PeterZ wrote:That's my point. The transactional componnet of the agreement was met. The US agreed to help these Kurds fight ISIS to defend their homes and they would in return accept that intel help. Both sides benefited.
Once ISIS was defeated, the congruence of interests dissipated. Now, the US is negotiating with a NATO ally, Turkey, to mitigate that ally's preferred security solution. That solution would devastate the Syrian Kurds. The same Syrian Kurds who have been defended by Asad as they engage in terrorist activities against the Turks.
And I'm going to call a stop to this line of utter nonsense right there.
1. The "transaction" you are speaking of did not exist. It is a fantasy you are concocting to try to justify Trump's betrayal after the fact. The deal wasn't that the US would temporarily hold off the Turks for the length of the ISIS engagement only and then immediately bail at the tail end of the operation with their end held up. If that had been the deal they wouldn't have had the Kurds DISMANTLE THEIR TURKISH FACING DEFENSES. And the Kurds sure as hell wouldn't have gone aong with doing it.
2. You just absurdly tried to classify the entire Kurdish ethnic group as terrorists. The Turks are ETHNICALLY CLEANSING THE ENTIRE REGION and you are trying to justify it based on the fact that some terrorists happen to be Kurd and therefore all Kurds have to pay the penalty.
3. You are still skipping over the "DIDN'T WARN THE KURDS" part. There is ZERO way to spin that as anything but the most despicable of backstabs.
Again, allying beyond the the mutually beneficial anti ISIS activities is stupid.
(4. The anti ISIS activities were not then nor are they now over)
Doing so would betray other, longer standing alliances.
Utter BS. The US, Kurds and Turks had a standing security agreement that was safeguarding the Turks from any threat inside the Kurdish controlled zone in Syria. And it was working according to the US troops on the ground. The Turks aren't going in there out of a need for self defense, they're going in there to purge the region of Kurds so they can replace them with an Arab population they would rather have on their border. They sent roaming bands of Jihadist militas in there to commit atrocities to drive the entire population out.
And Trump signed off on it.
AAMOF, Dilandu is right in that fewer lives will be lost by supporting Asad. That alone has the benefit of practical, if not moral superiority.
"Come on guys, we're going to lose a LOT of lives fighting this Hitler guy and his Axis buddies, wouldn't it be easier to just let the dictators have their way and kill the lower number of people they're going to butcher and then let everyone live under authoritarian rule? I mean, it's the practical if not moral thing to do."
Yeah, your support for Trump is becoming more and more understandable.