Trump pulls Troops from Syria As Turks Plan to Invade
Hundreds of US troops will return home as Turkey prepares to invade northern Syria, announced President Trump on Sunday.
Critics worry the pullout will lead to the slaughter of the Kurds, who have played a major role in the fight against ISIS.
“Allowing Turkey to move into northern Syria is one of the most destabilizing moves we can do in the Middle East,” said Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ), an Iraq war veteran. “The Kurds will never trust America again.”
“Donald Trump is not a Commander-in-Chief,” wrote Brett McGurk, a former Administration official who resigned last year after the departure of then-Defense Secretary Jim Mattis. “He makes impulsive decisions with no knowledge or deliberation. He sends military personnel into harm’s way with no backing. He blusters and then leaves our allies exposed when adversaries call his bluff or he confronts a hard phone call.”
“We must always have the backs of our allies,” tweeted Nikki Haley, former UN Ambassador. “The Kurds were instrumental in our successful fight against ISIS in Syria. Leaving them to die is a big mistake.”
Senator Mitt Romney (R-UT) described the move as “a betrayal.”
Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) warned the pullout could lead to the return of ISIS and force the Kurds to ally with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
In Trump’s opinion, it’s time for Syria to take care of its own problems.
“The Kurds fought with us, but were paid massive amounts of money and equipment to do so,” tweeted Trump on Monday. “They have been fighting Turkey for decades. I held off this fight for…almost three years, but it is time for us to get out of these ridiculous Endless Wars, many of them tribal, and bring our soldiers home.”
In response to criticism, Trump threatened to “destroy and obliterate” Turkey’s economy if the nation does anything he considers “off limits.”
A spokesman for the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces said the group is committed to preserving stability in the region, but will “not hesitate to turn any unprovoked attack by Turkey into an all-out war on the entire border to defend ourselves and our people.”
In a statement released this weekend, the White House confirmed Turkey would be responsible for all ISIS captives. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who spoke with Trump on the phone last week, plans to meet Trump in person later this month.
Author’s Note: Pulling troops from Syria is a campaign promise for Trump. And while supporting the Kurds has been an important policy, I agree with Trump that we have no real interests in Syria.
Previous administrations (especially Obama) were outspoken that Assad was a brutal dictator, and they were right, but we can’t fix everybody all the time. Trump’s decision won’t be popular, but we should pull out of there.
Editor’s note: I’m heartsick for the Kurds, they have supported us bravely in circumstances where others have cowered. But we cannot let them pull us into wars where we have not national interests.
After all the good that Pres. Trump has done for the USA these past three years, I find I must support him in this decision. No-one does rightly all the time, and Trump has had his bad moments too, but he is our President, and I’m sure he understands the situation more than I. May God have mercy on us all.
Bring the boys home!
YES ! … Pull out or Troops … those bleeding heart SOBs that think we need be there can pick up a gun and go to replace our boys !
President Trump is doing the right thing. Bring our military home..
As a three time combat veteran I say if you haven’t been there don’t criticize bringing our troops home. They have sacrificed enough.
Time for these countries to grow a pair, people will criticize President Trump no matter what he does. Most of these wars are from bad decisions the last 3 commanders in chiefs made, our current President is making the right one. Let the Kurds keep all the equipment and weapons to fend off adversaries and slap economic sanctions on those who continue to provide terrorist groups with aid. Shut off the aid to these countries also, and use the funds to finish our boarder walls.
I could see pulling out the troops if it weren’t that Turkey has announced an attack.
This does not paint a good picture of how we treat our allies
We’ve been allied with Turkey a lot longer than Syria! I’m all for bringing our troops home! It’s about time our GIs stopped dying for oil, especially since we don’t need it…
I wasn’t paying attention to this because I knew no matter what Trump would be evil.
So I waited a few days and then yesterday started looking up some info.
(I’ve found waiting a few days or more before wasting time on the initial story saves time) as you start to research you’ll find that the initial story is usually just a big fat lie.
Did you know that we moved 50, yes 50 troops? we were told that Trump moved these troops without telling anyone. Then I found that Erdogan called Trump and said Turkey was invading and he didn’t want our troops to be harms way.
Yesterday Pence announced a cease fire and I looked around different news outlets (including Fox, which in most cases isn’t any better than the MSM outlets) time to start admitting that. No one was talking about it, but the ticker on the bottom said there was a cease fire. They were still talking about how evil Trump was, ignoring the cease fire.
you need to support the Kurds. they are very brave freedom fighters and are fighting our enemies.
POTUS Trump could fine a cure for Cancer, the Liberals, and War Hawks would criticize him. The same Liberals, who are cutinizing his decision, are the same Liberals who bemoan the dead and injured who are in support of the Kurds. POTUS Trump waited three years to perform his campaign promise.
To President Donald Trump no matter what you do the cock roach Democrats will dream up possibilities of the out come because they want you to fail also you are getting a glism of all the rinos that I personally don’t trust. Maybe I’ll vote for them in the election but Sasse won’t get my vote as I don’t trust liars and for any Republican voting with the corrupt untrustworthy liars in the Democratic party. Also I will be moving to the state of Iowa, so goodbye Nebraska.