America urgently needs to stop Turkey’s massacre in Syria and protect the Kurds.  Turkey started bombing Syrian (military and civilian areas) yesterday, and this morning, Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan claimed to have killed hundreds of people.  He’s probably undercounting the civilian deaths.

Busy Times

I know we’re distracted by American politics.  Trump’s impeachment debacle drops us into a real Constitutional crisis.  And sure, that’s important with a capital “I.” There are good reasons that Impeachment is the center of our attention.  But America needs to stop Turkey’s massive military from crushing the Kurds.  (And don’t be distracted by political posturing; this is already ethnic cleansing.)

American Interests

Why is it important that we — America — protect the Kurds? 

• The biggest reason is that it’s horribly wrong, morally and ethically Turkey wants to kill thousands of people whose ‘crime’ is that they frighten a dictator.  America is morally opposed to mass murder.
• The Kurds are critical American allies.  We provided aid and air support, but the Kurds defeated ISIS on the ground. Tens of thousands of Kurds died fighting ISIS, but only six Americans.  They died for our cause. We own them better.
• If we let Trump pull back and watch the slaughter, the value of being an American ally drops to zero.  If we betray our allies, nobody will join us again. Why, when the most sincere American promises might not survive the next election cycle? 
• A Turkish invasion and genocide in Syria will destabilize a region that’s already a tinderbox for a regional disaster.  For example, what will Iran do? And Turkey will move further into the Russian sphere.
• Finally, giving Turkey free reign will weaken and possibly break the NATO alliance.

Putin Hates NATO

What was that about NATO? Yeah. Suppose America allows Turkey – a NATO nation – to attack a sovereign nation, capture territory, and massacre people there. What will that do to NATO as a whole?  Are NATO members allowed to invade non-NATO countries at will?  Is America saying that’s the new deal?

No, the other NATO nations won’t stand for that.  Any substantial pullback will cripple NATO as a viable military force.  That’s important. Outside of American, NATO is the most significant threat facing Russia.  Russian President Vladimir Putin’s biggest wet dream is crippling NATO.  He’s already been impossibly successful at destabilizing America, England, France, and the EU as a whole.  NATO is the last substantial force restraining Russia.  If Putin can undercut the NATO alliance, he’ll have torn down the final effective restriction on Russian interference in Europe.  Gaining Turkey as an ally, along with its huge military strength, is almost icing on the cake. Putin will be free to pick off smaller adversaries at will.  Crimea won’t be the last Russian invasion.

Protect the Kurds Now

We need to act now. Turkey knows they only have a short time to finish their invasion. That’s why they’re moving as quickly as they can.  People are dying as I type.  We know Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) is working with Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) to draft a bipartisan sanctions bill. We have authentic bipartisan support for doing the right thing.  The trouble is, they’re talking about ‘a few days.’ How many people can Turkey kill in a day? Thousands? After a week, their invasion may be a done deal.  Sorry, but sanctions won’t help much after Turkey has killed all the Kurds and repopulated with Syrian refugees.  And Erdoğan knows that.

We need Trump to act decisively.  And yeah, I know that isn’t a thing.  So, what we really need is for the Congressional Republicans to stand up. Force Trump to act in America’s obvious interests.  Hey, Trump could even pretend to be manly and virile about it. A win-win!

I’m still not sure what makes this different from every other Trumpian outrage, but it is. We already see Republicans pushing back. That’s weird. Normally, Republicans are terrified cowards. For whatever reason, they aren’t expecting the political backlash. And get real: we all know Trump would fold at any pressure.

We need to protect the Kurds in Syria and do it quickly. If Republicans really mean what they say, they won’t wait until after the massacre.  They’ll stop Trump now.  It’s in their power. We’ll see what they choose.