Senator Romney stood up today in the Senate and made a fine and powerful speech deploring Trump’s betrayal of the Kurds in Syria.
Here’s a video and full text from c-span.
www.c-span.org/...
He said in part:
LET ME BRIEFLY RECOUNT WHAT'S HAPPENED IN THE PAST SEVEN DAYS SINCE THE U.S. ANNOUNCED OUR WITHDRAWAL. THE KURDS SUFFERING LOSS OF LIFE AND PROPERTY HAVE ALIED WITH ASSAD. RUSSIA HAS ASSUMED CONTROL OF OUR PREVIOUS MILITARY POSITIONS AND THE U.S. HAS BEEN FORCED IN MANY CASES TO BOMB, OF OUR OWN FACILITIES. THE ANNOUNCEMENT TODAY IS BEING PORTRAYED AS A VICTORY. IT IS FAR FROM A VICTORY. SERIOUS QUESTIONS REMAIN ABOUT HOW THE DECISION WAS REACHED PRECIPITOUSLY TO WITHDRAW FROM SYRIA AND WHY THAT DECISION WAS REACHED. GIVEN THE INITIAL DETAILS OF THE CEASE-FIRE AGREEMENT, THE ADMINISTRATION MUST ALSO EXPLAIN WHAT AMERICA'S FUTURE ROLE WILL BE IN THE REGION.
WHAT HAPPENS NOW TO THE KURDS AND WHY TURKEY WILL FACE NO APPARENT CONSEQUENCES. FURTHER, THE CEASE-FIRE DOES NOT CHANGE THE FACT THAT AMERICA HAS ABANDONED AN ALLY ADDING INSULT TO DISHONOR, THE ADMINISTRATION SPEAKS CAVALIERLY, EVEN FLIPPANTLY, EVEN AS OUR ALLY HAS SUFFERED DEATH AND CASUALTY.
THEIR HOMES HAVE BEEN BURNED AND THEIR FAMILIES HAVE BEEN TORN APART.
WE KNOW THE TRUTH ABOUT OUR ...KURD ALLIES. THEY LOST 11,000 COMBATANTS IN OUR JOINT EFFORT TO DEFEAT ISIS. WE DROPPED BOMBS FROM THE AIR AND PROVIDED INTELLIGENCE AND LOGISTICS BEHIND THE LINES.
THE KURDS LOST THOUSANDS OF LIVES. 86 BRAVE AMERICANS ALSO LOST THEIR LIVES SO TRAGICALLY.
IT'S ARGUED THAT THE KURDS WERE FIGHTING FOR THEMSELVES. OF COURSE THEY WERE. THAT'S THE NATURE OF AN ALLIANCE ALLIANCE. WE FIGHT TOGETHER, EACH PURSUING OUR OWN VITAL INTERESTS.
AMERICAN LEAVES NO SOLDIERS BEHIND. OFTEN A GREAT COST IN BLOOD AND TREASURE, WE RECOVER OUR DEAD AND OUR WOUNDED AND WE FREE OUR MEN AND WOMEN WHO ARE HELD CAPTIVE. THIS IS A MATTER OF AMERICAN HONOR AND PROMISE. SO, TOO, IS THE PRINCIPLE THAT WE STAND BY OUR ALLIES, THAT WE DO NOT ABANDON OUR FRIENDS, THE DECISION TO ABANDON THE KURDS VIOLATES ONE OF OUR MOST SACRED DUTIES. IT STRIKES AT AMERICAN HONOR.
WHAT WE HAVE DONE TO THE KURDS WILL STAND AS A BLOODSTAIN IN THE ANNALS OF AMERICAN HISTORY.
THERE ARE BROAD STRATEGIC ISSUES AS WELL. IRANIAN AND RUSSIAN INTERESTS IN THE MIDDLE EAST HAVE BEEN ADVANCED BY OUR DECISION AT A TIME WHEN WE'RE APPLYING MAXIMUM PRESSURE ON IRAN BY GIVING THEM A STRONGER HAND IN SYRIA, WE'VE ACTUALLY WEAKEN THAD PRESSURE.
RUSSIA'S OBJECTIVE TO PLAY A GREATER ROLE IN THE MIDDLE EAST HAS ALSO BEEN GREATLY ENHANCED. THE KURDS OUT OF DESPERATION HAVE NOW ALIGNED WITH ASSAD. SO AMERICA IS DIMINISHED.
RUSSIA, IRAN, AND ASSAD ARE STRENGTHENED. AND SO I ASK HOW AND WHY THIS DECISION WAS REACHED. I SERVE ON THE FOREIGN RELATIONS COMMITTEE AND GIVEN THE SYRIA DECISION TAKEN BY THE ADMINISTRATION, I MIGHT BE FORGIVEN FOR WONDERING WHY OUR COMMITTEE EVEN EXISTS. I SAY THIS BECAUSE APPARENTLY THE DECISION TO LEAVE SYRIA WAS MADE WITHOUT CONSULTATION WITH THE COMMITTEE OR EVEN WITH THE COMMITTEE CHAIRMAN AND RANKING MEMBER.
He went on to query the claim, put forth by Rand Paul and others that Turkey was going to attack anyway and says if that’s so, if Turkey was just going to flip us the bird, we need to know that:
IT'S BEEN SUBJECTED THAT TURKEY MAY -- SUGGESTED THAT TURKEY MAY HAVE CALLED AMERICA'S BLUFF TELLING THE PRESIDENT THEY ARE COMING NO MATTER WHAT WE DID. IF THAT'S SO, WE SHOULD KNOW IT. FOR IT WOULD TELL US A GREAT DEAL ABOUT HOW WE SHOULD DEAL WITH TURKEY NOW AND IN THE FUTURE.
That’s a good point. We need those transcripts. We need to know exactly what Erdogan said to Trump and why Trump caved. This is the USA. Turkey doesn’t tell us what to do.
So, what happened here?
Mitt has demanded an investigation.
Good.
The full speech isn’t that long or listen to the video.
It’s too late to help the dead. It’s too late to bind the wounds of the hurt, the bereaved. We have bombed our own facilities. The Russian flag flies over territory we held with our allies a few days ago.
This is disastrous and we must know why.
Update: here’s a link to a fine piece in Washington Post discussing this speech and the troubling questions raised by Trump’s betrayal:
www.washingtonpost.com/…
Aaron Blake writes,
But while that line will get a lot of play, there’s something else Romney said that shouldn’t escape notice. He also floated a theory about how Trump arrived at the decision: that he got bullied into it by Turkey and that he backed down.
“It’s been … suggested that Turkey may have called America’s bluff, telling the president they are coming no matter what we did,” said Romney, of Utah. “If that’s so, we should know it. For it would tell us a great deal about how we should deal with Turkey, now and in the future.”
Romney then returned to the idea that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan might have given Trump an ultimatum that was met with acquiescence.
Exactly. What could Erdogan have demanded of Trump that he caved so precipitously, against the express wishes of all his advisors?