Patrick Smith, Fiscal Times: Obama Paid a High Price to Get Turkey to Fight ISIS
The war against the Islamic State just widened to include Turkey as a combatant. The Obama administration has long tried to persuade the Islamic government of RecipTayip Erdoğan to get into the fray, but the vital question still needs to be asked: Is this “game-changer,” as one U.S. official calls it, a good thing or a bad thing?
There’s no simple answer, but on balance, this development offers a little short-term good and a lot of long-term bad.
There is no question that ISIS threatens everyone, including most Muslims, and is now destabilizing Turkey’s southern provinces. Countering this menace is an urgent task.
WNU Editor: President Obama is denying any deals with Turkey to assist coalition efforts to stop the Islamic State .... Obama denies sacrificing Kurds to gain Turkey’s help in Islamic State fight (Washington Times). U.S. officials are saying the same thing .... US: Turkey going only after ISIL in Syria, not Kurds (Today's Zaman). Facts on the ground say otherwise .... Turkey launches another attack in Iraq against Kurdish camps (Reuters).
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