The question no one is addressing in the ongoing controversy over Trump and Syria is whether having American troops on the ground is really the best way to deal with the multiple problems the situation presents. Or if the US commits to going to war against every despot in the world, the wars will by no means end with Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
“Let them have their borders, but I don’t think our soldiers should be there for the next 15 years guarding a border between Turkey and Syria when we can’t guard our own borders.”
Good point.
“President Trump announces $50 million in emergency aid to support human right groups in Syria,” by Ann Wilson, The BL, October 13, 2019:
President Trump addressed the Values Voter Summit on Saturday, Oct. 12, in Washington, and announced that he had directed $50 million in emergency aid for Syria to support Christians and other religious minorities in the country.
“This funding will provide emergency financial assistance to Syrian human rights defenders, civil society organizations, and reconciliation efforts directly supporting ethnic and religious minority victims of the conflict,” White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham said in a statement.
“It will also go toward increased accountability, removal of explosive remnants of war, community security for stabilization assistance, documenting human rights abuses and international humanitarian law violations, and support for survivors of gender-based violence and torture,” the statement reads.
President Trump decided to withdraw the U.S. forces from northeastern Syria—the move drew widespread bipartisan criticism.
“These wars, they never end. And we have to bring our great heroes, our great soldiers back from the never-ending wars,” the president told the crowd. “We defeated ISIS, we did our job, now we have to go home.”
“Don’t forget they are fighting for their land. They haven’t helped us fight for our land,” he continued. “Let them have their borders, but I don’t think our soldiers should be there for the next 15 years guarding a border between Turkey and Syria when we can’t guard our own borders.”…
Winston says
Another election promise kept. Good job that woman isn’t in charge.
revereridesagain says
Indeed. Much better use of the funds. HELLary would have figured out how to take those poor people to the cleaners to fill the coffers of the Clinton Foundation. Just ask anyone from Haiti.
DHazard says
This is the second time Donald Trump has both acknowledged the persecution of Christians under Muslims and done something about it. In doing so he has pledged a tiny portion of U.S. taxpayers money to a group many ignorant Westerners consider worthy of disregard.
This stands in stark contrast to Obama, whose neglect, indifference and irritation at the plight of Christians all over the Muslim world emboldened many Islamists and absolutely made those problems worse. This is why I am still confused by the pullout of U.S. troops from Syria knowing full well the intentions of Turkey and the act of abandoning a Muslim ally. It doesn’t make sense to me unless there was some behind the scenes benefit to the U.S. that we have yet to see.
somehistory says
Read the article by Carolyn Glick in FPM. She gives some good background information on the decision to pull out.
Terry Gain says
Glick’s article is nonsense. She wants Trump to attack Iran and risk a world war but is happy with Trump withdrawing the tiny number of troops from Syria which was sufficient to deter Turkey from attacking America’s Kurdish ally.
somehistory says
In your nsho.
Angemon says
Like pretty much anything he does…
Westman says
ABC decided to join the pull-out pile-on Trump and got caught using a doctored video of a US gun range demonstration to declare it was Kurds being slaughtered by Turkey. Their dishonesty was caught and they pulled it with a mealy-mouth “error-apology” and no explanation.
It’s sad when the media loses its collective mind and destroys any belief Americans had in its integrity. I once had faith in their objectivity – no more. Why have they become so corrupt? It isn’t accurate news anymore, just lazy propaganda for a political objective. Is this like the Lincoln, pre-assassination era?
https://www.breitbart.com/the-media/2019/10/14/abc-news-airs-u-s-gun-range-video-calling-it-a-syrian-war-zone-twice/
Mark Swan says
Thank You Westman,
It does show how eager the media is to try and shame the President.
Terry Gain says
Trump has shamed himself by giving Erdogan the green light to slaughter tgfg earth Kurds.
Westman says
I’m not certain about that Terry. He must have military advisors who recommended this move. They (Kurds) just released 700+ ISIS from prison with a fake jailbreak and teamed up with Assad and Putin, former enemies. They have been at odds with the USSR, and later Russia, a number of times and have shown no lasting loyalty to any ally. They want an independent Kurdistan, yet operate more like mercenaries. I’ll wait to see who they really are.
Flavius Claudius Iulianus says
Now the agencies charged with delivering that aid would stop dragging their feet. When it comes to non-Muslims, the aid is not getting through. Last year Trump had to send Pence in to break up the log jam and try to get things rolling …
Flavius Claudius Iulianus says
“Pentagon to ‘press NATO allies to sanction Turkey’ over Syrian op, blames Erdogan for potential ‘war crimes & ISIS resurgence’”
https://www.rt.com/news/470932-pentagon-nato-turkey-isis/
somehistory says
In the 25th chapter of Matthew, Jesus Christ gave some important information about those who give aid, support, help, and do good to His “brothers.”
Carolyne says
The Turks have been fighting the Kurds for centuries. I don’t care. We have no business engaging in “Regime change'” unless it directly concerns the US and our safety. It is up to the citizens of every country to change their Regime if they wish it to be changed.
Terry Gain says
American troops in Syria were not engaged in regime change. Good grief. Buy a clue.
Terry Gain says
The small number of American troops In Syria were in no danger of being attacked by Turkey. And although small in number they were sufficient to protect the Kurds from Turkey who wouldn’t have dared to risk their membership in NATO by attacking American forces. Trump’s betrayal of the Kurds after they defeated ISIS is unconscionable.
And this is easily Trump’s stupidest decision. He has not ended endless wars. They will continue as long as Islam and communism exist.
Infidel says
He never promised to end any of the endless wars. He promised to end our participation in them. No more blood, limbs or treasure into these adventures. We should bring all our troops home from just about everywhere in the world, barring say a few on China’s Pacific rim – South Korea, Japan, Taiwan and Philippines.
The money saved can be spent in so many ways – eroding the national debt, upgrading our infrastructure, building the wall, et al
Terry Gain says
Dream on.
Infidel says
Also, it’s not a ‘small number’ for the families of servicemen affected when someone gets killed, maimed and so on. If it was in the process of defending the US – like say on the Mexico border – it would be worth it. But getting caught in the crossfire b/w Muslim tribes in the world – Turks vs Kurds, or Pashtuns vs Tajiks, is absolutely not worth it!
Terry Gain says
If no deaths is the only objective then just cut the military budget and avoid all conflicts.
Infidel says
It’s one thing when American soldiers die defending America. Like, say, on the Mexico border. But in both Afghanistan and Iraq, we won quick victories: in Afghanistan, the Taliban had lost both Kabul, Kandahar and most of the country by December 2001. In Iraq, Saddam fell in days and once the Iraqis pulled down his statue, it was history.
But leaving troops there for different projects ranging from nationbuilding to protecting the Kurds made no sense. Only thing – it should always have been clear to our allies that sooner or later, we were gonna leave – and that it wouldn’t be like a post WWII occupation of Germany or Japan
Terry Gain says
Infidel
Turkey would not have attacked American troops and risked being ejected from NATO. Turkey did not invade Syria until Trump gave it permission. Withdrawing the few troops necessary to protect the Kurds was not only incredibly callous, it was incredibly stupid.
somehistory says
According to more reliable reports than your nsho, turkey has already targeted American troops there.
Infidel says
Trump did no such thing. He withdrew troops after getting what he thought was a Turkish agreement to take in the captured ISIS fighters. Also, Turkey has no qualms about taking on Americans: they’re now more brazen about their geopolitical goals to re-create a Turkish led bloc
Stanton Lore says
Is this supposed to make up for deserting the Kurds and leaving a clear path for Russia to win in Syria? Or, empowering Erdogan even more, as if he doesn’t have way too much power as it is. Very disappointing.
Aussie Infidel says
President Trump is an astute politician, but in this case he has a largely captive audience. Nevertheless, I applaud what he is doing to protect freedom and human rights in America. I’m still of two minds on the issue of the Kurds. However, he is wrong in claiming that “our freedoms and rights come from God”. Freedoms and rights are simply the rules people adopt to live by in a pluralist world, and the most important rule of human conduct is the Golden Rule, ‘Treat others as you would want them to treat you’. This rule which (to a greater or lesser extent), would have governed most human societies from time immemorial – with the exception of Islamic societies, in which only Muslims enjoy full rights. Freedoms, rights and rules will only remain our guiding principles as long as we are willing to defend them.
The fact that those principles are enshrined in the Declaration of Independence or our Constitutions, does not prove they “came from our Creator” – which is a purely supernatural religious belief. Those principles were simply what the Founding Fathers deemed appropriate at the time, and committed to paper. Claiming that, “They can never be taken away”, might be good political rhetoric on such an occasion, but it is a very rose-colored view of the future. In my country, we have already effectively lost our freedom of speech, because of the iniquitous Section 18C in our Human Rights Act, making “offense” a crime – and implemented by a socialist government. At least one person I know has had to sell his house to pay his legal expenses in defending charges of ‘hate speech’.
Countless communities and cultures in all parts of the world have been defeated by forces opposed to their principles of governance, who were simply more powerful, evil, greedy, brutal, or deceitful – and foremost among those opponents was Islam. Our leaders should be reminded that the Islamic Jihad has already claimed the lives of some 270 million people around the world (80 million in India alone) – far greater than Nazism, Fascism and Communism combined.
However, the same thing could easily happen again, because Islam still commands Muslims to wage jihad against non-Muslims, to subjugate their religions and cultures, and to impose their barbaric Sharia law on everyone. If patriotic Americans, Australians and other Westerners do not have the political will and courage to confront this evil ideology in our legislatures, then as sure as night follows day, THE RIGHTS AND FREEDOMS WE CHERISH WILL BE TAKEN AWAY.
Islam is a totalitarian religious and political ideology, conceived by a psychopath, and led by psychopaths. From the outset, Islam essentially declared war on all other faiths and cultures; but ironically, the only people who seem not to understand that simple truth, are the leaders of those under attack. But whether they understand it or not, Islam will continue to wreak havoc on humanity (on Muslims and non-Muslims alike), until it is wiped from the face of the Earth. And thankfully Donald Trump seems ‘woke’ to that situation more than most other Western politicians.
I can think of no better example to summarize what we are up against, than this verse from the noted Arab historian Al-Tabari:
“Arabs (Muslims) are the most noble people in lineage, the most prominent, and the best in deeds. We were the first to respond to the call of the Prophet. We are Allah’s helpers and the viziers of His Messenger. We fight people until they believe in Allah. He who believes in Allah and His Messenger has protected his life and possessions from us. As for one who disbelieves, we will fight him forever in Allah’s Cause. Killing him is a small matter to us.” (History of Al-Tabari, Vol 9, p 69).
Linde Barrera says
To Aussie Infidel-You stated that our freedoms, rights and rules of laws (Western civilization values) do not come from our Creator, but are the result of what the Founding Fathers deemed appropriate at that time in history.
In my opinion, the Founding Fathers were using their God-given Free Will to create the doctrines for a society that would flourish for as long as people were willing to defend that society. So God did have something to do with it- -unless you think we all came about as a result of the “Big Bang Theory.” ??
Terry Gain says
Westman says
Oct 15, 2019 at 3:36 am
I’m not certain about that Terry. He must have military advisors who recommended this move. They (Kurds) just released 700+ ISIS from prison with a fake jailbreak and teamed up with Assad and Putin, former enemies. They have been at odds with the USSR, and later Russia, a number of times and have shown no lasting loyalty to any ally. They want an independent Kurdistan, yet operate more like mercenaries. I’ll wait to see who they really are.
……
The one thing that cannot be gainsaid about Donald Trump is that he is his own man. I assume that he received advice warning him that not standing up to Erdogan would be a big mistake. Mattis quit over Trump’s decision to withdraw the remaining troops from Syria. What I find upsetting about Trump’s decision is that after the Kurds defeated ISIS the remaining American troops were not in any great danger and there was no chance that Turkey would dare to kill American troops to get at Turkey. Erdogan should have been told to stand down and warned that killing Kurds in Syria would result in expulsion from NATO. It now seems that VP Spence is cleaning up the mess which was unnecessarily created by his boss.
Fake prison break? It’s unrealistic to expect the Kurds to be able to control ISIS prisoners while being shelled by Trump’s friend Erdogan but I am sceptical of “News” which attacks these courageous destroyers of ISIS. Once Trump gave Turkey permission to enter Syria it was obvious that he would attack the Kurds – why else was Turkey there. – and it was predictable that the Kurds would have no choice but to align with Assad. It now seems that enough pressure has been put on Trump to try to undo the damage caused by his bone headed decision to give Erdogan free reign in Syria, but the lives of the innocent Kurds killed by Turkey cannot be restored.
Terry Gain says
no chance that Turkey would dare to kill American troops to get at Turkey.
……..
Good grief. Obviously I meant to type …. at the Kurds.
Mike says
The only thing that is missing in Trump’s agenda is a tête -à-tête dinner with Robert Spencer to understand more about Islam .
Lorensacho says
No doubt Trump will give the 50 mil to Rudy for fair distribution.
underbed cat says
There are American troops in SA, who could aid the troops and Muslim Kurds in Syria, so I hope they have planes to fly to rescue if needed. I was concerned about the muslims Kurds since they were reported to be less violent, however fewer in number and made up of many female soilders….so I was upset to think about their situation. I can’t imagine how they continue. I pray at this end the Americans get home alive.
underbed cat says
Just wondering how safe are the troops in Saudi Arabia and why we are there since the Sauds have an army.? Unless it is to safe Americans in SA, working.
Marigold says
The US has always been generous but they should make sure the money helps Christians first. Let Saudi Arabia look after the Muslim’s. They can afford it