Today’s headlines are filled with reports of the imminent fall of the Syrian
city of Kobani to forces of the Islamic State (ISIS). There are terrifying
descriptions of an imminent massacre and the looming threat to Turkey as Islamic
State forces move ever closer to the Turkish-Syrian border. Turkish President
Erdogan waxes poetic about how he “warned the West” about the threat IS would
pose and the dangers of inaction. It seems that everyone, including security
experts and pundits, agree that the situation is critical and that US
bombardment alone is powerless to protect the town or halt IS.
And yet, somehow lost amid the din of cries for intervention is the
simple fact that it is US policy and the actions of the aforementioned Erdogan
along with his counterparts in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Jordan, United Arab
Emirates, and Israel that created ISIS, nurtured it in its infancy, promoted its
development, and unleashed it on Iraq and Syria. And now, for those same
leaders, along with a chorus of interventionist voices in the media
establishment, to sound the alarm is not only cynical and utterly disingenuous,
it is a shining example of the arrogance of empire.
Kobani and the Story Not Being Told
As fighters of the Islamic State (IS) continue their charge towards
the mostly Kurdish town of Kobani on the Turkish-Syrian border, deep cracks in
the edifice of the US-led coalition against IS have begun to emerge. Diplomatic
infighting has shattered the illusion of a cohesive and unified coalition
cobbled together by Washington. Not only have a number of countries been
apprehensive about getting deeply involved in yet another unwinnable war in the
Middle East led by the US, some ostensible allies have used the crisis as an
opportunity to achieve political objectives. Perhaps the world leader in cynical
opportunism this week is Turkish President Erdogan who has thus far refused to
involve his forces in the war on Syria unless that war has as its ultimate aim
the toppling of Syrian President Assad.
On October
7th, the NY Times ran a story with the headline Turkish Inaction on ISIS Advance Dismays the US which quoted a
senior Obama administration official saying, “There’s growing angst about Turkey
dragging its feet to prevent a massacre less than a mile from its border…After
all the fulminating about Syria’s humanitarian catastrophe, they’re inventing
reasons not to act to avoid another catastrophe…This isn’t how a NATO ally
acts.” While the obvious implication is that Erdogan could cost the US the
chance at a successful anti-terror operation, there is a subtle subtext that has
gone almost entirely unnoticed; Turkey sees in ISIS an opportunity, not a
threat.
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