An ally betrayed

President Trump’s abrupt announcement this week that he would withdraw U.S. troops from northeastern Syria cleared the way for Turkey to lay waste to its mortal enemies and our stalwart allies, the Kurds. Its other onceunthinkable result was the evolution of a backbone among the president’s invertebrate fellow Republicans in Congress.

Nor was the intraparty criticism confined to such usual suspects as Utah’s Mitt Romney. Bakersfield Rep. Kevin McCarthy, the House minority leader, noted that the Turkish invasion “threatens to halt momentum against” Islamic State extremists “and could give the likes of al Qaeda and Iran new footholds in the region.” The thirdranking Republican in the House, Liz Cheney of Wyoming, went further, saying Trump’s decision ensured “sickening and predictable consequences,” benefited Russia and other U.S. adversaries, and required a congressional response. Similar sentiments came from such unlikely critics as Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, RKy., and Sen. Lindsey Graham, RS.C.

The rare sources of dissent speak to the enormity of Trump’s betrayal following his latest friendly and apparently persuasive conversation with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, one of several authoritarian leaders with whom the president enjoys disturbingly warm relations. The White House’s announcement reportedly came with little or no warning to key allies and administration officials. In appearing to condone a Turkish invasion, it was at odds with the Pentagon and, soon enough, the president himself, who responded to the backlash by blustering ineffectually about obliterating Turkey’s economy should it do anything “off limits,” whatever that meant.

The stateless Kurds have fought our battles not only in Syria, where they lost thousands of fighters dislodging the Islamic State from its territory, but also in Iraq. What they have received in return is, as their fighting force aptly put it, “a stab in the back” that will do incalculable damage to America’s ability to forge further such alliances.