After playing clips featuring 1) Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan saying that air strikes alone cannot combat terrorism without cooperation with troops on the ground and 2) State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki discussing the apparent “gains made” by Iraqi security forces, syndicated columnist Charles Krauthammer threw cold water on the current America assessment of the situation.
Krauthammer also told “Special Report” host Bret Baier the State Department’s claim of great advances in Iraq is “complete nonsense.” He emphasized the importance of defending the Syrian Kurds, though adding that the U.S. really isn’t doing much to help, telling the host the minuscule number of airstrikes right now is “utterly meaningless.”
“Look, what’s happening TODAY in Kobani very important. For all the happy talk we just heard from the State Department spokesman about our great advances in Iraq is complete nonsense. What’s happening now in Syria is so important.”
“The Kurdish enclaves, the Kobani’s the heart of it, is a Syrian/Kurdish enclave trying to hold out against ISIS. We are talking about having no American’s on the ground — fine. So instead we’re going to develop a 5,000 man army of Syrian so-called ‘moderates’ who won’t even be ready for a year. That’s a farce. There are people on the ground, they’re called the Kurds. The Syrian Kurds right now are trying to hold their ground. They are being defeated and routed. It would be a tremendous strategic and symbolic victory if ISIS succeeds, and right now it is.”
“And what’s it getting from the U.S.? It isn’t that we can’t defend them unless we have the troops on the ground. We’re doing practically nothing from the air. Five airstrikes today: utterly meaningless, when, in fact, we should be, and could be, doing a massive air campaign in support of these Kurds because if this falls, its going to be a huge setback for the United States and for any of the good guys on the ground in both Syria and Iraq.”