Friday, October 11, 2019

The Kurds Fought for the Allies in World War II; the Trumps Did Not

by Pa Rock
Citizen Journalist

Earlier this week Donald Trump announced that US troops would be leaving northern Syria where they had been supporting Kurdish militias.  Critics railed, including many politicians in Trump's own Republican Party, that this abandonment was an unconscionable betrayal of our staunch allies, the Kurds, and warned that attacks by Turkey were imminent.

The always bellicose Trump declared that he would destroy Turkey economically if they seemed to be taking advantage of the new military situation, but when Turkey commenced attacking the Kurds a couple of days later, Trump's silence was deafening.

Trump has some luxury residential and commercial properties in Istanbul, Turkey:  two rather infamous "Towers" which went through a re-opening just days before he unexpectedly withdrew US troops out of Syria, leaving the Kurds vulnerable.   Turkey's premier was at that event.

When Donald Trump finally did respond to the tragic situation that he had precipitated, he did so by verbally attacking the Kurds.   Donald Trump, a man with no military experience and who avoided the draft during the Vietnam era with a questionable medical diagnosis of bone spurs in his feet, wanted the world to know that the Kurds had not supported us in World War II, and specifically that they had not fought at Normandy.

(Nothing is ever Trump's fault, and he is a master at name-calling.)

Now news reports are surfacing that say that while there may have been no Kurdish fighters at the D-Day Invasion of Normandy (although that is by no means a certainty), Kurdish fighters were involved with the Allies in freeing areas in Europe, Asia, and Africa from Nazi control.

Donald Trump's father, Fred Trump, who would have been of age to serve in World War II, apparently chose to stay home and make money.   In fact it now appears that none of Donald Trump's American relatives have ever served in uniform or fought for the United States in any war.   It is not currently known whether any of the Trump (Drumpf) cousins in Germany fought for Hitler or not.

Trump's sudden and ill-conceived military move last week wrecked a long-established and hard-won alliance with the Kurdish people, and it had no observable benefit for the United States.  Trump's action did strengthen Turkey's hand on the world stage and was seen as a diplomatic coup for Syria, Russia, and even Iran.

It almost feels like we have a leader who is focused on subverting American power and prestige.

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