Statement Regarding Trump's Syria Announcement

Christopher A. PrebleIn response to theWhite House's announcement last night regarding the re-deployment of U.S. troops in Syria, andPresident Trump's tweets early this morning, I issued the following statement:President Trump ’s decision amounts to a green light for Turkey to conduct military operations in northern Syria against a group, the Syrian Defense Forces, that the United States has previously supported. It is a stark reminder of the conflicting -- and, at times, contradictory -- nature of America’s commitmen ts to foreign actors, both state and non-state.Turkey is a formal NATO ally, a matter that should have elicited scrutiny long ago, but especially since the ascendancy of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan who has systematically subverted human rights and the rule of law in Turkey. Meanwhile, however, the Syrian forces (mostly Kurds) are not formal treaty allies. They are non-state actors operating within a recognized sovereign state, Syria. As it currently stands, therefore, under the NATO treaty, especially the critical Article 5, it was reasonable for policymakers in Ankara to expect the United States to privilege their security concerns over others. President Trump has effectively signaled as much to President Erdogan, while simultaneously attempting to wash his hands of the entire Syria mess.The Syrian civil war is an epic humanitarian catastrophe, one that U.S. policy since at least 2011 has inadvertently exacerbated. President Trump ’s decision will mos...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - Category: American Health Authors: Source Type: blogs