Trump’s Folly, America’s Shame

Last updated on: October 10, 2019 at 9:11 pm by Dan Peterson

Trump’s Folly, America’s Shame 2019-10-10T21:11:02-06:00 Dan Peterson

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On 16 March 1988, Saddam Hussein’s airplanes dropped canisters of poison gas on the Iraqi Kurdish town of Halabja. At least 5000 residents died immediately, and at least 7000 were injured to the point of suffering permanent aftereffects. Or, as Mr. Trump once put it, “Saddam Hussein throws a little gas. Everyone goes crazy. ‘Oh, he’s using gas!’” (Wikimedia Commons public domain photo)

A few instructive links on Mr. Donald J. Trump’s catastrophic new policy in Syria:

“Turkey’s military assault in Syria continues, civilian casualties on the rise: As Turkey’s military assault in Syria continues the number of casualties are steadily rising.”

“Reporter’s Notebook: In Syria, Fox News was embedded with Kurdish forces battling ISIS”

(The three-minute video at the link above is worth watching.)

“Graham, Van Hollen Announce Bipartisan Deal on Sanctions against Turkey”

“Turkey-Syria payback: Norway suspends arms sales to Erdogan regime, exposing cracks in NATO solidarity”

(The 8.5-minute video from Bret Baier’s Special Report at the link above is very valuable.)

“Turkey’s Syria invasion: Member of US Special Forces says, ‘I am ashamed for the first time in my career'”

“GOP congressman ‘heartbroken’ over President’s Syria moves and says he no longer supports Trump”

“Susan Rice slams Trump’s troop withdrawal from Syria”

“Nikki Haley and Hillary Clinton Simultaneously Blast Trump’s Syria Decision: ‘Sickening Betrayal of the Kurds'”

“Republican anger grows as Trump disavows Kurds by saying they didn’t help during WWII”

“Fact-checking Trump’s claim that Kurds did not help the US in WWII and Normandy invasion”

“Turkey and the Kurds: It’s More Complicated Than You Think: We are grateful for the Kurds’ help, and we should try to help them in return. But no one wants to risk war with Turkey.”

Yes, it’s complicated. But there was never any serious risk of war with Turkey. Had Mr. Donald J. Trump not announced the withdrawal of American troops and expressly given the green light for a Turkish invasion to assault the Kurds, Turkey would not have invaded.

Here’s the bottom line: If we betray our allies, we will soon have no allies. If we are unwilling to have the backs of surrogates fighting ISIS and other such forces on our behalf, we will shortly have no alternative but to fight Islamist extremists ourselves.

Whether or not our involvement in Syria was warranted in the first place, whether or not Congress should have been more deeply involved from outset — I agree with Charles C. W. Cooke that it should have been — it is disgraceful to abandon allies the way that we now have yet again.

***

“Regicide”? “Regicide”? Seriously? If opposing Mr. Donald J. Trump is “regicide,” that means that he is a “rex,” or a king. And here I thought — silly me! — that America fought its War of Independence in order to escape being subject to a king.

Why not just abandon false reserve and call opposition to Mr. Trump deicide?

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