Pentagon chief goes totally undiplomatic against Turkey

US Defence Secretary Mark Esper, still fairly new in the job, dropped all pretence of being diplomatic towards one of America's strongest Nato allies and went for Turkey in a big way in a statement last night. I assume he did so under strict instructions from the White House. I cannot believe he came up with this sort of verbal attack on his own, no offence meant. Normally when the US or anyone else in Nato faces trouble with an alliance member the language is carefully couched, underlining the importance of the particular country but appealing for common sense or whatever it might be. But in his statement, Esper accused Turkey of "irresponsible actions" by advancing across the border into northern Syria. He said it put at risk the anti-Isis campaign, let loose dangerous Isis prisoners, placed American forces in the northeast in danger and opened the door to a wider conflict. He also accused Turkey (for Turkey read President Erdogan) of "unnecessary and impulsive action". And as if that wasn't enough angry verbiage, Esper went on: "President Erdogan bears full responsibility for its consequences, to include a potential Isis resurgence, possible war crimes and a growing humanitarian crisis. The bilateral relationship between our two countries has also been damaged." Wow! I can't think of any former US defence secretary sounding off like that against a Nato ally. There was all that trouble over Erdogan buying Russia's SS-400 anti-missile defence system instead of America's updated Patriot defence system and the quid pro quo refusal by Trump to sell Turkey any more F-35 Joint Strike Fighters, but the language was far more cautious, not nearly as belligerent as Esper's statement. It all goes back to the phone call Erdogan had with Trump. Did Trump say to him: "Don't you dare invade northern Syria because if you do, the full wrath of the whole Nato alliance will come down on you." No, I don't think so. Did Trump say, "And by the way if you kill even one Kurdish fighter who have been so loyal to all of us in the anti-Isis campaign, I will destroy Turkey's economy." No, definitely not, not then anyway. Did he say, "Ok, we understand your concern about the Kurdish terrorist threat to your country, so do whatever you have to do but do it quickly and don't go mad." Maybe he did. And then he must have said, "If you are going to come over the border I'm going to announce the withdrawal of our boys from that region." That, says everyone, was the green light Erdogan took from the phone call. But there is no mention of that in the Esper statement. Well there wouldn't be because Trump is trying to make everyone forget what he actually told Erdogan. So Esper was given his script and suddenly the US is denouncing Turkey in an unrpecedented way and the Pentagon is ordering the withdrawal to safety of all 1,000 US special operations troops from northern Syria. Now no one is Turkey's friend and the Russians, determined to play a role, have calmly announced that they will not let Turkey and Syria go to war following the Syrian army's moved up to the border. No one knows what that means. All this after one phone call between two leaders. It's a diplomatic and military disaster on all fronts.