Tag: Syria

Trump created the bloody disaster in northern Syria. Biographer David Cay Johnston explains how we make sure he owns it

AlterNet logoVladimir Putin must be smiling – even laughing out loud — at the bungling Donald Trump’s crazy mess in Syria.

Putin is the clear winner in Trump’s blood-soaked disaster. By tweeting without telling the generals his signal for Turkey to invade Syria, Trump forced American troops to flee half-eaten meals so they could escape alive. His inept (to be kind) actions then required our Air Force to bomb America’s weapons storage base in Northern Syria.

This 100% Trumpian disaster in the Middle East is unfolding so fast it’s easy to get lost in details. So, let’s walk through the significance of Trump’s incompetent actions. They came about for a simple reason. An ignorant, mentally disturbed, play-acting president has no idea what he is doing.

View the complete October 20 article by David Cay Johnson from DC Report on the AlterNet website here.

Kurds targeted in Turkish attack include thousands of female fighters who battled Islamic State

Kurdish fighters under attack by Turkey have described President Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw U.S. troops from northern Syria as a “stab in the back.”

Since bombing began on Oct. 9, Turkish military operations against the Syrian Democratic Forces in northern Syria, Washington’s staunchest and most effective allies in the war against the Islamic State, has killed at least 11 civilians and an unconfirmed number of Kurdish fighters, with estimates ranging from dozens to hundreds.

Kurdish fighters are key partners to the U.S. in the Middle East. From 2003 to 2017, they helped overthrow the regime of Saddam Hussein, battled al-Qaida and pushed the Islamic State out of northern Iraq and Syria.

View the complete October 14 article by Haldar Khezri, Assistant Professor, University of Central Florida, on the Conversation website here.

Defense chief says US troops leaving Syria will go to western Iraq

The Hill logoU.S. troops leaving Syria will be relocated to western Iraq, where they will continue to conduct operations to prevent a resurgence of the Islamic State, Defense Secretary Mark Esper said Sunday.

Esper told reporters traveling with him to the Middle East that details regarding the U.S. military’s efforts in western Iraq would be worked out in the upcoming weeks, The Associated Press reported.

The comments came after weeks of bipartisan scrutiny of President Trump‘s abrupt decision to pull roughly 1,000 troops from northern Syria ahead of a planned Turkish offensive in the area. Trump has repeatedly argued that it is time to get out of “endless wars” and promised to bring U.S. troops home.

View the complete October 20 article by Justine Wise on The Hill website here.

‘They are livid’: Trump’s withdrawal from Syria prompts rare public criticism from current, former military officials

Washington Post logo‘They are livid’: Trump’s withdrawal from Syria prompts rare public criticism from current, former military officials

A cascade of criticism by current and former military officials of President Trump’s abrupt withdrawal from Syria has thrust into plain sight internal debates over the military’s role in foreign policy and whether uniformed officials have a responsibility to publicly appraise decisions affecting American security.

Retired Gen. Joseph Votel, who stepped down this year as head of U.S. Central Command, and other former top officers have issued sharp warnings in the days since Trump ordered a sudden exit of nearly all U.S. forces in Syria, leaving Syrian Kurdish forces that have been an important U.S. partner against the Islamic State exposed to an offensive by Turkey’s better-armed military.

The “abandonment threatens to undo five years’ worth of fighting against ISIS and will severely damage American credibility and reliability,” Votel and co-author Elizabeth Dent wrote in the Atlantic.

View the complete October 19 article by Missy Ryan on The Washington Post website here.

Russian Media Cheers Trump’s Moves in Syria: ‘Putin Won the Lottery!’

For Russia, Trump’s presidency is a gift that keeps on giving. The Kremlin’s propagandists see no acceptable alternative among any viable presidential candidates in 2020.

President Trump has boasted he’s “getting a lot of praise” for his abrupt decision to withdraw U.S. troops out of northern Syria, abandoning the Kurds—America’s longstanding allies—to Turkey’s incursion. On the home front, the controversial move has been met with criticism on both sides of the political aisle, but the reaction in Moscow was far from mixed. As Trump uncorked chaos in the Middle East, champagne tops were likely popping at the Kremlin.

“Putin won the lottery! Russia’s unexpected triumph in the Middle East,” raved Mikhail Rostovsky in his article for the Russian newspaper Moskovsky Komsomolets. “Those who were convinced of Trump’s uselessness for Russia ought to think again…What Washington got out of this strange move is completely unclear. To the contrary, what Moscow gained from this is self-evident…Trump’s mistake in Syria is the unexpected ‘lottery win’ that further strengthened Moscow’s position in the Middle East and undermined America’s prestige as a rational political player and a reliable partner.”  Continue reading “Russian Media Cheers Trump’s Moves in Syria: ‘Putin Won the Lottery!’”

McConnell Blames Trump’s Syria Disaster On…Obama

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell wrote an op-ed in the Washington Post criticizing Donald Trump’s withdrawal of U.S. troops from northern Syria.

But there’s something distinctly missing from the piece: the words “Donald” and “Trump.”

Unbelievably, however, another name does appear in the piece: former President Barack Obama.

View the complete October 19 article by Emily Singer on the National Memo website here.

Lopsided cease-fire ‘deal’ emboldens Turkey, harms U.S. allies

Temporary, nonbinding, requiring nothing: ‘We got what we wanted,’ foreign minister says

ANALYSIS — President Donald Trump tweeted Thursday that Vice President Mike Pence had reached an agreement with Turkey’s president for a halt to hostilities in northern Syria.

“This is a great day for civilization,” Trump wrote. “People have been trying to make this “Deal” for many years.”

Maybe he put “Deal” in quotes because it really isn’t one.

View the complete October 18 article by John M. Donnelly on The Roll Call website here.

Trump’s enormous gift to Erdogan

Washington Post logoIt’s a startling turn of events. For years, Turkey watched with frustration as more distant powers — from the United States to Russia to Iran — imposed their will on the bloody Syrian conflict to its south. For years, to no avail, Turkey demanded that the United States end its support of a controversial Syrian Kurdish faction with alleged links to an outlawed separatist group within its borders. For years, Turkey fumed at a hostile Washington, a putative ally whose politicians, for a host of reasons, often cast Ankara as an adversary.

All of that has suddenly changed, largely thanks to President Trump.

It was Trump who, less than two weeks ago, acquiesced to a Turkish invasion of northeastern Syria, abandoning those in the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces. It was Trump who, despite a vociferous backlash in Washington, started to echo Turkish talking points about the SDF being “communists” and “terrorists.” And it was Trump who on Thursday hailed a “deal” clinched with Turkey that effectively satisfied most of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s demands while also relieving him of the looming threat of U.S. sanctions on his country’s vulnerable economy.

View the complete October 17 article by Ishaan Tharoor on The Washington Post website here.

US Agrees Turkish ‘Cease Fire’ To Cleanse Kurds From Syria Region

During a live press conference in Turkey on Thursday, Vice President Mike Pence announced a “deal” with Turkish President Recep Erdogan to give Turkey … everything it wanted.

With great pride and voluminous sucking-up, Pence announced a 120-hour “cease-fire” agreement with Turkey, during which time the United States will “assist” Turkey’s Kurdish targets in fleeing the region Turkey is attacking. In other words, Kurdish forces, their families, and others have five days to withdraw from their own homes, after which Turkey will control the region. It is unclear where those forces are expected to retreat to. Pence’s announcement amounts to an agreement for Turkey to ethnically cleanse a Turkish-demanded “safe zone” with the United States’ approval, and possibly its assistance.

In “exchange” for a cease-fire agreement—an ultimatum to Turkey’s Kurdish targets to withdraw, or else—Pence announced that the United States “will not impose further sanctions” on Turkey for its assault.

View the complete October 17 article from the Daily Kos on the National Memo website here.

Sen. Mitt Romney raises a troubling theory about Trump and Turkey

Washington Post logoThis post has been updated with Schumer’s and Esper’s comments.

Sen. Mitt Romney delivered perhaps the most thorough Republican rebuke of President Trump’s Syria withdrawal Thursday, calling Trump’s abandonment of the Kurds there “a bloodstain on the annals of American history.”

But while that line has gotten a lot of play, there’s something else Romney said that shouldn’t escape notice. He suggested Trump got bullied into the withdrawal by Turkey — and that he backed down.

“It’s been … suggested that Turkey may have called America’s bluff, telling the president they are coming no matter what we did,” said Romney, of Utah. “If that’s so, we should know it. For it would tell us a great deal about how we should deal with Turkey, now and in the future.”

View the complete October 18 article by Aaron Blake on The Washington Post website here.