In recent days, President Donald Trump abruptly ordered the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Syria, where they had been (among other things) helping protect the Kurds against Turkish threats. Following the order to get out of the way and eventually leave, Turkish forces have been carrying out atrocities against the Kurds, sparking another moment of bipartisan Congressional condemnation for the Trump administration’s behavior, although they’re still sticking by it, even as the atrocity list grows and grows. This weekend on CBS, House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) denounced the situation as a disaster — which is, of course, of Trump’s doing.
He told host Margaret Brennan:
‘I think this is disastrous. It’s a complete capitulation to Erdogan that is putting at great peril probably our strongest ally in the fight against ISIS, and that is the Syrian Kurds. They were fighting side by side with American forces. We have pulled the rug out from under them. They’re being slaughtered. There are war crimes being committed against them, and we are seeing ISIS fighters released from custody just as we predicted would happen. And for the president to say, oh well they’re just going to go to Europe — we’re not going to have an ally left after this presidency.’
.@RepAdamSchiff on Syria troop withdrawal: “The consequences will be far lasting…this is just an unmitigated disaster.” He predicts withdrawal will lead to a resurgence of ISIS. pic.twitter.com/iLlLziyvGi
— Face The Nation (@FaceTheNation) October 13, 2019
The consequences of losing allies of the United States could be grave, and they’re even already unfolding through means like the trade wars, which have included harsh retaliatory tariffs against large quantities of American goods.
At present, Kurdish fighters have been exploring allying with the Russians in an attempt to defend themselves against the Turkish onslaught — which, as Schiff noted, is including the facilitated escape of hundreds and hundreds of captured ISIS fighters. After pompously and even repeatedly declaring that ISIS had been defeated, the president and his cronies have enacted the terror group’s resurgence.
On Meet the Press this weekend, longtime military leader and former Trump administration Defense Secretary James Mattis insisted:
‘If we don’t keep the pressure on, ISIS will resurge. It’s absolutely a given that they will come back.’
This issue is not the only one that has embroiled the White House recently. There’s also the point of the Ukraine scandal, sparked after the revelation that President Donald Trump had been seeking to have Ukraine produce politically useful dirt on the Bidens.
This revelation sparked an impeachment inquiry into Trump from House Democrats, and as part of that, Schiff now says they might not hear from an initial whistleblower after all in an effort to protect them from the president’s threats.
He told Brennan:
‘I think initially, before the president started threatening the whistleblower and threatening others and calling them traitors and spies and suggesting that we used to give the death penalty to traitors and spies and maybe we should think about that again — yes, we were interested in having the whistleblower come forward. Our primary interest right now is making sure that person is protected — indeed, now that there’s more than one whistleblower, making sure that they are protected.’
.@RepAdamSchiff says the House Intel committee was interested in having the whistleblower speak to the committee, but is now focused on making sure their identity is protected. pic.twitter.com/2KYzHmopEV
— Face The Nation (@FaceTheNation) October 13, 2019
There are still ample other lines of investigation that Democrats have open right now, Schiff noted. This week, they’ll be hearing from key Trump ally and E.U. Ambassador Gordon Sondland to get his take on the issue.
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