating Turkey's economy. His pride and arrogance is costing the US, in terms of credibility but not limited to its treasury, more than it can secure. Every military action should be agreed upon the the president and advisors to ensure that the action is absolutely necessary and has the least impact as possible, if that is the main concern. If not, the US gets a power hungry, cynical businessman that can destroy internal processes and relationships with other sovereign nations.
Update: 10/9/19
Trump continues to defend his decision to withdraw the US troops and abandon the Kurds in Syria as Turkey invades. One of the reasons for his decisions was due to the fact that "they [the Kurds] didn't help us in the Second World War; they didn't help us with Normandy."
IS THIS GUY SERIOUS?!??!?!!
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