Dear All,
Robert B. Charles
writes on many subjects of importance to our nation. In the past I
have published several of his articles in regards to issues surrounding
marijuana and other illegal drugs.
Today, under what many Americans consider the
weak leadership of President Barack Obama, our nation has many more
serious problems than just drug abuse; not to minimize the drug problem
and Obama's feckless leadership on enforcing our nations laws and treaties on
marijuana and drugs overall.
Mr. Charles was a
Assistant Secretary of State for General Colin Powell in the President George
W. Bush Administration. As such it is my pleasure to share his important and educated perspective regarding the Middle East and ISIS with all of you for your
consideration.
Ronald L. Kirkish
CHARLES: Mr. Obama, Mr. Erdogan: save Kobani
[Bio] Robert Charles was Assistant Secretary of State for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement, 2003-2005, under Secretary of State Colin Powell and President George W. Bush.
Smoke
rises after strikes in Kobani, Syria as fighting intensifies between Syrian
Kurds and the militants of Islamic State group, as seen from Mursitpinar on the
outskirts of Suruc, at the Turkey-Syria border, Wednesday, Oct. 8, 2014. Kobani
has been under the onslaught of the Islamic State group since mid-September
when the militants’ launched their offensive in the area, capturing several
Kurdish villages around the town and bringing Syria's civil war yet again to
Turkey's doorstep. (AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis)
Just over a week ago, I sat in a room with President Erdogan of Turkey.
Just over a week ago, I sat in a room with President Erdogan of Turkey.
He spoke to a small
group.
He was asked: How did
the 49 Turkish hostages suddenly get released by ISIS?
His answer was coy, at
best.
He implied that no
money had changed hands.
He pivoted, mentioning
that Israel had once done a large prisoner swap.
Of course, he could
have referenced President Obama’s own terrorist swap with the Taliban.
Still, Erdogan’s answer just
hung in the air, incomplete.
Now, we may know the
answer.
Today, a leading
northern city in Syria, Kobani, is under intense assault from ISIS.
From videos and pleas
for help, one is put in mind of Pol Pot’s “killing fields” in Cambodia, and our
promise never to let this happen again.
So, why is Turkey and why are we,
as Americans, letting these innocents of Kobani – the Kurds – face an
unconscionable massacre?
America could stop that
massacre by direct weapons drop to the Kurds, yet Obama resists even that
support.
America could stop the
massacre with direct, overwhelming force from the air, based on acquired
intelligence.
Instead the President
authorizes only token air strikes, making excuses shamelessly for not doing more.
By all accounts, what
he is doing qualifies as patently ineffectual and unimpressive, even if the
White House gets a good daily headline.
Turkey could also stop
that massacre.
Turkey has tanks
positioned within a stone’s throw of Kobani, on the Syrian-Turkish border.
But they are all Kurds.
And who are the Kurds?
The biggest Kurd
population in America is in Tennessee.
But internationally,
Kurds are religiously diverse, hopeful, and diffuse.
Dating to Mesopotamia,
Kurds are practitioners of Islam, Yazidism, Christianity and Judaism.
They are spread across
Syria (two million), Iraq
(six million), Iran (eight million), and Turkey (14 million).
Thus, in a way Kobani
is symbolic.
To paraphrase President
John F. Kennedy, “We are all Kobani today.”
What lies beyond
Kobani?
If ISIS terrorists have
their way, Baghdad, Medina, Mecca, and the West.
So, when will we act?
And if not for Kobani,
where?
And why is Turkey not acting?
Turkey has long been
at odds with the Kurds, who have historically pressed for autonomy, across the
region, consistent with promises made after World War I.
So, could it be –
cynical as this sounds – that a deal was actually cut with ISIS?
That the hostage deal
involves inaction as ISIS massacres the Kurds in Kobani?
No, surely, this cannot
be the motivation for inaction by Turkey.
Surely, this is not the
real answer.
And surely, as a NATO
ally of the United States, Turkish tanks will roll to save these innocents,
preventing another unconscionable killing field.
But they are not
rolling yet.
Why not?
On a different note,
what is motivating President Obama’s inaction?
Strategic ignorance is
no longer an excuse.
His actions have been
ineffectual, feckless, his bombardments leveling empty warehouses.
That is not a U.S.
strategy.
Surely, this is not an
anti-war President throwing up political flack, a few here-and-there bombs to
appear engaged, just through the coming elections.
Obama’s indifference
cannot run this deep, can it?
He would not let these
people die – knowingly, would he?
No American President
in history has wished death on innocents, and none should avert the use of
power we have to save them, right?
Then, what is Obama
doing?
How do we win this?
The answer – for Turkey, President
Obama and Congress – is: Act.
The answer is to
immediately arm the Syrian and Iraqi Kurds, for a full-on defense of their
lives, permit them survival.
To this, Obama should
add real air support not window dressing for the midterms.
He instantly should
authorize considerable monies to buy intelligence on ISIS positions in Kobani and
elsewhere.
Then, he should take
the gloves off.
He should convene a
National Security Council meeting of principals, fully empower the United
States military to initiate a robust air campaign, and drop perhaps half of the
4000 Tomahawk missiles available to him, on ISIS targets over a four week
period.
Three dozen sends the
opposite signal, weakness, indifference and indecision.
At the end of that
period, with a repeat strategy available, he should invite all ISIS combatants
left to promptly demobilize and become, once and for all, part of Iraq, Turkey or Syrian civil
society.
Syrian civil society,
you ask?
Yes.
To make this strategy work,
he will have to talk candidly with President Erdogan, persuading
him to save Kobani, in the process saving Turkey.
He should give the
green light to U.S. military commanders, get multiple carrier battle groups to
the front, and launch a real air campaign from Incirlik.
In this way, Obama’s
failing non-strategy for beating ISIS, at best containment strategy, will
become decisive, instant rollback.
More lives, land and
leadership will not be senselessly lost.
And here is the kicker.
Obama could silence the
ISIS threat with resolve and overwhelming force.
Then, in an act of
brilliant diplomacy, he could unveil a collaborative Arab nation ground force,
its mission to hold, with cooperation from Iraq and Turkey, ground
recovered (including oil production facilities) through his uncompromising air
campaign.
Finally, in tour de
force, giving Obama an unlikely legacy for incisive strategic thinking, the
President could opening path-breaking peace talks, personally brokering a
tete-en-tete between the Assad government and half a dozen “moderate” minority
and formerly warring anti-Assad groups.
Shocking the world,
Obama would win global acclaim and his second Nobel Peace Prize.
If all this is too
much, how about we arm the Kurds, convince Erdogan to forsake
his hostage deal and save Kobani, and then open a real air campaign?
As Edmund Burke once
observed, “All it takes for evil to prevail is for good people to do nothing.”
On behalf of all good
people everywhere, Mr.
Erdogan and Mr. Obama, it is time to act.
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