Wrong Move, Trump!
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| A U.S. military commander, second from right,
walks with Kurdish fighters from the People's Protection Units (YPG) at
Mount Karachok near Malikiya, Syria, April 25, 2017. |
"In one decision, the Trump administration abandoned two allies: Israel and the Kurds."
"The American forces operating in the northeastern region of Syria,
especially near Al-Bukamal, bordering Iraq, constituted a final buffer
between Iran and the Mediterranean Sea."
"Iran has a presence in Iraq and in Lebanon, of course, as well. The
US buffer in Al-Bukamal stopped the connection between the two."
"The departure of US forces foreshadows the construction of a 'highway' that will offer a direct route for Iranians and Shiite
militias between Tehran and Beirut. As a senior Arab diplomat explained
to The Times of Israel, the development will allow Iranian Revolutionary
Guards al-Quds Force commander Qassem Soleimani to drive straight from
Tehran to the offices of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in Dahiya,
Beirut."
"Beyond Israel, it is impossible to ignore the future of the Kurdish
region of Syria [and in Turkey as well]. The United States has abandoned
those who were its most important allies in the war against the Islamic
State."
"At one point the Kurds were the only force that managed to stop the Islamist terror organization.
After the Iraqi and Syrian armies suffered losses at the hands of
Islamic State, the Kurdish YPG forces endured fierce battles, fought
until their last drop of blood, and managed to stop the terror
organization on a number of fronts [most notably, in the northern Syrian
city of Kobani]."
"It is difficult to find fighters [both male and female] more heroic
than the Kurds as they acted in the name of human rights and women’s
rights. They were heroes, and especially heroines, who sacrificed
themselves for humanity."
Avi Issacharoff, The Times of Israel
"I
think it's fair to say Americans will remain on the ground after the
physical defeat of the caliphate, until we have the pieces in place to
ensure that that defeat is enduring."
"Nobody is declaring a mission accomplished. Defeating a physical caliphate is one phase of a much longer-term campaign."
U.S. special envoy Brett McGurk, December 11
"We're not going to leave as long as Iranian troops are outside Iranian borders and that includes Iranian proxies and militias."
John Bolton, U.S. national security adviser, September
"Pulling
troops out of Syria in an ongoing fight is a big mistake. Like walking
away from a forest fire that is still smouldering underfoot."
"...Big winner is Iran, then Russia, then Assad. Wrong move."
James Stavridis, former U.S. Navy admiral, former NATO commander
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| Kurdish fighters from the People's Protection
Units (YPG) head a convoy of U.S military vehicles in the town of
Darbasiya next to the Turkish border, Syria, April 28, 2017. |
Yet another impulsive determination by U.S.
President Donald Trump, ignoring the advice of his top-flight military
advisers, and leading to the resignation of his Defence chief James
Mattis. The Trump decision to withdraw two thousand American military
members from their vital role in supporting the Syrian Kurdish-led
militias against the presence of Islamic State in their last remaining
stronghold while successfully appealing to Islamofascist jihadis to join
them, to the point where despite losing thousands of their fighters
their fighter strength is back to where it was when their geographic
caliphate was still intact, leaves both the courageous Kurds and the
Israelis in the lurch.
A scant two weeks earlier General Joseph Dunford,
chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff declared there was still a long
way to go for the U.S. in training local Syrian forces in prevention of
an ISIL resurgence and to ensure the gradual stabilization of the
country remains on track. It would require, he stated with the
conviction of one who knows his trade and the situation before him
intimately, 35,000 to 40,000 local troops in Syria's northeastern region
to maintain security levels over the long term, while a mere 20 percent
had yet undergone training. That speaks of long-term commitment.
Commitment is a will-o'-the-wisp concept to Donald
Trump, he relies on his never-failing intuition to guide his
decision-making, no hard facts on the ground need intrude on this
instinctive, deep-seated process that reflects the certainty of his
reliance on his inner moods and convictions. Expert opinion, boots and
observations on the ground be damned. Everyone must fall in line behind
his behind, preferably humbly if not obsequiously as befits a
commander-in-chief's infallible and cunning decision-making, for his
decisions are all of that; infallible and cunning and no one can
persuade him otherwise.
He is the President of the United States of America. Look on his mighty works and despair -- with apologies to Percy Bysshe Shelley.
Despair is what the Kurds, the sole local fighting
forces, both men and women, who have never hesitated to meet the Islamic
State terrorists in fierce combat, determined to protect themselves
from the jihadis' barbarian influx and intentions must be facing at
prospects for their future. Sometimes surprises should surprise no one.
Trump, after all, broadcasted just that intention -- to withdraw U.S.
troops during the presidential campaign that brought him to the Oval
Office. His decision was made not because he consulted with his advisers
but because he disagreed with his advisers whom he failed to consult,
knowing their advice and opinions and contemptibly dismissing them.
"This is, of course, an American decision",
stated Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, no doubt as taken
aback and concerned as anyone else, with how this will impact on the
Islamic Republic of Iran's ongoing controlling and dominating inroads
into Lebanon and Syria. A decision which will inevitably bring closer to
reality the potential of an all-out war with Hezbollah in Lebanon and
the Iranian Republican Guard Corps and their Shiite militias enlisted by
Iran at the Golan Heights in a presumed effort at a pincer movement
that would animate Hamas in Gaza in a concerted, three-pronged attack on
Israel.
Aside from Iran, however, another country, a NATO
member, Turkey, whose volatile Islamist president Recep Tayyip Erdogan
appears to get on swimmingly well with Trump, will be delighted. For
Trump's decision gives Erdogan the green light he has long agitated for;
that the U.S. discontinue its partnership with the Kurds, in essence
protecting them by the presence of American military, from the intention
of Erdogan to destroy the presence of Kurds adjacent the Syrian border
with Turkey and as far beyond as he can manage.
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| A senior US official has revelead the US decision to withdraw from Syria
was made following a Trump-Erdogan phone call last Friday, despite
Trump administration denials. EPA |
"This is a clear declaration of war. We take Erdogan’s threats against us very
seriously. He has repeatedly expressed his desire to occupy our land in
northeast Syria."
"Our partners in the U.S.-led coalition are well
aware of these Turkish moves because a Turkish attack against us can
also impact the U.S. efforts to defeat [IS] terrorists."
Nuri Mahmud, YPG
spokesperson
Now, it won't. The U.S. efforts have been summarily dismissed. And
Erdogan has his green light. U.S. forces will be returning home. The
Islamic Republic of Iran has free reign. Israel can prepare once again
for its never-ending future of war. And the Kurds have once again been
abandoned.
Labels: Conflict, Hezbollah, Islamic Republic of Iran, Israel, Kurds, Syria, Terrorism, Turkey, United States
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