Kurds: Abandonment violates all that our flag represents

The iconic photograph, “Raising the Flag at Iwo Jima,” was taken during the World War II battle. My father, a young US Marine Corps lieutenant, was engaged in that battle.

He survived to return home and meet me four months later. By the time I was in third grade, I well knew to stand, with hand over my heart, whenever the first notes of “The Star Spangled Banner” were heard.

With a heavy heart, I watched the scene of the US military moving out of Syria on Oct. 20. Against Isis, the Kurds suffered and lost the most, their dead estimated at 11,000. Then we abandoned them with no effort to provide meaningful protection against the apparent Turkey onslaught.

Seeing the large American flags flying at the backs of the retreating military vehicles caused my greatest pain. I am ashamed of our decisions and actions. I feel for our troops who had to obey orders, which surely went against many of their principles.

And today, it was the scene of garbage being thrown at our military convoys heading east, leaving their Kurd comrades in harm’s way.

This story was originally published October 24, 2019 at 4:07 PM with the headline "Kurds: Abandonment violates all that our flag represents."