Trump's war against Turkey for Pastor Brunson
August 14, 2018
Donald Trump. Image: Wikimedia / Michael Vadon CC BY-SA 4.0
Every year thousands of American citizens are imprisoned abroad. But President Trump has decided to go to war to secure the release of just one of them. What's it all about?
By Jacob G. Hornberger / Anti-war
The citizen who receives the preferential treatment is Andrew Brunson, an American pastor who is imprisoned in Turkey. He is accused of participating in 2016 in a coup attempt against Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
President Trump is upset over Brunson's arrest and detention. To pressure Erdogan to release Brunson, Trump has imposed rigorous economic sanctions on Turkey, which have contributed to a serious financial crash in the country. The Turkish lira, which had already lost around 45 percent against the dollar this year, hit a low on Sunday and plummeted another 7 percent on Monday. Erdogan trumped Trump's sanctions with a "stab in the back."
Meanwhile, the US mainstream press jumps on the release Brunson train ("Free Brunson!"). An editorial in the New York Times on August 10 provides a good example. The Times writes:
On Friday, Mr. Trump announced in a tweet that he has ordered a doubling of steel and aluminum tariffs against Turkey.
The goal is to force Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to release Andrew Brunson, an American and Christian evangelical pastor who has been arrested by Turkey since 2016 on fabricated allegations of aiding and abetting Erdogan's failed coup. (Emphasis added)
The reason why I emphasized the term "invented" is that when I read it, I immediately responded: How does the New York Times editorial board know that the allegations are "invented"? How do you know that Brunson is innocent? There is no indication in the editorial that the Times has reviewed any evidence the Turkish authorities might have against Brunson.
How does Trump know that Brunson is innocent? How can he be so sure that Brunson is innocent, that he is ready to inflict massive economic damage on the Turkish people by his unilateral imposition of severe economic sanctions?
But I do not say that Brunson is guilty. I have no idea if he is guilty or innocent. I just ask, how do Trump and the New York Times know he's innocent? Does it matter to her whether he is guilty or not?
After all, are not they after these foreign regimes around the world that have imprisoned thousands of other Americans? Why not take action against these regimes to secure the release of these Americans? Why only Brunson? What is different about him?
According to the Times editorial, the Turkish authorities have arrested another 19 Americans. But the focus of the US is primarily on Brunson. What does that mean?
Also note this fascinating excerpt from the Times editorial:
So far, the Turks have absurdly blamed the United States government for complicity in this 2016 coup attempt .... (Emphasis added)
Absurd? Why absurd?
Of course, it is not clear what the Times calls "absurd." The Times could say that it has reviewed top-secret CIA files on Turkey and concluded that there is no evidence to support the Turkish claim. However, my guess is that that's not what the Times means, especially since the CIA is not about to let anyone access their secret files about Turkey or any other country.
What the Times undoubtedly meant is that it is simply "absurd" to think that the CIA would initiate or participate in such a coup. But that is the core task of the CIA - the regime change, be it through coup or murder. The entire history of the CIA is full of coups. Only recently was the CIA putsch in Ukraine, which ended with the big uproar over Crimea with Russia. If we go back in history, we have the coups of the CIA in Iran, Guatemala, Chile, Brazil and others, along with repeated attempts to assassinate or assassinate people like Patrice Lumumba and Fidel Castro.
The only thing that is really absurd is the idea that the possibility of a CIA coup is absurd. Of course, if the CIA were involved in the attempted coup against Erdogan, we would not know it until 25 to 30 years, as in other coup attempts initiated by the CIA.
The fact that the US national security state has specialized in coups endangers Americans traveling abroad. That's because, whenever a coup d'état occurs, the government in question is likely to come to the conclusion that all the Americans who are in the country are CIA resources that help drive the coup d'état. I would not be surprised certainly if the Turkish authorities had concluded that Brunson is a CIA operative, especially after the Turks have heard about the overwhelming negative reaction of US officials and the US mainstream press on his detention.
The Times editorial points to Erdogan's authoritarian policies and practices. Unfortunately, the Times does not indicate the dark irony in all this is that membership in America's NATO committed the American people automatically to defend this authoritarian, dictatorial and freedom-hostile regimes, if it is ever attacked by another country.
Another dark irony is that Trump himself, by unilaterally imposing sanctions - that is, without any congressional approval - waging war against Turkey, pursues the same authoritarian, dictatorial policy as Erdogan.
After all, an American citizen takes risks when traveling abroad. Arrest and detention, even under false charge, is always a risk. If an American does not want to take that risk, he should stay home. He can not expect Big Brother / Big Daddy to come to his aid when he gets into trouble, especially because the United States Constitution does not allow Big Brother / Big Daddy.
https://www.contra-magazin.com/2018...ie-tuerkei-fuer-pastor-brunson/?cn-reloaded=1