Rhys Polcari
F - Block History
October 18, 2019
On October 13, President Trump decided to withdraw troops from Syria, abandoning the Kurdish army. Prior to this event, ISIS (the Islamic State) inhabited parts of Syria, causing the U.S military to deploy troops. In between Syria, Iraq, and Turkey lies the Kurdish region. The Kurds are allied to the U.S, and they agreed to help the U.S army fight against ISIS. Turkey is also an ally to the U.S; however, they hate the Kurds. Turkey disapproves of the Kurds because the Kurds want their own country. The Kurds have been attempting to take chunks of land from each country to build their own, which would be referred to as Kurdistan. Turkey did not want to give up a part of their country to the Kurds, resulting in conflict, which has spilled over into Syria territory. Following the withdrawal of the U.S. troops from Syria, the President ordered that the Turks not attack the Kurds that were battling in Northern Syria. Shortly after, the Turks ignored President Trump and attacked the Kurds. The Turkish attack went directly against the U.S.’s request not to attack the Kurds in Syria. With the absence of the U.S. in the region, the Russians deployed troops to protect the Syrian government from Turkish attacks within Syrian territory. The Russians have been a supporter of the Syrian government for many years. Russian support of the Syrian government has resulted in conflict with the U.S and Russia because the U.S does not want the Russians to support Syria. The U.S supports a group in Syria called the Syrian Rebels, who are a group seeking to overthrow the Syrian government to make Syria a democracy. Russia approves of the Syrian government; meanwhile, the U.S hopes the rebels can overthrow the government. Perhaps the contrasting support between the U.S and Russia could result in a war. Following President Trump’s decision to pull the troops out of Syria, the House of Representatives voted on the President’s decision making. The resolution vote showed that the House opposed the President’s choice. The total vote was 354 opposing, and 60 agreeing. The House of Representatives thought that President Trump abandoned the Kurdish soldiers. The majority of the House vote is significant as many republicans had voted against Trump. Sen. Jack Reed (Rhode Island), the ranking Democrat on the Armed Services Committee, claimed that “The weakness and incompetence that this president has shown when it comes to national security is stunning.” Senator Jack Reed is saying that the President did not do a great job with this judgment. Overall, President Trump has taken a lot of heat from the people, as he abandoned the Kurdish troops. Read this article from the Washington Post and answer the following questions.
Should President Trump have pulled out US Troops from Syria?
What do you think the President is going to do about Turkey?
Do you think the conflict between the U.S and Russia is going to be a big issue?
Have you ever had two friends that hate each other? What was the resolution? If not, what do you think would happen if you had two friends that hate each other?
1. I think that President Trump was correct in withdrawing US troops from Syria because by doing so he is protecting his relationship with both the Kurds and Turkey. By not taking either side, he makes no enemies. However, he has put US troops in a difficult situation of "total chaos" by forcing them to go through Syrian territory where they are being harassed by Syrian militias.
ReplyDelete2. President Trump will most likely do nothing about Turkey. Either that, or he will continue trying to convince Erdogan to "make a deal". Trump has frequently been very stubborn on past issues, and this most likely will not change now.
3. I think that the conflict between the US and Russia will not be a big issue due to the fact that they are allied and Russia may be somewhat scared of the US's military power. Also, using common sense. it is reasonable to assume that neither country would want to start a war with each other due to the number of casualties that it would cause.
4. I do not have two friends that openly despise each other in a way that I would notice, but I can assume that if I did it would be quite difficult to try to get them to reconcile without making it seem like I am taking either side.
1. I believe that Trump should and should not have taken troops out of Syria. By removing troops from the area he left the Kurds with no defense against the Turkish military. The Kurds were attacked which went against what the US had said to Turkey. But it is also a very dangerous area were the troops were so by removing them he protected them from the war zone.
ReplyDelete2. I do not think that trump is going to try to fight back against what Turkey did to the Kurds. Turkey is one of the US's allies so President Trump will most likely not try to interfere with Turkey because of the benefits from the alliance. Also in the article is says that administration did not want to go to war with a long-standing NATO ally. I agree with what Ali said regarding that Trump won’t do anything to Turkey.
3. I think that the conflict between the US and Russia could be a big issue but probably won't. Because the Countries are both superpowers with loads of nuclear weapons the conflict could become something bad but probably won't. If the two countries can resolve the issues than the conflict will not be a big deal though.
4. I have not had two friends that hated each other but if I did than it would be very hard. They would fight all the time and I would have to pick a side which I would not want to do. Also if this happened than my friendships with the two of them could both end because of their conflict.
1. I do not think Donald Trump should have pulled US troops from Syria. By doing so, he left the Kurds to die under the threat of Turkey, which is unjust considering they are our allies. In addition, the article states that ISIS officials have been escaping prison due to the withdrawal of the Kurds, which is a security threat. Trump has tried to defend his decision by stating “we must stop the endless wars,” but he is ignoring the fact that withdrawing from Syria at this time is only leading to more death.
ReplyDelete2. Because Trump’s decision was widely ridiculed by both Republicans and Democrats, he will probably realize it is smarter for him to let the general public forget about it so it does not hurt his favorability. He will probably make some other controversial decisions in order to cause people to talk about that instead, as he has previously done during his presidency. I agree with Ali that Trump is a very stubborn person, and due to his self-centered personality, he will probably not admit that his decision was misguided, even with the disapproval of Republicans.
3. I do not think the conflict with Russia will be a big issue because although the U.S. and Russia have been rivals for many years, neither country is in a position to start a war. If Trump started a war in the middle of his re-election campaign, certain factors could turn against him if something went wrong. In addition, Trump made the decision on withdrawing troops about a week ago, and Russia has not done anything, so it will likely take a larger event to spur conflict.
4. I’ve never had two friends that have hated each other. If I did, then I suppose I would either have to pick and choose out of the two friends or not be friends with either of them. If I chose one friend, it would be difficult to maintain a healthy relationship with the other one. If I tried to stay neutral with both, both of them might resent me for not being loyal enough.
1. I agree with Nicholas on how Trump should and should not have taken out troops in Syria. What Trump was doing was protecting our soldiers because they were in a dangerous area, but he also left the Kurds defenseless against Turkey.
ReplyDelete2. I think Trump is not going to act on Turkey. I feel as that he is just trying to remove himself and his troops from the situation, and that he is just not wanting to be involved.
3. I don't think that the conflict with Russia will be a big issue mainly because the U.S and Russia are both big countries and they don't need to really have war over anything. They both have power and I think that neither country really wants to deal with war.
4. I have never had two friends who hate each other, but if I did I assume it would be pretty difficult. I wouldn't be able to hang out with them at the same time and when we are all together they would probably fight over something or just not talk. It just wouldn't be a good situation to deal with.
1) I think Trump taking U.S troops out of Syria helped not make enemies, he didn’t choose sides and won’t create major conflict with either country. But Trump’s call hurt us in other ways. The Turks went against our request and attacked the Kurds, which can make it look like it was partly our fault for just fleeing, Also, our troops had to go through Syrian land, that lead to them being harassed by local militia.
ReplyDelete2) I don’t think Trump will do anything regarding Turkey's attack or the Kirds. The U.S and Turkey have a great alliance and the U.S wouldn’t do anything to change that.
3) I don’t think there will be any major conflict between the two. Both countries are very powerful and can do a lot of damage to one another and I the problem isn’t big enough for them to start a war and to lose an ally.
4) I have had friends that hate each other. And there wasn’t really any resolution. All I could really do is be there for both of them and never choose sides. I would also never bring the other person up.
1. I agree with Thomas that President Trump should have taken troops out of Syria. This was a bad choice cause he abandoned all the Kurds he was helping. This left them defenseless against Turkey.
ReplyDelete2. Trump made the decision to pull troops from Syria, so it is his fault that Turkey attacked. Even though this is true I don't think that the U.S. will do anything to Turkey. He just wanted to get away from Syria not get involved with Turkey, because that would blow up into something he didn't want.
3. I think that all that is gonna happen between the U.S. and Russia is them calling each other out, and maybe a few threats. While this event is a big deal I don't think it is as world changing as something to start a war. While President Trump can sometimes be called a loose cannon, I don't think anything crazy is gonna happen between us a Russia.
4. If I had two friends who hated each other it would be really hard to be friends with both of them cause you couldn't all hang out. In addition, it would be difficult to be loyal to both friends if you had to choose between them. This kind of situation would probable end in a mess, and people feelings getting hurt.
1. I agree with Shane That Trump should not have taken our troops out of Syria. The Kurds have been our allies, and now they are left without American aid to fight against Turkey. Trump's decision has also let many ISIS members escape, and he is simply saying that it will be Turkey's responsibility.
ReplyDelete2. The president's decision has so far been widely criticized, and it would be best for him to try to aid the Kurds as much as possible, but that is not likely to happen. If his past actions should be taken into account, he will most likely try to make everyone forget about this by making many other controversial decisions.
3. I think that the conflict between the US and Russia will not be as big of an issue because both parties have been enemies for a while, and neither country is in the position to start a war at the moment.
4. I have had friends that don't like each other, and I have also had friends that have different opinions than I do. in most cases they could still find something that they could both agree on, or at least talk about with each other. If they couldn't do that I would just keep them both as my friends separately.
1. I think President Trump should not have taken his troops out. I’m saying this because he left the Kurds alone to die. I agree with Shane when he says that Trump wants to save more lives and end the “endless wars” but pulling the troops out of Syria is only leading to more, the Kurds. Trump felt as if he was saving more lives by pulling them out, which he was (the U.S. troops), but thousands of more lives have been lost due to the fact that they had no protection.
ReplyDelete2. I think Trump will not do anything to Turkey. My reasoning for this is because if he pulled the troops out in order to get away from them and end the “wars” then he won’t do anything to start another one. I think he will try to distract the media with something else(as he has done earlier in his presidency) so it won’t be brought up again and won’t have to rethink all of his decisions about the troops.
3. In my opinion, the conflict between Russia and the U.S. will not be a problem because of their past. They are already on bad terms, meaning that they haven’t liked each other even before the U.S. pulled out their troops. Trump knows that he is the reason why Kurds were killed so their would be no reason to fight back unless if it was an unknown attack.
4. I have never have two friends hate each other, but I do have different friend groups so I can imagine what it would be like. For example, someone from my old school and someone from my hockey team. They would be two completely different people and have nothing in common so they wouldn’t like each other one bit.
1. I agree with Ali that Trump was correct in pulling the troops out of Syria. By defending the Kurds a group that isn't even a country yet, he is making enemies with many West Asian countries like Turkey and Syria. By pulling troops out of that area, Trump is preserving the US's relationship with those countries.
ReplyDelete2. I don't think that the president is going to much about Turkey disobeying the US's orders. Because the election is coming up "soon", Trump probably doesn't want to cause too big of a rocus like the situation with Saudi Arabia, Iran, and the Houthis.
3. I agree with Ali that the conflict between the US and Russia is going to be a big deal because neither country wants to start a war. Russia might be scared of the US's military power while the Trump might want settle things down a little bit with the Ukrainian Prime Minister phone call and this.
4. I have had friends in the past and I found that it was best to keep them as separate as possible. I would try to avoid being seen by one with the other even if it means turning down both of those friends at the same time. In conversations I would usually talk neutrally so I don't seem like avoiding the topic but at the same time one can't hold something I said about the other.
ReplyDeleteShould President Trump have pulled out US Troops from Syria?
I think that President Trump should not have withdrawn the troops from Syria. Some of his reasoning makes sense how Ali mentioned how this action kept the Us from making enemies, however as a result of this action not only are we leaving the Kurds defenseless, but also letting terrorist groups like ISIS on a looser leash.
What do you think the President is going to do about Turkey?
I believe that the president will probably avoid the topic other than to say false statements about the current events in Central Asia. Since Trump has made the desicions to take the US troops out of Syria this decision has been ridiculed which makes me believe that as Shane said, Trump will make other controversial decisions to make this event farther back in the publics minds.
Do you think the conflict between the U.S and Russia is going to be a big issue?
I do not believe that th conflict between the Us and Russia will become a big ordeal. Currently, the United States and Russia are allies and to start a war between our two countries wouldn’t be smart.
Have you ever had two friends that hate each other? What was the resolution? If not, what do you think would happen if you had two friends that hate each other?
In the past, I have had two friends that openly didn’t get along. It was known that they weren’t very fond of each other however no big dispute came of this.
1. I agree with Ali when he said that Trump was right in withdrawing the troops from Syria so that the US could protect their relationship with the Kurds and Turkey by not taking sides. Although they’re being put in a dangerous situation by being withdrawn from Syria and having to cross Syrian territory, if they stayed, they’d be in even more danger with the Turkish and Russian forces coming in.
ReplyDelete2. I don’t think President Trump is going to take action yet. I think he’s going to try and work a deal with the president of Turkey. If a deal can’t be worked out and Turkey continues with what they’re doing, then I believe Trump will use military force as a last resort option.
3. I don’t think the conflict between Russia and the USA is going to be a big issue as they both know that if it became a big issue, more countries would get involved. USA and Russia are both very powerful nations with many allies so if war broke out between them, it’d be a big war. As Ali said, I also believe Russia would be scared of the USA’s military power.
4. I do not have two friends that hate each other but if I did, I think one or the other would get mad at the fact I’m friends with someone they hate. It would be very difficult to get them to not hate each other but it would be the best thing to try and do so you can be friends with both.
I agree with Nick that President Trump should not have withdrawn the US troops from Syria. By taking our troops out of Syria, he left the Kurds open to attack from Turkey. Although Trump said that taking the troops out of Syria will prevent war and death, he just made the situation worse by abandoning the Kurds.
ReplyDeleteI don’t think that President Trump is going to do anything about Turkey, as we are allies with them. Trump is more likely to side with the Turks rather than the Kurds, so he will probably not do anything for now. Another reason is because taking more action in that situation will just create more controversy around him.
I do not think that there will be a conflict between the USA and Russia. The two countries have fought each other in the past, and neither wants to start a war with the other. A war between them could result in another World War, and a lot of nuclear bombs. Also, Trump running for president again next year, so he will want to keep good relations with important countries such as Russia.
At my old school, I had two friends who didn’t really like each other. We all had the same classes, and the two of them argued quite a lot. It was kind of hard to be friends with both of them, as they were constantly arguing with each other. Eventually, they got by their differences and became friends.
1.Trump should not have pulled out the US troops from Syria. Him doing this caused him to abandon the Kurdish Army who was attempting to help the U.S fight against ISIS. Trump should of had the troops stay, and attempt to help the Kurdish Army fight to get land from Turkey, and every other country. Although the idea of the Kurds stealing land isn’t always wanted, the Kurds are helping to fight against ISIS, so our troops should have stayed to return the assistance.
ReplyDelete2. Knowing President Trump, and how he has reacted to conflicts like this one in the past, I believe he will do something to get back. Whether it is an attack, or something else, the fact that Turkey disobeyed Trump’s orders will cause some sort of bigger conflict between Turkey and the US. The idea that Trump ordered Turkey not to attack the Kurds, and Turkey still went through with it and disobeyed the order, proves even more that Trump is going to attempt revenge in some sort of way, instead of doing the appropriate thing, and trying to fix the conflict so nothing even more crucial happens.
3. Because of the disagreement between the US and Russia, I believe that in the future a bigger confluct could occur. As of now, I think that nothing big will happen, but unless the conflict is put to rest, or resolved a war or attack could be something that happens in the near future.
4. I have never had two very close friends that completely hated each other, but I have certainly been stuck in the middle of a fight between two best friends. Even if the fight was small, the idea of making up sometimes seems so far in the future there doesn’t seem to be any resolution. But, most times, I or another one of our friends has attempted to fix the problem, or understand why they are mad in order to help.