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Trump Calls Turkey’s Syrian Offensive a ‘Bad Idea’ Trump Calls Turkey’s Syrian Offensive a ‘Bad Idea,’ But Opposes ‘Senseless Wars’
(about 4 hours later)
WASHINGTON — President Trump on Wednesday called a Turkish military operation along the border with Syria “a bad idea” but reiterated his opposition to “endless, senseless wars,” even as leading Republicans expressed outrage and said the Turkish offensive could inflict lasting damage on Washington’s relationship with its NATO ally. WASHINGTON — President Trump on Wednesday called a Turkish military operation along the border with Syria “a bad idea” but reiterated his opposition to “endless, senseless wars,” striking a far milder tone than outraged members of Congress, foreign allies and officials in his own administration, who said the incursion must be stopped.
“The United States does not endorse this attack and has made it clear to Turkey that this operation is a bad idea,” Mr. Trump said in a statement released by the White House. In a statement issued by the White House, Mr. Trump asserted that “Turkey has committed to protecting civilians, protecting religious minorities, including Christians, and ensuring no humanitarian crisis takes place.”
Noting that American soldiers had been moved from the area in advance, Mr. Trump limited his criticism of Turkey and made no mention of punitive action against it. He said he was holding the country responsible for preventing the release of Islamic State fighters who are being held captive in the area and for ensuring “that ISIS does not reconstitute in any way, shape or form.”
That was a contrast with the response from Capitol Hill, where Republicans were sharply critical of Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, for following through with a plan he disclosed to Mr. Trump in a Sunday phone call. But Mr. Trump limited his criticism of Turkey, making no mention of taking punitive action, while Republicans on Capitol Hill were sharply critical of Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, for following through with a plan he disclosed to Mr. Trump in a phone call on Sunday. And Pentagon officials privately expressed their anger over Mr. Trump’s sudden and unplanned shift in what had been American policy for years to oppose Turkey’s longtime desire to seize territory across its border with Syria.
Senator Lindsey Graham, a Republican of South Carolina and a close ally of Mr. Trump’s who often speaks and golfs with the president, wrote on Twitter that a Turkish entry into Syria would be “a disaster in the making.” Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, a close ally of Mr. Trump’s who often speaks and plays golf with the president, said in an interview that he had reached an agreement with Senator Chris Van Hollen, Democrat of Maryland, to offer “severe” sanctions legislation against Turkey, which Mr. Graham predicted would have “widespread bipartisan support.”
“What you’ll be seeing in the coming days is Congress filling in the vacuum,” Mr. Graham said, likening Mr. Trump’s posture to President Barack Obama’s deep-seated aversion to engagement in Syria. “Obama basically took a pass on Syria and the rest is history. We can’t afford to make that same mistake twice.”
Earlier in the day, Mr. Graham wrote on Twitter that a Turkish entry into Syria would be “a disaster in the making.”
“Pray for our Kurdish allies who have been shamelessly abandoned by the Trump administration,” he added. “This move ensures the re-emergence of ISIS.”“Pray for our Kurdish allies who have been shamelessly abandoned by the Trump administration,” he added. “This move ensures the re-emergence of ISIS.”
Mr. Graham added that he would urge the president to “change course,” and renewed a vow to punish Turkey in Congress with severe economic sanctions. Echoing Mr. Graham, Representative Liz Cheney of Wyoming tweeted that news of the Turkish action was “sickening.” She accused the president of “leaving America’s allies to be slaughtered and enabling the return of ISIS.”
A Kurdish-led militia has fought alongside the United States in the campaign against the Islamic State, or ISIS, over the past five years. But Mr. Erdogan sees Syria’s Kurdish fighters as an enemy, and wants to create a “buffer zone” along his country’s southern border with Syria, which has been devastated by a civil war of more than eight years. But Mr. Trump was not without his defenders in Congress. Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky, a Republican who often speaks with the president and has repeatedly pushed him to avoid foreign conflicts, wrote on Twitter that Mr. Trump “is stopping the endless wars and we will be stronger as a result. The Cheney/Graham Neocon War Caucus has cost us too much fighting endless wars.”
Mr. Trump asserted in his statement that “Turkey has committed to protecting civilians, protecting religious minorities, including Christians, and ensuring no humanitarian crisis takes place.” He said he was holding the country responsible for preventing the release of ISIS fighters who are being held captive in the area and for ensuring “that ISIS does not reconstitute in any way, shape, or form.”
But echoing Mr. Graham, another leading Republican voice on foreign policy, Representative Liz Cheney of Wyoming, wrote on Twitter that news of the Turkish action was “sickening.” She accused Mr. Trump of “leaving America’s allies to be slaughtered and enabling the return of ISIS.” Prominent Democrats also denounced the Turkish move, and criticized Mr. Trump for failing to coordinate his decision to pull back American troops from the area in effect clearing the way for Turkey to attack with American generals and allies.
The Pentagon said the United States was providing no assistance to the militia and was drawing up contingency plans to withdraw all 1,000 American troops from northeast Syria if Turkey pushed deeper into Syrian territory. But at the Pentagon, where more than five years of fighting alongside Kurdish troops in Iraq and Syria has now given way to standing aside as those same allies are attacked, some officials said there was more anger than they had seen at any point in Mr. Trump’s presidency.
As of noon on Wednesday, the United States military assessed that the Turkish operation was limited in scope, and that Turkish troops had not actually crossed the Syrian border. But one official said that Turkish artillery and mortar fire into Syria was intended to weaken any resistance before Turkish ground troops advanced. As recently as last week, Defense Department officials had been assured by Turkish military officials that they were not seeking to launch an invasion of Syria. Nor were officials expecting Mr. Trump, in his Sunday call with Mr. Erdogan, to open the door for a Turkish offensive by deciding to remove the 50 to 100 American troops in the northeastern portion of Syria, where Mr. Erdogan wants to create a “safe zone.”
A person briefed about the call said the discussion between Mr. Trump and Mr. Erdogan was wide-ranging, until Mr. Erdogan, in the second half of the call, complained that the United States was not fully complying with an agreement struck with Turkey in September to jointly create a safe zone in northeastern Syria. Mr. Erdogan said he intended to unilaterally establish one immediately.
Mr. Trump demurred, evidently believing that Mr. Erdogan would not be willing to risk the president’s ire. But Mr. Erdogan effectively “called the president’s bluff,” the person said. What followed was a scramble to move American personnel from harm’s way in northern Syria.
In the days since, Mr. Trump has made repeated references to his desire to withdraw from Syria and avoid the “stupid endless wars” against which he campaigned in 2016. But that has furthered the impression — both in the United States but, perhaps more important, in Turkey — that Mr. Trump had blessed Mr. Erdogan’s proposed incursion.
A Kurdish-led militia known as the Syrian Democratic Forces has fought alongside the United States in the campaign against the Islamic State over the past five years. Mr. Erdogan sees Syria’s Kurdish fighters as an enemy, and wants to flush them out of a safe zone along his country’s southern border with Syria, which has been devastated by a civil war of more than eight years. The conflict has produced an exodus of roughly one million Syrian refugees into Turkey whom Ankara wants to relocate into a secured zone across the border.
The long-term reverberations in Washington will depend on the extent of the Turkish operation, which remains unclear.
On Monday, Mr. Trump warned that if Turkey did anything that he considered “off limits, I will totally destroy and obliterate the Economy of Turkey.” Mr. Trump has not clearly defined those limits, although asked by reporters on Wednesday what he would do if Mr. Erdogan wiped out the Kurds in Syria, Mr. Trump replied: “I will wipe out his economy if he does that.”
That supports the view of analysts who say the real red line for Mr. Trump and many members of Congress is not a matter of territory but rather the killing of Kurdish fighters.
Soner Cagaptay, a senior fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, said he believed that Mr. Erdogan would calibrate any offensive to limit casualties that would prompt a major response from Congress and potentially humiliate Mr. Trump. He also said Turkey appeared to be moving on Arab-majority areas where its military would be more welcome than in heavily Kurdish areas nearby.
“I would say this is a war that is not a war,” Mr. Cagaptay said. “We’re not going to see fighting of epic proportions. It’s coordinated and pre-orchestrated.”
But national security officials are especially worried about how a Turkish offensive could affect the continuing fight against the Islamic State, which — thanks in large measure to the Kurdish-led forces now under attack — has lost its territorial holdings in Syria but which officials say has been gaining new momentum in both Syria and Iraq.
Senator Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, Democrat of New Hampshire and a member of the Senate Armed Services and Foreign Relations Committees, noted that Mr. Erdogan had not publicly committed to Mr. Trump’s demands that his country take responsibility for any freed Islamic State captives in the area, or a local resurgence of the terrorist group.
“We know that terrorism in Syria does not stay in Syria,” Ms. Shaheen said in a statement. “President Erdogan, despite his claims, does not have the support of the international community for this operation and he refuses to assure the U.S. that he will guard ISIS detention facilities in the area and prevent ISIS from once again gaining a foothold in the region. I’m afraid we are dangerously close to the point of no return.”