Map of betrayal
Why abandon the Kurds to the Turks?
The Kurds have been loyal American allies. They've fought ISIS in Syria and have prisons with thousands of ISIS fighters. What's behind the sudden shift in US policy to abandon them to the Turks?
"THE WHITE HOUSE announced Sunday night that the United States is giving Turkey a green light to invade northern Syria, with the U.S. troops there now apparently pulling back to another area of the country." - Jon Schwarz, The Intercept .
Who are the Kurds?
In 1991, President George H.W. Bush encouraged Iraqis to rise up against Saddam, but when Kurds in the north and Shiite Arabs in the south responded to the call, the U.S. military refrained from going to their aid. Most recently, the Trump administration last year withheld support for an independence referendum in Iraqi Kurdistan." - Liz Sly, Washington Post
Inside the Kurdish rebel movement.
"The Kurds - fighting alongside several local Arab militias under the banner of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) alliance, and helped by US-led coalition air strikes, weapons and advisers - then steadily drove IS out of tens of thousands of square kilometres of territory in north-eastern Syria and established control over a large stretch of the border with Turkey". - BBC
Kurdish troops support US forces in fight against ISIS.
Why abandon the Kurds now?
Business interests?
David Brennan, Newsweek
"In Turkey Vs. Kurds Dispute, Trump Chooses The Side Where He Has A Condo Complex.
In a June 2017 filing, Trump claimed he’d earned between $1 million and $5 million from the project in the preceding 12 months." - Huffington Post
"It’s impossible to know whether Trump was guided primarily by his personal interest in his Istanbul project ― or, alternatively, by pressure from Erdogan based on keeping secret details about the murder of U.S.-based journalist Jamal Khashoggi , who was killed by Saudi Arabian government assassins in Istanbul last year." - Robert Weissman, president of Public Citizen .
Kurds' fury as Trump orders US troop withdrawal
Pushback
"President Trump has made a foreign policy move that much of his party regards as unthinkable. And for the second time in one month, it’s not clear Republicans know what to do about it." - Aaron Blake, Washington Post
Map Courtesy: Daily Mail
Trump's abrupt military departure from Syria draws fierce criticism
What you can do about it?
- Title image: Delil Souleiman/AFP via Getty Images
- Headlines: The Intercept , Washington Post , BBC , Popular Information
- StoryMap: DemLabs
- Maps: Kurdistan map , Daily Mail
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