Theodore Kattouf:
Well, first of all, we have been working with the Kurds in Northeastern Syria since about 2012.
You had Ambassador Jeffrey, I believe, on the show, who said, we never had an agreement with the Kurds for an independent Kurdish state or even a quite autonomous region. But there is a moral obligation there. The Kurds have been abandoned more than once by the U.S. and the West.
And if a slaughter takes place, their blood is going to be on U.S. hands. And Turkey has said not only is ISIS a terrorist organization, but the Syrian Democratic Forces, i.e., the Kurds, are also a terrorist organization, something, of course, we don’t agree with.
Our interest is that Syria not be a totally failed state and ISIS not — and other organizations, al-Qaida, not be able to export terrorism to the West and to Europe and the like. And if Trump pulls out too quickly, if he throws up his hands and says, I’m not giving any aid, let the Arabs worry about it, et cetera, without U.S. leadership, things could deteriorate very quickly.
So I’m hoping his advisers can talk him into a — let’s say a more moderate withdrawal, since he criticized the withdrawal from Afghanistan. We shouldn’t repeat that.
