3 ms·

>a surprise withdrawal This may be a surprise to you, but this withdrawal was announced in December of 2018, and even by then it had been discussed for months:

>a surprise withdrawal This may be a surprise to you, but this withdrawal was announced in December of 2018, and even by then it had been discussed for months: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/dec/20/syria-kurds-trump-troop-withdrawal-isis-turkey https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/dec/20/syria-kurds-tr... This is a Syrian civil war. Do you expect the military to take and hold territory on behalf of the Kurds? They were a partner of convenience because we happened to have a common enemy. Turkey is also an ally (like it or not), and has border issues of their own they'd like to handle.

Fronzie 7y ago
It was also a surprise for senior republicans, giving disapproving comments on president Trump. This is something they rarely have done before. https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/mcconnell-joins-other-republicans-in-rebuking-trumps-syria-withdrawal/2019/10/07/aef0d11e-e914-11e9-9306-47cb0324fd44_story.html https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/mcconnell-joins-othe...
monoideism 7y ago
> Turkey is also an ally (like it or not) Turkey was an ally. I love Turks as people, spent significant time in Turkey. But it's clear that as a government, Erdogan has turned Turkey away from the West, from America, from democratic values, and decidedly toward Russia (and not just ideologically). Turkey's NATO membership is now just a vestigial momento of the cold war.