Wesley Clark on Trump’s Syria withdrawal: ‘Did Erdogan blackmail the president?'
By Michael Burke - 12/24/18 09:00 AM EST
Wesley Clark, the former commander of NATO's forces, on Monday questioned whether Turkish President Recep Tayyip ErdoÄŸan blackmailed President Trump into his decision to remove U.S. troops from Syria.
"There doesn’t seem to be any strategic rationale for the decision. And if there’s no strategic rationale for the decision then you have to ask, why was the decision made?" the retired U.S. Army general and former NATO commander said on CNN's "New Day."
"People around the world are asking this and some of our friends and our allies in the Middle East are asking, did ErdoÄŸan blackmail the president? Was there a payoff or something? Why would a guy make a decision like this? Because all the recommendations were against it," he added.
https://thehill.com/policy/defense/422717-wesley-clark-on-trumps-syria-withdrawal-did-erdogan-blackmail-the-presidentAnd it isn't an unfounded question. It didn't make sense and the things he said to justify it were bizarre. Like "we are talking about sand and death" Apparently the President had other things going with Erdogan.
Trump’s Conflicts of Interest in Turkey
By John Norris and Carolyn Kenney Posted on
June 14, 2017, 12:01 am
Selling out America’s interests on the battlefield
In 2008, the Trump Organization inked into a multimillion-dollar branding deal with the DoÄŸan Group, run by one of the most politically influential families in Turkey, to build a two-tower apartment, office, and shopping complex in Istanbul. The opening ceremonies for the complex in 2012 were presided over by Turkish President Recep Tayyip ErdoÄŸan.
The very next year, in 2013, the Trump Organization entered into a partnership with luxury furniture company Dorya International to produce pieces to be sold under the Trump Home brand and distributed initially in Turkey. Dorya claims on its website to have furnished the offices of Turkey’s president, prime minister, armed forces, and embassies around the world.
During the election campaign, when then-candidate Donald Trump proposed a ban on Muslims entering the United States, Doğan Group founder and owner Aydin Doğan reportedly tried to break the contract with the Trump Organization. In addition, President Erdoğan called for Trump’s name to be removed from the towers. However, Erdoğan dropped this demand after Trump praised his response to the July 2016 coup attempt...........
https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/security/news/2017/06/14/433964/trumps-conflicts-interest-turkey/And there is more to the story at above link.