Richard Engel: US officials tell me Trump wants to wash his hands of responsibility for the Kurds.

[Dennis Donovan]

Link to tweet

Richard Engel ✔ @RichardEngel

US officials tell me Trump wants to wash his hands of responsibility for the Kurds. The US mil/gov gave Kurds REPEATED assurances of protection. US even asked Kurds to REMOVE defenses BEFORE the Turkish offensive. Kurds complied and now being displaced. WH says not our problem.

10:36 AM - Oct 21, 2019

How many decades will it take for the US to ever be trusted again?

[customerserviceguy]

1. This will not be an election issue in 2020

Besides, if the world gave a rat's ass about the Kurds, they'd have gotten their own country by now. The division of the Middle East by the victors of WWI deliberately split Kurdistan up, and no opposite force has materialized for essentially a century to change that.

[Thomas Hurt]

2. a little genocide is a small price to pay for abdicating US power in the area and....

turning it over to his BFF Putin.

[genxlib]

3. In the end. this may be what brings him down.

Among all the things he has done, this seems to be the one thing that the GOP actually cares about.

Aside from the obvious "betraying allies and getting them killed" thing, there is an overarching hit to the military here. The whole strong on defense issue kind of withers when you are seen retreating at a time when our strength has provided stability. This makes a whole lot of people unhappy, both in the military and within the military supporters.

The GOP was perfectly happy to support a blind reckless drunk as long as he staggered home every night. He has finally left them hanging on an issue that matters to them. He is pretty much cutting himself off at the knees since he desperately needs their support.

We need to learn more about this. Was he just being lazy and incompetent to roll over for Turkey or was this part of a "negotiation" where he got something in return.

[2naSalit]

4. It's about oil...

Like always has been since its discovery in the region. Kurds represent the end of oiligarchs in the region and the oiligarchs can't have that so they'll fuck everybody to have control over the substance.

Sustainable energy production is the only answer for many problems we face.

[tblue37]

5. Since no president has more than 8 years* in office, and Trump has proven that any president

can abruptly reverse long-standing policy or tear up prior agreements, I suspect no one will ever really trust the U.S. again.

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*And most will probably have just 4 years, not 8.

[Guilded Lilly]

6. Engel could have shortened it to...

“US officials tell me Trump wants to wash his hands of responsibility” and exposed the core of every problem, every day.

[yellowcanine]

7. "Out, out, damned spot!"

Lady MacBeth in "MacBeth", Shakespeare.