After attacks by Turkey, Trump falsely claims Kurds in Syria are much safer now

[tulc]

Trump falsely claims Kurds in Syria are much safer now

Trump said: "The Kurds are much safer right now."

In the days since Trump announced the U.S. withdrawal from the Syrian border with Turkey, Turkey has attacked the area, killing scores of Kurds and displacing thousands more. And the Turkish president, who views the Kurds as terrorists, has vowed not to heed calls for a ceasefire.

We rate Trump’s statement False.

tulc(this is President Trump's 254th false)

 

[timothyu]

A man believes people are stupid enough to believe anything he says so he takes advantage of it, yet the people are not offended. Guess he is a true leader, seeing the peasants for what they are just as every great leader before him did.

 

[SoldierOfTheKing]

Politifact is giving an opinion, not a fact, which is one of the major problems with self appointed "fact checkers" like these. That some people disagree with him does not mean that he is wrong.

 

[tulc]

Politifact is giving an opinion, not a fact, which is one of the major problems with self appointed "fact checkers" like these. That some people disagree with him does not mean that he is wrong.

...maybe you should tell these people? Because they don't look like they feel safer:

These people also don't look like they feel safer:

this place doesn't look safer either:

but please, tell us again about it's just a "difference of opinion".
tulc(is curious to hear about it)

 

[DennisTate]

Politifact is giving an opinion, not a fact, which is one of the major problems with self appointed "fact checkers" like these. That some people disagree with him does not mean that he is wrong.

Obviously the President of the USA knows things about the big picture in the Middle East that you and I are unaware of.

This is certainly interesting:

The President of the United States actually sent this letter..

 

[timothyu]

The US doesn't have much of a reputation with it's allies... Bin Laden, Saddam, the Kurds.

 

[Hank77]

Safer from what?
Kurdish mourners carry the coffins of civilians and Kurdish fighters, including the coffin of Kurdish political leader Hevrin Khalaf, during a funeral in Derik, a northeastern Syrian Kurdish town, also known as Al-Malikiyah in Arabic, Sunday, October 13. Turkish assaults in Syria's northern region have been brutal over the past few days, civilians and reporters have been among the hundreds killed.

 

[DennisTate]

The Us doesn't have much of a reputation with it's allies... Bin Laden, Saddam, the Kurds.

And.. the USA has advisers who are aware of the potential psychological value of this prediction from several centuries ago.

200 Years Ago, War Between Turkey and Russia Prophesied as Sign of Redemption

With tensions escalating between Russia and Turkey, many are wondering if the world is being witness to a divine act of messianic intervention.

Just before his death in 1797, an exceedingly well-respected Jewish sage known as the Vilna Gaon (the genius of Vilna) left his followers with a prophetic statement about two specific events that would happen just before the appearance of the Messiah.


After being held as “a closely guarded secret” for over 200 years, Rabbi Moshe Shternbuch, a great-grandson of the Vilna Gaon, shared the full prophecy publically for the first time in 2014. The text of the Vilna Gaon’s prophecy was reported by Rabbi Lazer Brody, an American-born Hasidic rabbi and teacher from Ashdod, Israel in March, 2014.

“When you hear that the Russians have captured the city of Crimea, you should know that the times of the Messiah have started, that his steps are being heard. And when you hear that the Russians have reached the city of Constantinople, you should put on your Shabbat (Sabbath) clothes and don’t take them off, because it means that the Messiah is about to come any minute.”

In this prophecy, the Vilna Gaon mentioned two signs of the imminent arrival of the Messiah – Russia capturing Crimea and Russia invading the Turkish city of Constantinople (now Istanbul). The first prophecy was fulfilled in 2014 when Russia annexed the Ukrainian territory of Crimea.

 

[tulc]

Obviously the President of the USA knows things about the big picture in the Middle East that you and I are unaware of.

...I'm not sure that President Trump's delusions that he has "great unmatched wisdom" could really be described as he "knows things about the big picture in the Middle East".

This is certainly interesting:

The President of the United States actually sent this letter..
(snip)

Only if you mean it's another example of just how out of touch President Trump is.
tulc(seriously)

 

[SoldierOfTheKing]

The Syrian army with Russian backing will provide far better protection to the Kurds than the less than one thousand US troops that had been stationed there.

 

[Go Braves]

Obviously the President of the USA knows things about the big picture in the Middle East that you and I are unaware of.

This is certainly interesting:

The President of the United States actually sent this letter..

The reason for the "actually" is that it's so imbecilic, so ridiculous folks at first thought it was a joke. The Onion had to say no, that's not their work, that's really what Donald Trump did. He was real proud of himself, too, for that "nasty" letter. Nobody in the world, I do mean nobody, could ever make Donald Trump look worse than Donald Trump does.

 

[jgarden]

Obviously the President of the USA knows things about the big picture in the Middle East that you and I are unaware of.

This is certainly interesting:

The President of the United States actually sent this letter..

What we have is a reckless decision in search of a justification!

Once this President decided to withdraw American troops along the Turkey/Syria border, he should have realized that he had squandered his "leverage" to protect the Kurds in Syria from the "tender mercies" of Turkish President Erdogan!

 

[jgarden]

Politifact is giving an opinion, not a fact, which is one of the major problems with self appointed "fact checkers" like these. That some people disagree with him does not mean that he is wrong.

The Syrian army with Russian backing will provide far better protection to the Kurds than the less than one thousand US troops that had been stationed there.

US troops bombed their own anti-ISIS headquarters as Turkey-backed fighters closed in during Trump's hasty retreat
17/10/2019

The US military destroyed its own anti-ISIS headquarters in Syria, The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday, to prevent them from falling into the hands of fighters backed by Turkey.

According to WSJ, Turkish-backed troops advanced on the facility, which had been used to equip and train SDF fighters against ISIS, on Tuesday, leading US officials to quickly withdraw US troops and destroy the base on Wednesday.

As the Turkish-back fighters moved closer, US troops attempted to repel them, using F-15s and Apache helicopters as a show of force to warn them away while US troops were still there. But, according to The Wall Street Journal, the airpower failed to dissuade the Turkish-backed forces; SDF fighters fled and set fire to their part of the base, and US troops left before US assets destroyed the base.

US troops bombed their own anti-ISIS headquarters as Turkey-backed fighters closed in during Trump's hasty retreat
**********************************************************
Apparently American troops at anti-ISIS headquarters in Syria received no advanced warning of the President's decision and were forced to bring in F-15s and Apache helicopters to prevent them from being overrun by Turkish-backed fighters!

The American troops were then forced to conduct a hasty retreat from their base before it could be destroyed, so as not to fall into enemy hands - that mission had to be left to US air assets!

Apparently American and Kurdish troops at the base couldn't wait any longer for those much anticipated Syrian/Russian forces to arrive to provide the "far better protection" that this President and his surrogates promised!

Although President Trump has characterized his decision as "strategically brilliant," the fact remains that he, in his infinite wisdom, has "sold out" America's closest allies, the Kurds, and jeopardized the lives of America's own troops!

 

[SoldierOfTheKing]

US troops can't die in Syria if they're not in Syria. That's really too common sense to be called "brilliant".

 

[football5680]

He is correct but I don't necessarily agree with the way that we got to this point. Striking an alliance with the Syrian government and having them take over the border will be in the best interest of the Kurds and it will put them in a much stronger position than they were in beforehand. They are obviously not safer at this current point in time but they will be in the long run. I don't think Turkey will advance against the Syrian government so the offensive will end once the government has fully deployed along the border and relieved the Kurds.

 

[timothyu]

So Turkey get to fight Russia and more mushroom clouds the result? Meanwhile Trump fulfills a campaign promise and all is well in his world. These leaders use people like pawns in a chess game and could care less about the outcome for the people. It is themselves they see as essential. Never understood why foolish people follow these goons. Neither did Jesus.

 

[Go Braves]

Donald could show us how much safer it is now by heading over there to spend a day like the folks inflicted with his decision do.

 

[SoldierOfTheKing]

So Turkey get to fight Russia and more mushroom clouds the result?

Russia fighting Turkey is a bad thing but the US fighting Turkey is imperative to you? Explain.

 

[DennisTate]

The Syrian army with Russian backing will provide far better protection to the Kurds than the less than one thousand US troops that had been stationed there.

Yes... and the following writing has significant psychological value in the area.

200 Years Ago, War Between Turkey and Russia Prophesied as Sign of Redemption

After being held as “a closely guarded secret” for over 200 years, Rabbi Moshe Shternbuch, a great-grandson of the Vilna Gaon, shared the full prophecy publically for the first time in 2014. The text of the Vilna Gaon’s prophecy was reported by Rabbi Lazer Brody, an American-born Hasidic rabbi and teacher from Ashdod, Israel in March, 2014.

“When you hear that the Russians have captured the city of Crimea, you should know that the times of the Messiah have started, that his steps are being heard. And when you hear that the Russians have reached the city of Constantinople, you should put on your Shabbat (Sabbath) clothes and don’t take them off, because it means that the Messiah is about to come any minute.”

In this prophecy, the Vilna Gaon mentioned two signs of the imminent arrival of the Messiah – Russia capturing Crimea and Russia invading the Turkish city of Constantinople (now Istanbul). The first prophecy was fulfilled in 2014 when Russia annexed the Ukrainian territory of Crimea.

Current tensions between Russia and Turkey, including Turkey shooting down a Russian fighter jet on November 24, are setting the stage for the second sign, the Russian invasion of Istanbul, to occur soon.

The prophecy of the Vilna Gaon is strengthened by the existence of a similar prophecy, this one from the Jewish sage known as the Ba’al Shem Tov, the founder of the Hasidic Judaism. Like the Vilna Gaon, the Ba’al Shem Tov lived in the 18th century.

My impression is that Prime Minister Erdogan has made an error that will go down in the same league as Saddam's invasion of Kuwait.

April Catherine Glaspie (born April 26, 1942) is an American former diplomat and senior member of the Foreign Service, best known for her role in the events leading up to the Gulf War....

United States Ambassador to Iraq[edit]
Meetings with Saddam Hussein[
Glaspie's appointment as U.S. ambassador to Iraq followed a period from 1980 to 1989[1] during which the United States had given covert support to Iraq during its war with Iran.

Glaspie had her first meeting with Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and his Deputy Prime Minister, Tariq Aziz, on July 25, 1990. In her telegram from July 25, 1990, to the Department of State, Glaspie summarized the meeting as follows:

Saddam told the ambassador on July 25 that Mubarak has arranged for Kuwaiti and Iraqi delegations to meet in Riyadh, and then on July 28, 29 or 30, the Kuwaiti crown prince will come to Baghdad for serious negotiations. "Nothing serious will happen" before then, Saddam had promised Mubarak.[2]

At least two transcripts of the meeting have been published. The State Department has not confirmed the accuracy of these transcripts, but Glaspie's cable has been released at the Bush Library and placed online by the Margaret Thatcher Foundation.

One version of the transcript has Glaspie saying:

We can see that you have deployed massive numbers of troops in the south. Normally that would be none of our business, but when this happens in the context of your threats against Kuwait, then it would be reasonable for us to be concerned. For this reason, I have received an instruction to ask you, in the spirit of friendship — not confrontation — regarding your intentions: Why are your troops massed so very close to Kuwait's borders?

Later the transcript has Glaspie saying:

We have no opinion on your Arab-Arab conflicts, such as your dispute with Kuwait. Secretary Baker has directed me to emphasize the instruction, first given to Iraq in the 1960s, that the Kuwait issue is not associated with America.

Another version of the transcript (the one published in The New York Times on 23 September 1990) has Glaspie saying:

But we have no opinion on the Arab-Arab conflicts, like your border disagreement with Kuwait. I was in the American Embassy in Kuwait during the late 1960s. The instruction we had during this period was that we should express no opinion on this issue and that the issue is not associated with America. James Baker has directed our official spokesmen to emphasize this instruction. We hope you can solve this problem using any suitable methods via Klibi (Chedli Klibi, Secretary General of the Arab League) or via President Mubarak. All that we hope is that these issues are solved quickly.

When these purported transcripts were made public, Glaspie was accused of having given tacit approval for the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait, which took place on August 2, 1990. It was argued that Glaspie's statements that "We have no opinion on your Arab-Arab conflicts" and that "the Kuwait issue is not associated with America" were interpreted by Saddam as giving free rein to handle his disputes with Kuwait as he saw fit. It was also argued that Saddam would not have invaded Kuwait had he been given an explicit warning that such an invasion would be met with force by the United States.[3][4] Journalist Edward Mortimer wrote in the New York Review of Books in November 1990:

It seems far more likely that Saddam Hussein went ahead with the invasion because he believed the US would not react with anything more than verbal condemnation. That was an inference he could well have drawn from his meeting with US Ambassador April Glaspie on July 25, and from statements by State Department officials in Washington at the same time publicly disavowing any US security commitments to Kuwait, but also from the success of both the Reagan and the Bush administrations in heading off attempts by the US Senate to impose sanctions on Iraq for previous breaches of international law... continue -> April Glaspie - Wikipedia

Just as Saddam Hussein got his one million strong army just about wiped out so also Prime Minister Erdogan seems to be heading in the same direction.

 

[Go Braves]

Yes... and the following writing has significant psychological value in the area.

200 Years Ago, War Between Turkey and Russia Prophesied as Sign of Redemption



My impression is that Prime Minister Erdogan has made an error that will go down in the same league as Saddam's invasion of Kuwait.



Just as Saddam Hussein got his one million strong army just about wiped out so also Prime Minister Erdogan seems to be heading in the same direction.

Erdogan played Donald like a fiddle.