Every worst case scenario in the region has been fulfilled.
The concerns were multifold.
One, that the Kurdish allies of the United States
who actually fought Isis in northern Syria
would be overwhelmed and in some cases
slaughtered by the Turkish forces.
That happened.
There was concern that the Russians, who
had been trying to use Syria as a way
to re-enter the Middle East into the vacuum
to replace the United States as a major player in the region.
That was a fear.
That's happened.
And then that Bashar al-Assad, the Syrian dictator,
who was on the verge of falling just a few years ago under
the Obama administration - that he would able to reassert his
power in the region.
That's happened as well because he's
been able to move his forces into northern Syria as well.
So the three worst case scenarios
that the Americans had feared in the region
have all happened over the course of the last week.
With the implementation of the ceasefire,
the United States will not impose any further sanctions
on Turkey.
And once a permanent ceasefire is in effect
the president has agreed to withdraw
the economic sanctions that were imposed this last Monday.
You have, obviously, Pence and Pompeo flying to Ankara
to meet Erdogan to try to get him to stop what he's doing.
Now remember, this is, again, just a week after Trump himself
basically gave Erdogan a green light
to move into northern Syria by pulling out
American forces in the region, and over a phone call,
basically saying, this is up to Erdogan to deal with.
That obviously created a huge backlash domestically.
We've seen the Democrats, in particular...
there were huge clashes at the Oval Office between Nancy
Pelosi and Donald Trump over this, where they just basically
blew up at each other.
But it's not just the Democrats criticising Trump on this.
You have really the most senior national security Republicans,
who have been allied with Trump for a long time,
really coming after him on this.
Mr President, if you don't understand
that Isis is coming back you're missing a lot of good advice.
If you don't understand these bastards would kill us all
if they could you're not listening
to what they're saying.
And if you abandon these Kurds it would be a stain
on your presidency and our honour.
And how do you fix this?
You lead.
You tell Erdogan, I am speaking for a nation now.
I have the backing of the United States Congress.
We will not tolerate this.
We want a good relationship, but you're destroying it.
And I have the backing of the United States Congress.
I've got the backing of people who want to impeach me.
And I've got the backing of the people who
are going to defend me.
We've heard word out of Ankara that the Turks are incredibly
happy with the deal they've done because it has allowed them
to create what they've always wanted to create,
which is a base of operations in northern Syria,
a "buffer zone," quote, unquote, in which they basically
can clear out all Kurdish forces,
regardless of their affiliation.
The Turks have always been, in many ways, existentially afraid
of the Kurdish threat.
The PKK, the Kurdish workers' party,
has been a terrorist organisation inside Turkey.
They've caused untold damage and death inside Turkey.
The Kurds that had worked with the Americans in northern Syria
were not of the PKK.
They may have had some overlap.
But this was a separate organisation that the Americans
felt they were able to work with and did not pose a threat
to the Turks.
The Turks obviously felt otherwise.
And they finally get their ability
to clear out any Kurdish forces, any Kurdish operations,
in northern Syria, which is exactly what they have wanted,
for almost no cost.
There is nothing that the Americans
were asking for other than the stopping of hostilities.
Trump has said he would stop the sanctions against Turkey
for their operations if they are able to allow the Kurds to pull
out of the region.
And as a result, we've also seen,
you know, hundreds if not thousands of Isis fighters
who were captured in northern Syria
and were being detained by the Kurds, a real risk of them
coming back to the battlefield and fighting again
for another day.
And again, talk about worst case scenarios.
That would be the worst case scenario
for the US because of all the blood and treasure
used to round up those Isis fighters inside Syria.