Posted on 10/08/2014 3:33:29 PM PDT by keat
ISTANBUL (AP) -- As U.S. generals and Secretary of State John Kerry warn that a strategic Syrian border town could fall to Islamic State militants, the Turkish military has deployed its tanks on its side of the frontier but only watched the slaughter.
Turkey's inaction despite its supposed participation in a coalition forged to crush the extremist group is frustrating Washington and its NATO allies, and reviving a rebellion by Turkish Kurds.
Amid fears the Kurdish town of Kobani could fall any day, U.S. and NATO officials are traveling to Turkey on Thursday to press negotiations for more robust Turkish involvement in the coalition.
But Turkey is taking a hard line, insisting that it will only consider involvement in military action as part of a broader strategy for ending the rule of Syrian President Bashar Assad. The U.S. and its allies want to keep the focus on the Islamic State group, which they say poses a more global threat.
Emphasizing the U.S. position, Kerry said Wednesday that although the Obama administration is "deeply concerned about the people of Kobani," preventing the town's fall to Islamic State militants was not a strategic objective for the U.S.
"As horrific as it is to watch in real time what's happening in Kobani, it's important to remember, you have to step back and understand the strategic objective," Kerry told a news conference in Washington.
Rear Adm. John Kirby, the Pentagon press secretary, also conceded Kobani could fall because "air power alone is not going to be enough to save that city."
"We all need to prepare ourselves for the reality that other towns and villages - and perhaps Kobani - will be taken by ISIL," Kirby said, adding that the key to eventually defeating the militants is to train and enable indigenous ground forces.
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And where are the nightly news reports showing all the dead women and children. If it were a Republican president it would be 24/7. I despise the media.
Russia did the same thing outside Warsaw during WW 2. Waited for the Germans to finish of the poles during the uprising.
Gosh, it’s good to know that we have a bright fellow like Obama who is staying right on top of all these Middle East problems. How much money did he raise for the Democrats yesterday?
ISIS is Turkey.
He's waiting for leaders of the middle east nations to take the reins. Not....gonna.....happen.
More USA troop involvement to be announced soon.
I’ve been thinking the same thing.
If we are depending on Islamist Turkey as a key part of our ISIS strategy, we really are in a sorry state.
Imagine starting a war without making prior arrangements with a neighboring ally and NATO member to join the fight.
Imagine not being able to pick up the phone or sit down face to face and get the deal done like man.
When he didn’t get what he wanted, Obama pouted, flipped the checkerboard over and began a pissy public campaign to try and shame Turkey into entering the war effort(and shoulder all of the risk of ground causalities).
When that didn’t work Obama tacitly allowed ISIS to raid a city on the Turkish border in an effort to force Turkey in.
Even if this works, how is that going to cement Turkish support in the long run?
I can’t even believe this is happening.
Turkey, like the U.S., has an Islamic president. What do they expect him to do?
What is it with Democrat presidents and war? Obama has pulled a JFK, who screwed up the bay of pigs invasion of Cuba and then got us into Vietnam. You can’t tippy toe into these things. Obama got us Lybia and Syria, now Iraqk.
They haven’t figured Turkey out yet.
Erdogan wants the caliphate back in Turkey. ISIS is taking care of his Kurd problem for him. They’re also taking care of the refugee problem (by mass murder).
All Turkey has to do is sit this one out. The USA isn’t going to do anything. Neither is NATO.
Turkey’s in the cat bird seat. The Islamic War is just beginning. Guess which side Turkey will fight for?
The JV and its Turkey mobros are running circles around the PhDs in Washington and the NATO allies? Go figure. No head chopping for those Turkeys. Besides POSOTUS will make excuses and pardon them before Thanksgiving.
The only way we can win the war against ISIS with air power alone is if we bomb the Turkish Prime Minister’s palace until he agrees to send ground troops to fight ISIS on the Syrian border.
It’s the same thing Stalin did at the end of WW2 - he halted his advance into Poland and let the Germans massacre the Polish freedom fighters.
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