Ending US Intervention: Was Trump Right on Syria?
President Trump must be held accountable for betraying our Kurdish allies. The Kurds lost 11,000 troops by being a trusted American ally in the international coalition’s military move to push ISIS out of northern Syria (“Syria’s Human Flight,” Oct. 16).
After Trump foolishly began to withdraw US troops from Syria, the Turks invaded Kurdish territory, slaughtering many of our faithful allies.
Trump’s lack of diplomatic experience has sparked an international crisis. Now ISIS has the opportunity to rise again, because of Trump’s foolish and reckless pride.
His damaging decisions have destabilized the region, opened the door to dangerous dictators and are totally responsible for the loss of innocent Kurdish lives in Syria. Arthur Mackey Roosevelt
The United States helped the Kurds defeat the ISIS caliphate. The Kurds did not help us. We helped them.
Now that the United States is ready to leave, everyone goes apoplectic. Trump is doing exactly what he said he would do.
If we are to stay and support everyone we help, then we can’t leave any place we send troops. Example: Do we have to stay in Somalia because we are there assisting in the fight against al-Shabbab? Wayne Galvin Great Neck
The media like to show pictures of children being injured or killed now that the Kurds are on their own, trying to put the blame squarely on Trump’s shoulders.
How about showing the grave markers of the US servicemen and women who gave their lives protecting the Kurds for years or pointing out how many fewer bodies we will need to bury? Linda Calabrese Brooklyn
I have always been proud to be an American, until Trump was elected.
While he may have some achievements credited to his résumé, his erratic foreign policy has included castigation of our allies and an embrace of our enemies. The Kurds know to what I am referring. Nelson Marans Manhattan
It’s about time we removed American troops from the unending conflicts of the Middle East, while our allies in the United Nations and NATO just sit back and expect Americans to die to protect their interests.
Where are the British, French, Belgians, Poles and others? They should now go to Syria to prevent the Turks from killing the Kurds.
Have they no sympathy for the Kurds? At the time of World War I, Turkey slaughtered 1.5 million people of Armenian descent in the genocide of 1915 to 1918 and then again from 1920 to 1923.
Unfortunately, the history of the Middle East just repeats itself over and over for centuries.
It’s about time we have a leader who understands the futility of sacrificing American lives in a neverending situation of human conflict. Sy Burschlag Lakewood, NJ
Giving in to the wishes of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was like giving Hannibal Lector a glass of chianti. It’s letting him have a morbid meal of devouring the Syrian Kurds.
Trump’s threat to wreck Turkey’s economy if Erdogan didn’t halt his incursion is another gem of reckless impulsivity.
Channeling President Barack Obama’s cut-andrun ineptitude has gotten him kudos from those isolationist avatars, Sen. Rand Paul and Fox News’ Tucker Carlson. But it has sapped our allies’ trust in US credibility and will embolden our adversaries. James Hyland Beechhurst
It is very strange that there is so much talk and speculation around what will happen in the Middle East now that Trump is pulling out about 1,000 US troops.
No one looks at the alternative to speculate what would happen if the Americans stayed and became engaged in a firefight with the Turkish army.
The Shiites and Sunnis in the Middle East have fought each other for centuries, and the Kurds have a terrible record of terror attacks against the Turks. No one wants to talk about those facts. Instead, it is all about “let’s condemn Trump.” Ray Warren Mandurah, Australia