Americans, for the most part, are assured that a police force is there to protect them. So, imagine if the police came to your door to say they will no longer protect you , and that criminals are coming to destroy your home. Panic would ensue.

While this is not likely to happen in America, that is what has happened in Syria. Syria,  a small Middle Eastern country, has been in political turmoil for more than eight years. On Oct. 7, Syria was given an unsettling message when President Donald Trump announced that he would be pulling American troops from the Syrian border. To some Americans, this sounds like a campaign promise come true. It means those brave soldiers are finally coming home. But to Syria, this is a death sentence.

The dictator Bashaar al Assad might see this as an early christmas, but this “present” has condemned the Kurds.

The Kurds, an American ally, is a displaced ethnic group located in the mountain region of northern Syria who have been targeted by Turkey since the president’s  announcement to withdraw troops. The Kurds, who up until now had been helping America, have been accused of being terrorists by the Turkish government. The accused are actually the very same people who have helped America take down the terrorist organization, ISIS. In fact, the Kurds have hundreds of confirmed ISIS members imprisoned in Syria right now. They provided manpower while America supplied the weapons and training necessary to take down the terrorist organization. 

The accusation from the Turkish government has been long standing, but meant nothing while the American military had troops in the country. And now, with America’s protection gone, the Kurds will be attacked by Turkey, and the Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad will have no opposition. He will wipe out the remaining rebels who are fighting for democracy and he will continue to use chemical weapons against his own people to stay in power. It means that thousands of innocent people will die.

These people are ill-equipped to fend off Turkey, and the people they once called allies are watching these citizens suffer. In fact, the president has made a statement on Twitter, saying that America “will fight where it is to our benefit, and only fight to win.” 

This hypocritical statement from the president does not come as a shock to the public, but it should serve as a wake up call to Congress. This man has blatantly said that he will turn his back on our allies just because the conflict does not benefit the U.S. in any direct way. And in his infinite wisdom Trump stated that if he sees Turkey do anything that he does not consider acceptable, that only then will he step in and “totally destroy and obliterate the economy of Turkey.” 

It’s hard to see that Americans are willing to listen to a man whose thumbs work faster than his brain.

Turkey stated that they planned to attack within the week after the troop withdrawal announcement from Trump, and the United States Congress has made no move to do anything about it. While both parties have spoken out, angry about the president’s actions, no one, including the United States Congress, has done anything to take the power away from this mad man. In just under four years, centuries of principles that this country once stood on have been destroyed. And as long as he has power, there is no end to how many allies he will betray. So, I’ll ask once more. Do you really want a man like this in power? Well, for those of you who will be 18 at this time next year, you’ll get your chance to answer. But remember that a decision to elect a man like this has cost thousands their lives. Are you ready for it to continue to happen? Or are you ready for four more years? Or is America great again at the cost of foreign lives?