Kurdish Fighters Say U.S. is Throwing Them Under the Bus

When the Trump administration suddenly announced in December of last year that it would withdraw its forces from Afghanistan and Syria, allies were outraged and notables such as Defense Secretary James Mattis resigned in protest. The two points widely raised were the danger to which Israel would be exposed and the unquestionable threat from Turkey to the Kurdish fighters. The President’s response was to modify the edict by promising it would never permit Turkish strongman Recep Tayyip Erdogan from overrunning the Syrian Kurds who fought side-by-side with American troops even though Erdogan views the SDF as terrorists. The President was clear that the Kurds would be protected and that the timetable for withdrawal of some 2,000 remaining troops would be determined by events rather than the calendar. If the threat remains, so would the GIs. But President Trump has now announced that the Americans will step aside to clear the way for Turkish forces although most believe with near certainty that the result will be the wholesale slaughter of the Americans comrades-in-arms. Media reports are citing U.S. defense officials as being in opposition to the President’s decision which has given life to rare bipartisan agreement that what is believed to be an inevitable massacre of Kurds will be equally deadly to confidence of American allies in the word of the United States. Although Ankara has said it is committed to a safe zone in northeast Syria, it qualifies their statements with promises of protecting those who are not “terrorists” – a dangerously subjective categorization.