Donald Trump has hailed his decision to withdraw US troops in Syria, paving way for a Turkish offensive, as “strategically brilliant”, declaring that the Kurds he had abandoned were “much safer now” and were anyway “not angels”.
The president’s remarks contradicted the official assessment of both the state and defence departments that the Turkish offensive was a disaster for regional stability and the fight against Isis.
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“I view the situation on the Turkish border with Syria to be, for the United States, strategically brilliant,” Trump said. “Our soldiers are out of there, they’re totally safe.”
The claim was untrue. There are reported to be hundreds of US troops still in the border area, where they have come under fire from Turkish-backed forces. The president seemed unaware or in denial of the precarious and volatile situation in the region for US troops and the Kurdish inhabitants.
As for the Kurds, Trump showed no remorse for abandoning local partners who had lost 11,000 soldiers fighting under US direction against Isis.
“Our soldiers are not in harm’s way, as they shouldn’t be as two countries fight over land. That has nothing to do with us,” Trump said. “The Kurds are much safer right now, but the Kurds know how to fight. And as I said they’re not angels, they’re not angels.
“We paid a lot of money for them to fight with us and that’s OK,” the president went on. “They did well when they fought with us they didn’t do so well when they didn’t fight with us.”
At one point, the US president declared the Kurdish insurgents in Turkey (the PKK), strongly linked to Kurdish forces in Syria, were “more of a terrorist threat than Isis”. His remarks closely mirrored Ankara’s talking points, but were starkly at odds with US intelligence and defence assessments which identify Isis as a direct threat to US security.
The president insisted that the US had no business being in the region.
“Syria may have some help with Russia, and that’s fine. It’s a lot of sand,” he said. “They’ve got a lot of sand over there. So there’s a lot of sand that they can play with.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., publicly broke with Trump to call the U.S. relationship with the Kurds "a great alliance."
"I'm sorry that we are where we are. I hope the vice president and the secretary of state can somehow repair the damage," McConnell said Wednesday.
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The withdrawal is the worst decision of Trump's presidency, said Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., who meets often with the president and is one of his strongest and most important supporters in Congress.
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"Deterring an action that hasn't yet been taken is almost always easier than trying to coerce someone to reverse an action that they've already committed blood, treasure and honor to," said John Hannah, former national security adviser for former Vice President Dick Cheney and a senior counselor for Foundation for Defense of Democracies.
Meanwhile, he just sent a bunch of troops to Saudi Arabia....
Guess I'm channeling Nancy...
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ON SYRIA: Pelosi said she pressed President DONALD TRUMP on Syria at their meeting Wednesday. She said that Trump’s “meltdown” came after she questioned his promise to bring the troops home, to which she replied, “Is Saudi Arabia home?”
-------------------------------- When the world wearies and society ceases to satisfy, there is always the garden - Minnie Aumônier
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