# We Have Betrayed the Kurds **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [October 7, 2019, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-have-betrayed-the-kurds/841420 "2019-10-07T14:54:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 13
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2019, 5:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-have-betrayed-the-kurds/841420/241 "2019-10-14T05:28:49Z")
> [@Magiver](#): > > Yes, that UN. Deduct what we spent on ISIS from the bill. they probably owe us money. Which country do you think will send troops to fight ISIS, especially now the US has stabbed our allies in the back? Are you aware that the UN has no troops of its own? I know how UN military actions work - I lived in the middle of one when I was a kid. No UN troops - Canadian, Nigerian, Ethipian, Indian and Irish troops, all wearing UN insignia. ---
**Author:** ![HurricaneDitka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/96bed5/32.png) [@HurricaneDitka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HurricaneDitka)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2019, 5:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-have-betrayed-the-kurds/841420/242 "2019-10-14T05:53:48Z")
> [@k9bfriender](#): > > Well, you get what you pay for. > > When your party takes up most of the restaurant’s tables, and you have already gotten a car wash, foot rub, and a pretty pink princess pony, demanding a discount and stiffing the bill seems a mite bit entitled to me. _shrug_ I’d encourage the UN to find better customers if they feel similarly to you. ---
**Author:** ![HurricaneDitka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/96bed5/32.png) [@HurricaneDitka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HurricaneDitka)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2019, 5:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-have-betrayed-the-kurds/841420/243 "2019-10-14T05:54:51Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > Which country do you think will send troops to fight ISIS, especially now the US has stabbed our allies in the back? Are you aware that the UN has no troops of its own? > > I know how UN military actions work - I lived in the middle of one when I was a kid. No UN troops - Canadian, Nigerian, Ethipian, Indian and Irish troops, all wearing UN insignia. Just curious, which UN military action was that? Was it one of the ones where they did nothing while civilians were massacred? ---
**Author:** ![Banquet\_Bear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/banquet_bear/32/373_2.png) [@Banquet\_Bear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Banquet_Bear)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2019, 6:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-have-betrayed-the-kurds/841420/244 "2019-10-14T06:36:16Z")
> [@HurricaneDitka](#): > > When your meal provides 22% of the restaurant’s revenue, you might well be able to demand a discount, and a free car wash, and a footrub. …when you happily eat that restaurant meal and the meal of the table next door and drink a substantial amount of booze, then tell the waiter “yeah, I’ll pay the bill and give you a hefty tip” one would expect that you would honour your commitments and pay the bill. But when you get to the cashier and tell the cashier “Fuck you, I’m not paying until you give me a discount, and a free car wash, and a footrub” don’t be surprised if the cashier says to you “No, fuck you, if you aren’t going to pay what you owe then you can go out the back and wash the dishes.” If you then proceeded to not only refuse to pay the money you owe the restaurant or wash the dishes but then pulled out a baseball bat and demolished all the glassware and crockery before pummelling the cashier to death in a fit of irrational anger and rage, then still insisted on a discount, and a free car wash, and a footrub, one might start to think that maybe you aren’t the kind of person that can be trusted. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2019, 7:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-have-betrayed-the-kurds/841420/245 "2019-10-14T07:33:05Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > [https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2019/10/13/kurds-agree-russian-brokered-plan-allow-assad-territory/amp/](https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2019/10/13/kurds-agree-russian-brokered-plan-allow-assad-territory/amp/) Honestly, while I have absolutely no love for the Assad regime - and even less for its allies - I can’t blame the Kurds one whit. America won’t help them, my country can’t, so they have to do whatever they can to survive. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2019, 8:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-have-betrayed-the-kurds/841420/246 "2019-10-14T08:56:45Z")
The American pull out from Syria was inevitable. Bernie has certainly been very critical of our involvement. I can’t see Warren keeping troops there either. Trump ran in 2016 saying he’d get the troops out. I wish the pull out would have been handled more competently. Certainly we should have insisted on giving the safe zones created in August more time to work. Politically there just isn’t any desire to keep troops in that region. > **[Bernie Sanders draws contrast with Elizabeth Warren: She says 'she is a...](https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/bernie-sanders-draws-contrast-elizabeth-warren-capitalist-bones/story?id=66217140)** > > With Sen. Elizabeth Warren climbing in polls, Sen. Bernie Sanders highlighted a key difference in their core economic philosophies in an interview on ABC's "This Week." > [@](#): > > you have a president who gets off the phone with [President Recep Tayyip] Erdogan of Turkey and then sends out a tweet that says, 'Oh, by the way, we’re deserting [Syrian Kurds] who have put their lives on the line to work with us in fighting against some of the worst terrorists in the world," Sanders said on “This Week.” > > But when asked by Karl whether Trump’s rationale for pulling the military out of the Syria – at one point this week saying that the U.S. is “not a police force” – “sounded a little bit like Bernie Sanders,” the Vermont senator was quick to refute the point. > “But the difference between Trump and me is he lies,” Sanders said. “I don’t.” ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2019, 11:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-have-betrayed-the-kurds/841420/247 "2019-10-14T11:27:02Z")
The Kurds General has the first name “Mazloum”. You cannot make this up. ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2019, 11:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-have-betrayed-the-kurds/841420/248 "2019-10-14T11:41:38Z")
> [@HurricaneDitka](#): > > _shrug_ I’d encourage the UN to find better customers if they feel similarly to you. And now, these isolationist UN talking points have turned the corner from “The UN should handle the fallout from the Trump Surrender” to “The UN should not do business with the US.” This, ladies and gentlemen, is MAGA in a nutshell. Just say whatever comes to mind, doesn’t matter if there’s any consistency, strategy, or deeper thoughtf involved. ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2019, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-have-betrayed-the-kurds/841420/249 "2019-10-14T13:01:04Z")
> [@HurricaneDitka](#): > > _shrug_ I’d encourage the UN to find better customers if they feel similarly to you. I mean, that is what the world is doing right now. We have gone from the leader of the free world to a deadbeat that turns on its allies in only a very few short years. China is finding better customers, Europe is finding better customers, even most of Africa finds that dealing with China is better to trade with. The whole world is finding that we are not necessary, and other than our massive military, which is now for sale to the highest bidder, are irrelevant to the world stage. I don’t understand the mentality behind people who are proud of getting kicked out of a restaurant for being an ass. “Oh, what!? You don’t like that I took a shit in the middle of the dining room? Well, if you feel that way, I encourage you to find better customers.” ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2019, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-have-betrayed-the-kurds/841420/250 "2019-10-14T13:06:55Z")
> [@HurricaneDitka](#): > > Just curious, which UN military action was that? Was it one of the ones where they did nothing while civilians were massacred? I’m curious as to what one you are thinking of here. Do you have a specific instance in mind, or is this just a general smear and insinuation? Do you object when a power stands by and allows civilians to be massacred? If so, do you have the same objection to when a power betrays its allies and steps to the side to allow civilians to be massacred, or is that different? ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2019, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-have-betrayed-the-kurds/841420/251 "2019-10-14T13:10:56Z")
This GOP-sanctioned Genocide of Christians will continue as long as Donald Trump is President. Plain, pure, and simple. Sanctions? Lol! Dollar diplomacy is dead, the world is too rich for the USA to buy them off any more, and too interconnected to make sanctions nothing more than an modified step in the supply chain. Trump started this genocide of Christians, and he will allow it to continue as long as he remains President. ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2019, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-have-betrayed-the-kurds/841420/252 "2019-10-14T13:14:24Z")
> [@AK84](#): > > The Kurds General has the first name “Mazloum”. > You cannot make this up. Forgetting for a minute that that is an adopted name, not his given name(and therefore, is in fact, made up), Mazloum is not an uncommon name in the region. Are you just making fun of funny foreign names here, or are you trying to make a point of some kind? ---
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2019, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-have-betrayed-the-kurds/841420/253 "2019-10-14T13:25:25Z")
> [@AK84](#): > > The Kurds General has the first name “Mazloum”. > You cannot make this up. Even better, I can list a dozen Christians I’ve met with the first name Christian, Christopher, Christina, and variations on the theme. You cannot make that shit up either. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2019, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-have-betrayed-the-kurds/841420/254 "2019-10-14T13:33:52Z")
Even Christ’s name was “Christ”! ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2019, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-have-betrayed-the-kurds/841420/255 "2019-10-14T14:04:12Z")
> [@k9bfriender](#): > > Forgetting for a minute that that is an adopted name, not his given name(and therefore, is in fact, made up), Mazloum is not an uncommon name in the region. Are you just making fun of funny foreign names here, or are you trying to make a point of some kind? You just made the point for me. > [@QuickSilver](#): > > Even better, I can list a dozen Christians I’ve met with the first name Christian, Christopher, Christina, and variations on the theme. > > You cannot make that shit up either. Dear God in heaven these guys are priceless. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2019, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-have-betrayed-the-kurds/841420/256 "2019-10-14T14:08:21Z")
> [@AK84](#): > > You just made the point for me. > Dear God in heaven these guys are priceless. 😃 So, just making fun of funny sounding foreign names then. Got it. ---
**Author:** ![asahi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asahi/32/8693_2.png) [@asahi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asahi)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2019, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-have-betrayed-the-kurds/841420/257 "2019-10-14T14:39:06Z")
Foreign policy disasters happen - that’s not the shocking part. The truly horrific aspect to this situation is the ease with which Trump was influenced. One call, that’s all. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2019, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-have-betrayed-the-kurds/841420/258 "2019-10-14T14:43:38Z")
> [@k9bfriender](#): > > So, just making fun of funny sounding foreign names then. Got it. Before you pointed out the similarity to “Muslim,” I had no clue what \*\*AK84 \*\*was even getting at. ---
**Author:** ![HurricaneDitka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/96bed5/32.png) [@HurricaneDitka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HurricaneDitka)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2019, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-have-betrayed-the-kurds/841420/259 "2019-10-14T15:05:27Z")
ABC News just got busted pretending gun range footage was an attack on Kurdish civilians: [https://mobile.twitter.com/PolishPatriotTM/status/1183695628288827392](https://mobile.twitter.com/PolishPatriotTM/status/1183695628288827392) ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2019, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-have-betrayed-the-kurds/841420/260 "2019-10-14T15:27:50Z")
Thanks for keeping the focus on important news. The source of some b-roll is far more important than anyone’s life. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-have-betrayed-the-kurds/841420.md?page=12) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-have-betrayed-the-kurds/841420.md?page=14)