Picture this: It’s December 8th, 1941 and President Roosevelt announces we have signed a treaty with Japan to end hostilities in the Pacific. We have ceded Hawaii and withdrawn to our continental borders. Can’t happen you say? Actually, it IS happening, right before our very eyes.
By abandoning our allies, the Kurds, the Trump administration has given free license to Russia, reinvigorated ISIS and abandoned our role as protectors of Democracy as outlined in the Truman Doctrine. We have, in essence, allowed our country to have its policies dictated by our enemies.
What did this “ceasefire” accomplish?
Turkey was able to gain access to territory it long sought while destroying those who opposed them. They agreed to a five-day “pause”, yet they continue to attack fleeing Kurds, while ISIS prisoners are left unguarded and free to return to their terrorist activities.
It displayed to the world that the Trump administration, once again, will refuse to honor its international commitments just as it did when it abandoned the Iran Nuclear Deal. It displayed a betrayal of our allies and destroyed any sense of trust that any country could have in America’s future treaties.
Trump supporters bristle when I compare his behavior to Adolph Hitler, but who else has the same historical profile? Stalin? Mao? Like Hitler, Trump prizes loyalty to self over country. His rabid base believes his lies even when facts stare them in the face, the same way the Nazis swallowed Hitler’s propaganda over the casualty reports coming in from the various fronts of World War II.
But perhaps I am making the wrong comparison. Instead of Hitler, perhaps Trump would more aptly be compared to Neville Chamberlain, the British Prime Minister who declared “Peace in our time” after he granted Hitler the right to annex part of Czechoslovakia in order to avoid war in Europe. Trump is making the same claims in allowing Turkey and Russia to claim dominance in the Middle East.
Trump’s justification for US withdrawal from Syria is based on his assertion that he is fulfilling a campaign promise to bring American troops home. This would be a bit more believable if he didn’t simultaneously agree to send thousands of troops to Saudi Arabia; the same country whose leaders are implicated in the murder of an American journalist and was home to a majority of the 9/11 hijackers.
Following the 9/11 attacks, the world stood behind America in a unified front against terrorism and Al Qaeda. They defended us because we abided by our treaties and fulfilled our international obligations. Given the current situation, the world would be hard pressed to defend us again.
The world will remember this act of betrayal.