Army combat casualty services

Here is the link to the testimony.  Lister Written Testimony

Should be fun for his fans in Congress who have lined their pockets with Turkey lobbyists’ cash when US SOF start being murdered by Erdogan.  Hearing

Ilham Ahmed is a co-president of the Democratic Council of Syria.

On Tuesday, Turkey bombed the headquarters of Kurdish fighters in northern Syria, killing 20 of our soldiers. Immediately after the strike, the leaders of our forces — known as the People’s Protection Groups, or YPG — rushed from their operations center near Raqqa, where they’ve been working with the U.S. military to push the Islamic State out of its Syrian stronghold, to view the site of the attack. The American colonel and other officers who accompanied the YPG leaders were met by tens of thousands of protesters, including the mothers of soldiers who have died fighting the Islamic State. They asked the Americans a simple question: “How is it possible that our soldiers are fighting with you against ISIS while your ally Turkey is attacking us here?”

This is not the first time that Turkey has attacked us. Turkish planes and artillery have been bombing northern Syria for more than a year, and Turkish forces invaded the country last year. In each case, the Turks have acted under false pretenses. They claim to have invaded Syria to fight terrorism, and yet the groups they support on the ground (Ahrar Al Sham and Nour Eddin Al Zanki) share the same jihadist ideology that the United States has been fighting since 9/11.

The Turks said they bombed our headquarters because they claimed our territory is being used to launch attacks against Turkey, but those accusations are unfounded. Let me be as clear as can be: We have never used northern Syria to launch any attack against Turkey. If Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan doesn’t trust us when we say this, fine. But why can’t he trust the U.S. personnel in our area who assure him of the same?

Erdogan justifies these illegal attacks with the same baseless claim: that the YPG is the same as the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which is currently fighting the government inside Turkey. This claim is based on the fact that we share a founder and many intellectual values with the PKK — but this is equally true of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), a legal political party in Turkey with 58 members in the Turkish parliament. They are no more PKK than we are, and any attempt to equate us with the PKK is disingenuous.

Erdogan knows this. He knows that our political and military leadership is completely separate from that of the PKK. He knows that any attempt to combine YPG with PKK would run contrary to our core value of decentralization of power. He knows we are not using northern Syria to launch attacks on Turkey. He knows all this. He just doesn’t care.

Erdogan is trying to force the United States to choose between us and Turkey. We don’t think such a choice is necessary, but it is worth considering what that choice entails. We, the Democratic Council of Syria, are an alliance of progressive, democratic parties that govern the Northern Syria Federation. Though we are besieged from all sides (by the Islamic State, the Assad regime and Erdogan’s Turkey), our region is more stable than any other part of the country. So much so, in fact, that in addition to our population of 3 million, we have taken in an additional 500,000 refugees (Christians, Sunnis, Shiites, Armenians and Yazidis) from across Syria.

Sadly, there is a stark contrast between our democratic, egalitarian and progressive society and that of our neighbor, where Erdogan is consolidating power and turning Turkey into a totalitarian state. This is further shown by his recent “victory” in this month’s constitutional referendum, which he conducted after arresting a vast number of lawmakers, political leaders, journalists, union members and military leaders who do not agree with the Turkish president’s political narrative.

Ironically, in pushing the United States to choose between us and him, Erdogan is only bringing further attention to the fact that Turkey is not a true ally of the United States. Consider this: While we are fighting for our people’s right to freedom from tyranny, Erdogan is tyrannically denying freedom to his own people. While we are fighting and dying side by side with the U.S. military in the campaign against the Islamic State, Erdogan is turning a blind eye to terrorism and supporting groups that overtly espouse jihadist ideals.

If Erdogan were a true U.S. ally, then instead of dropping bombs on the headquarters of the YPG, which currently hosts more than 1,000 U.S. military personnel, Turkey would seek to destroy al-Qaeda, which has set up bases in Idlib, right along the Turkish border. Al-Qaeda in Idlib is among the largest affiliates in the organization’s history. (That’s according to U.S. officials, by the way.) Yet Turkey does nothing.

While Turkey turns a blind eye to terrorism, the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), in which the YPG plays a big role, is only 10 miles away from Raqqa, the so-called capital of the Islamic State’s self-proclaimed caliphate. The SDF also controls 70 percent of another strategic city called Tabqqa and is in full control of its air base that was taken from the Islamic State by the SDF. In the past month alone, the SDF captured dozens of villages around Raqqa from the Islamic State, and we will not stop until the last supporter of the caliphate has been vanquished.

To be clear, we do not want to escalate the conflict with Turkey. Yes, we believe that Erdogan, who is turning a blind eye to terrorism as he aspires to build his totalitarian state, is on the wrong side of history. As he looks outward in his aggression, we look inward, in a spirit of optimism and progress, toward a better Syria.

We do not believe that the United States needs to choose between us and Turkey. With each passing day, however, it becomes clearer who the United States’ true ally in this conflict is.

20170427 (230) Letter to court from Brafman

Exhibit 1

Exhibit 2

Exhibit 3

Exhibit 4

Exhibit 5

20170427 (231) Letter to court Atilla

There is report that claims that among the Yazidis (also victims of genocide) and Kurds Turkey also targeted Syrian Christians at Dêrik. Here it is.  Turkey Bombs Syrian Christians.  If that is proven to the satisfaction of the U.S. prosecutors, it may mean any U.S. person assisting Turkey’s military in that operation or others could arguably be committing a capital offense under US law.  But, for Recep Tayyip Erdoğan President of Turkey, he may be in for a surprise when he visits.

You may recall that, in part due to pressure from the US Christian right, Congress pressured the U.S. State Dept. to certify that ISIS attacks on “Christians” were acts of genocide under U.S. law.  Here is the State Dept. Announcement.

So, if the CIA and the NSA has proof that Erdoğan and his family are actually helping ISIS (and I think they do) then these acts arguably fall within the scope the State Dept. determination.  So to make it simple, Turkey acting for ISIS murdered Christians who are victims of ISIS genocide.  Erdoğan gave the orders so he is responsible.

So, what does that mean under U.S. Law?

U.S. Criminal Code 18 U.S.C. Section 1091 provides that acts of genocide that result in a death are subject to capital punishment.  Here is the statute.

Note, that there is no statute of limitations and, as we have seen from other cases, there is no sovereign immunity for Erdoğan and his ISIS family members.

For any U.S. person who assists in genocide they would be subject to the statute’s jurisdiction regardless of where they are.  (One reason U.S. folks should keep Erdoğan at arm’s length).   But what about Erdoğan? He can’t be subject to U.S. jurisdiction, can he?

Only if he comes to the U.S. See .  18 U.S.C. Section 1091 (e)(2)(D).

See you soon Recep!

P.S. Because the Alptekin connection to Flynn makes this all Russian related, Trump probably won’t even know the Erdoğan warrant has been issued.

The US Constitution, limits what a former US military officer can do as follows:

No Title of Nobility shall be granted by the United States: And no Person holding any Office of Profit or Trust under them, shall, without the Consent of the Congress, accept of any present, Emolument, Office, or Title, of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince, or foreign State.

Article I Section 9

But Congress has acted and all you need to do is ask for permission as follows:

J

Turkey has been moving forces around the Syrian border for some time.  Monday night the Turkish Air Force likely using US build F-16s, dropping US made bombs, attacked the YBŞ and PKK sites in Sinjar.  The PKK remains a US listed Foreign Terrorist Organization (“FTO”).  The Yazidis YBŞ is not a list FTO.

Preliminary reports are that one of two target sites was around Sinjar the bombing was near Yazidis refugee sites on the mountain where the Yazdis took refuge from ISIS.  The YBŞ are the home defense force of the surviving Yazidis in Sinjar who were the victims of an indisputable act of ISIS genocide.  Last night their militia were attacked because of there proximity to the PKK.  In my opinion possibly at the orders of Al Baghdadi.

In addition to the attacks in Iraq that included the non-FTO YBŞ, there are many credible reports that the Turkish Air Force also bombed an area of  North Eastern Syria occupied by a US ally the #SDF.  YPG and YPJ that are not FTO’s are part of the #SDF a US ally fighting ISIS under the congressional authority contained in the 2001 Authorization for the Use of Military Force (“AUMF”).  US forces are routinely embedded near YPG YPJ forces.  So there is a chance that US  forces came under fire too. In my view the attack on the #SDF could make out a cognizable act of war against the US.

Turkey will say they attacked the PKK that US has listed but Turkey also considers the term PKK to include the YPG  & YPJ who are in the SDF and are not listed FTO’s.   So when Trump said to Erdogan, “let’s kill some PKK terrorists,” was he aware he was authorizing killing our allies in the SDF who are not a listed FTO?

Though he touts being a great deal maker, Trump has likely never had a call with somebody like Erdogan.   Barack Obama cursed poor Joe Biden with the thankless task of talking to the Great Prevaricator Erdogan.

There was something in the read out of the Trump-Erdogan call, widely attacked for its brevity.   Look at the end. “All groups that use terrorism. .  .”  That’s the magic, “kill all the Kurds you want” language that Erdogan needed.

Did Trump, the dumb guy from Queens, fall for it? Or was he in on it all along?

At best, Trump was taken by Erdogan in the call.  Made to look a fool. That’s the best that can be said for Trump.   The worst?

He committed treason.

https://twitter.com/spettypi/status/854138657174958080

Link:  20170420 Indictment

Link to the court filing here: 20170419 (225) Letter to court from Brafman