Barry Shaw: The Dilemma of Trump’s Syria Decision
International Public Diplomacy Director at the Israel Institute for Strategic Studies
Trump always said, years before he decided to run for president, that there shouldn’t be American boots on the ground, particularly in Afghanistan and the Middle East. That it was costly in blood and treasure to keep them there.
He spoke eloquently about the pain he has as President, in comforting the families of fallen US soldiers whose bodies are brought home from foreign battlefields for burial.
He admires Israel who will not accept others to do our fighting for us, compared with Saudi Arabia that buys billions of dollars in US military aid but are incapable of fighting even when half their oil industry is destroyed by Iran. In that sense he is right. On the other hand, it leaves the Kurds utterly defenseless – and this is where the West will suffer from Trump’s mistake in the years ahead.
The Kurds are incapable of both guarding 12,000 ISIS fighters/terrorists and taking on the Turkish onslaught at the same time. They will release ISIS to concentrate on fighting for their survival against invading Turkish forces.
This will scatter ISIS terrorists who will leave the Middle East and spread into Europe, Asia, Africa, southern and central America, and will eventually infiltrate into America and Canada to continue their global campaign of conquest.
The consequences will be dire.
Erdogan calls the Kurds terrorists.
Trump and the West have to come down hard on Turkey if Erdogan continues to attack the Kurds of northern Syria.
And what is the plan for thousands of ISIS terrorists when Turkey opens a corridor through northern Syria and removed the SDA? Will Erdogan guard and feed them?
I doubt it.
