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Trump After Mattis
Although I cannot say with absolute certainty, I would place my markers on the informed supposition that General Mattis could not stomach allowing the Turkish dictator Erdogan to slaughter US allies in Syria. The YPG/YPJ Kurd battalions are one of the very few brave and dependable fighting forces in the entire Middle East. They have been fighting ISIS on the ground alongside US forces (Green Berets/Delta/Seals/160th SOAR) since the siege of Kobane in 2014. During that siege, ISIS had the Kurdish Syrian city of Kobane, which is within a mile of the Turkey border, surrounded on three sides. Erdogan brought up battle tanks and closed the border, the only avenue of Kobane resupply and escape. Erdogan wanted ISIS to slaughter every Kurd in the city. Realizing the Kurd potential, the USAF began bombing ISIS targets encircling Kobane. The Kurds devised a brilliant method to forward enemy grid targets to the USAF. ISIS was defeated at Kobane, and the Syrian Kurds have been fighting with US forces on the ground ever since. In October of 2017, these Kurdish forces captured the ISIS Caliphate capital city of Ar-Raqqa in central Syria. Along the way, thousands have died and many more thousands maimed.
Now Donald Trump wants to abandon these Syrian Kurds and has no objection to Erdogan attacking their Rojava villages and towns in northern Syria (Rojava = the cantons of Afrin/Kobane/Cizire) with fighter jets, artillery, and armor. The Kurds do not possess such heavy weapons or any proper defenses against them. To Erdogan, all Kurds are terrorists... men, women, and children alike. This is on Donald Trump. He knows full well what his cut-and-run from Syria means, and he doesn't care. And make no mistake, US military forces in Syria also know what Trumps treachery will mean for their Kurdish allies and families. Erdogan wishes to depopulate (ethnically cleanse) the Syrian Kurd homeland of Rojava and replace these Kurds with Sunni Muslims. No different than the murderous actions of Saddam Hussein against the Kurds of northern Iraq. Once we leave Syria, it will be virtually impossible to return due to the Russian military presence. Putin will not care much if ISIS or AQ attacks the American mainland from sanctuaries in western Syria. Don't expect the Kurds or anyone else to bail us out the next time.

12/22/18
Jim Mattis, as secretary of defense, has done his best to preserve and defend the system of global alliances that the United States spent the last 70 years building and leading. In his resignation letter on Thursday, Mr. Mattis wrote that the United States was the “indispensable nation in the free world.” “Our strength as a nation,” he wrote, “is inextricably linked to the strength of our unique and comprehensive system of alliances and partnerships.” In the end, it was Mr. Trump’s decision to immediately withdraw troops from Syria that pushed Jim Mattis over the edge. On Wednesday, the president said he would withdraw all 2,000 American troops, a decision that was welcome news to Russia, Iran and Turkey. It was a bitter betrayal of groups like the Kurds, who have fought and died alongside American soldiers for more than a decade. Presidents, of course, have the authority to make such decisions. But presidents also traditionally plan out such decisions carefully and coordinate them with allies, particularly if fighting is underway.
If the fellow in the next foxhole suddenly heads home, those fighters who remain are right to feel betrayed. In this case, in a telephone call with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey, Mr. Trump said he would not object if Turkish forces invaded Syria and attacked Kurdish forces — including American allies — whom Ankara considers terrorists. Mr. Mattis could not get Mr. Trump to reverse course. And now, Mr. Trump is also considering a precipitous unilateral draw-down of forces in Afghanistan. Presidents have tremendous power to make national security policy. But Congress also has a role to play, and it now needs to forcefully assert that responsibility. Legislation requiring that the secretaries of state and defense have a say in the use of nuclear weapons is one good place to start. Another is to require congressional approval to leave NATO or other treaty obligations, like the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty. More immediately, the Senate would be wise to hold out for a nominee for defense secretary who is more like Mr. Mattis than Mr. Trump.
Although I cannot say with absolute certainty, I would place my markers on the informed supposition that General Mattis could not stomach allowing the Turkish dictator Erdogan to slaughter US allies in Syria. The YPG/YPJ Kurd battalions are one of the very few brave and dependable fighting forces in the entire Middle East. They have been fighting ISIS on the ground alongside US forces (Green Berets/Delta/Seals/160th SOAR) since the siege of Kobane in 2014. During that siege, ISIS had the Kurdish Syrian city of Kobane, which is within a mile of the Turkey border, surrounded on three sides. Erdogan brought up battle tanks and closed the border, the only avenue of Kobane resupply and escape. Erdogan wanted ISIS to slaughter every Kurd in the city. Realizing the Kurd potential, the USAF began bombing ISIS targets encircling Kobane. The Kurds devised a brilliant method to forward enemy grid targets to the USAF. ISIS was defeated at Kobane, and the Syrian Kurds have been fighting with US forces on the ground ever since. In October of 2017, these Kurdish forces captured the ISIS Caliphate capital city of Ar-Raqqa in central Syria. Along the way, thousands have died and many more thousands maimed.
Now Donald Trump wants to abandon these Syrian Kurds and has no objection to Erdogan attacking their Rojava villages and towns in northern Syria (Rojava = the cantons of Afrin/Kobane/Cizire) with fighter jets, artillery, and armor. The Kurds do not possess such heavy weapons or any proper defenses against them. To Erdogan, all Kurds are terrorists... men, women, and children alike. This is on Donald Trump. He knows full well what his cut-and-run from Syria means, and he doesn't care. And make no mistake, US military forces in Syria also know what Trumps treachery will mean for their Kurdish allies and families. Erdogan wishes to depopulate (ethnically cleanse) the Syrian Kurd homeland of Rojava and replace these Kurds with Sunni Muslims. No different than the murderous actions of Saddam Hussein against the Kurds of northern Iraq. Once we leave Syria, it will be virtually impossible to return due to the Russian military presence. Putin will not care much if ISIS or AQ attacks the American mainland from sanctuaries in western Syria. Don't expect the Kurds or anyone else to bail us out the next time.