U.S. military keeps 50 nuclear weapons on Turkish airbase, and now they're 'Erdogan's hostages'
The chaos resulting from Donald Trump's seemingly out-of-the-blue decision to withdraw U.S. troops from their positions in Kurdish-held Syria, greenlighting an all-out Turkish invasion, continues to grow. Trump's move was so precipitous that U.S. forces in the region were caught completely unaware. That includes U.S. nuclear forces.
As reported by The New York Times: "[O]ver the weekend, State and Energy Department officials were quietly reviewing plans for evacuating roughly 50 tactical nuclear weapons that the United States had long stored, under American control, at Incirlik Air Base in Turkey."
They didn't move them, the Times reports. "Those weapons, one senior official said, were now essentially Erdogan's hostages."
What happens to those 50 nuclear weapons now is a bit dicey. Turkish forces have been firing at U.S. troops in Syria—or were, until Trump responded by ordering a full retreat, fleeing the Turkish advance. There is word that Turkish-allied forces have been releasing ISIS prisoners as they advance, as well. U.S. military officials now have to decide whether to leave the nuclear weapons in Turkey, under the assumption that U.S.-Turkish relations will not collapse completely in coming days, or hastily fly them out.
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2019/10/14/1892405/-U-S-military-keeps-50-nuclear-weapons-on-Turkish-airbase-Now-they-re-Erdogan-s-hostages
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