Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) can always be counted on to give the historical and or ideological perspective or any number of issues or situations but what he lacks is any sense of the practical and reality that happens to give a backhanded slap to the face of ideology. Case in point today is how the Mr. Paul outlined the violent history between the Turks and the Kurds, and our alliances. Fighting with Turkey are Arab Kurds who are part of the free Syrian Army that was a U.S. ally for seven years, he explained. He also said that the conflict had been going on for 100 years, implying that given that long messy history, the United States shouldn't be involved.
But here's the rub... The Syrian Kurds were staunch U.S. allies in the fight against ISIS and we have abandoned them to be slaughter by the Turkish army. It's happening as this column is being written. NBC's Richard Engel reported that Syrian Kurds are being executed by extremist Arabs, Al Qaeda members, who are backed by the Turks. The Trump Administration betrayed a loyal ally, and has dishonored our country. Obviously, one can disagree, sometimes strenuously, with the decisions that put the U.S. military in that place, but now that we were there, the U.S. needs to stand up for its friends. As the Wall Street Journal's Peggy Noonan said, the president got rolled by the president of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan. No matter the atrocities, the Trump administration will do nothing, not even sanctions. Don't think for a minute that the president hasn't thought about his substantial personal business interests in Turkey being affected.
Mr. Paul also rhetorically stated that the president has to determine what is best for the national security of the United States. Well, this is it. Thousands of ISIS fighters and sympathizers are breaking out and escaping from prisons guarded by the Kurds, but not anymore. Yet, the Trump Administration this week sent 1,800 troops to Saudi Arabia. To Senator Paul's credit, he said that we shouldn't be sending armaments or troops to Saudi Arabia until they behave better.
The bottom line is that the Trump Administration pulled troops out of one country, which has facilitated ethnic cleansing and a humanitarian crisis and put troops into another country to continue the worst humanitarian crisis in the world, in Yemen. The amorality of this administration should make all Americans feel ashamed. Rep. Elliot Engel (D-NY) said that he has never seen anything as disgusting as this in all his time in Congress.
Should NATO consider kicking Turkey to the curb? Most certainly.
And Rudy Giuliani? He's now under investigation for his illegal lobbying work in Ukraine by the same federal office that he once led in the Southern District of New York. He had lunch on Wednesday with two associates that were arrested that same evening. And what are they charged with? They allegedly funneled Russian money to Republican candidates, namely Pete Sessions (R-TX), and asked him to talk to the State Department, in which he wrote a letter, to remove the U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, Maria Yananovitch who was actually fighting corruption. Die the hero or live long enough to become the villain. Mr. Giuliani who once prosecuted the New York Mafia and its corruption only to now be superlatively corrupt himself. #nohero.
Panel: Peggy Noon, The Wall Street Journal; Ashley Parker, The Washington Post; Michael Schmidt, The New York Times, Cornell Belcher, Democratic strategist
One more thing...
This week at a rally in Minneapolis, Donald Trump called the impeachment inquiry illegal, unconstitutional and bull shit. Ironic given the fact that all his bull shit is either illegal and or unconstitutional.
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