I don’t believe in coincidences….

Could it just be possible that giving in to Turkish demands on the Kurds and allowing them, the Russians, Assad and the Iranians to have their way was the price Trump had to pay to provide our commandos free access to Turkish and Syrian airspace for the ISIS raid? It goes without saying that both these evolutions had to be planned concurrently, way ahead of time, even if their actual executions were separated by a few days.

And it also goes without saying all this activity in the middle east occurred just as the impeachment inquiry hearings were starting to turn over some real gold. Trump doesn’t strike me as the type to undergo highly risky moves unless he has a real good reason to do so. And it works both ways, all the drama in Washington over the hearings worked very effectively to cover up the intense diplomatic and military activity going on in the background. The higher levels of the Trump administration are rife with leakers determined to restrain or embarrass him and sabotage all his efforts. But in this case, they all came together and did their jobs because American lives were at stake.

My guess is that negotiations with all the actors on scene were going on in parallel with preparations for the Delta Force raid.
Opening an air defence “window” in both space and time was essential. The action could be done in a moment, but coordinating all the stakeholders to hold their fire at the same time must have taken quite a bit of planning and rehearsal up front. So when the US commanders decided it was time to go, a simple message to everyone else involved would have set all the wheels in motion to open the door just long enough and let the choppers in to do their work unmolested. Nothing in our military (or anyone elses) gets done on the basis of a phone call, these things are planned and rehearsed way ahead of time. Only the “Execute” signal is quick and decisive, and everybody is waiting and ready for it when it finally comes.

The tight cooperation and discretion exhibited by all our “friends” on the scene was not a surprise; after all, they all got something they wanted: a crippling blow to the remnants of ISIS, the dispersion of ISIS prisoners/fighters to Europe, the destruction of the Kurds, and the US out of northern Syria. And what did we get out of it? A great distraction from the domestic impeachment kerfuffle and the opportunity to strut a bit on the world stage and proclaim what mighty badasses we are.