Trump's Reckless Gift to ISIS
The Mother Jones Podcast
Mother Jones
4.5 • 1.1K Ratings
🗓️ 16 October 2019
⏱️ 28 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
President Donald Trump's sudden withdrawal of United States forces from Syria last week has pitted US allies against each other, liberated ISIS prisoners and terrorist detainees, strengthened the positions of Syria and Russia, and left the region in turmoil. Without US troops preventing Turkish forces from attacking the Kurds—who had been longtime US allies in the fight against ISIS in northern Syria—Turkey has swept into the region, with 160,000 civilians on the run, according to the United Nations. Now Turkey is bombing Kurdish territory and attacking Kurdish fighters and civilians. In 2018, Mother Jones reporter Shane Bauer traveled to Syria to document merica's involvement in one of the 21st century's bloodiest conflicts. He met the Kurds who Trump effectively gave Turkey permission to kill. On this week's episode of the Mother Jones podcast, Bauer talks to host Jamilah King about what it's like on the ground—and what's next. Also on the show, our sister podcast Bite has a new series about how climate change is affecting your food. Hosts Maddie Oatman and Kiera Butler give you the highlights from "Eating in Climate Chaos."
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| 0:00.0 | This is the Mother Jones Podcast. I'm Jamila King in New York. |
| 0:05.0 | On today's show, one of the 21st century's greatest tragedies, now somehow even |
| 0:19.4 | bloodier and more desperate. Thanks to the Chaos Agent and Chief himself, President Donald Trump. |
| 0:25.6 | This was directly caused by the United States. Everybody knew this is what would happen. |
| 0:30.3 | The US essentially gave the green light. |
| 0:33.0 | Allies abandoned, a region driven into the arms of US enemies. |
| 0:39.0 | And the UN estimates that 160,000 civilians are now on the run. |
| 0:44.8 | It took a little over a week for this nightmare scenario to unfold in Syria. |
| 0:49.2 | Today, how we got here and what's next with our colleague who has been there and later on in the show |
| 0:56.7 | something completely different for you from our sister podcast that Mother Jones bite my colleagues have a brand new series coming out. You'll want to hear |
| 1:04.8 | all about it. Stick around. But first this is a tweet from our first guest today. |
| 1:18.4 | Syria is entering a whole new phase of war. |
| 1:21.9 | Hard to accept that the United States made this happen. |
| 1:25.4 | So many died for nothing, utterly heartbreaking. |
| 1:28.5 | Now what's happening in Syria can only be described as chaos after the US began pulling its forces out, abandoning |
| 1:36.0 | its Kurdish allies. |
| 1:37.3 | Desperate Kurdish forces had told us they had hoped their US allies would step in. |
| 1:42.4 | War crimes being committed by Turkish-backed rebels. hoped their U.S. allies would step in. |
| 1:42.8 | War crimes being committed by Turkish-backed rebels |
| 1:45.3 | and ISIS fighters escaping prison. |
| 1:47.6 | Turkish-backed militias took ground quickly and ruthlessly. |
| 1:50.9 | Now, having made a colossal mess of everything. |
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