Kurdish Intelligence helped locate the target. Even after we betrayed them.

[deminks]

Link to tweet

"A senior American official confirmed that Kurdish intelligence officials in both Syria and Iraq helped locate the target of the raid despite the tensions over the Turkish operation."

(end snip)

Yet he only thanks his dicktater amigos.

[Igel]

1. So, is the only reason the Kurds were fighting ISIS to curry favor with the US?

Because if it wasn't, then there are two sides.

We used them to secure our ends. It avoided the chance of attacks on US persons as well as helping the more general moral ends of "avoid oppression".

They used us to secure their ends. It avoided the chance of attacks on Kurdish civilians as well as helping the more general moral ends of "avoid attacks."

Which would be more likely if ISIS were resurgent--attacks on US persons out of theatre or attacks on Kurdish civilians in theatre? I'd say the latter. In which case it was more clearly in the immediate interests of the Kurds to provide the intelligence.

Rather than splitting this particular point, however, it's best to say that "disagreement over one thing doesn't preclude cooperation on other things of great mutual interest." For many in current Western politics this seems heretical, I know, but still it's something that unenlightened people do from time to time. Perhaps eventually we will all show how much we love and want to help others by letting them die to preserve our ritual cleanliness by refusing to deal with the unclean. (I mean, really, actually reach out and touch a Samaritan?)

[abqtommy]

2. There's nothing that I've ever observed in the behavior of the Kurds to suggest

that they're stupid. They know that "we" didn't betray them. They know it was tRUMP's doing and their intelligence assistance shows that they're still true to their original mission and to the greater good
of their US allies, in spite of the corrupt US "leader". Besides, the Kurds know that if they flatter tRUMP properly he may back down on his contempt for them. It's a predictable strategy.

The death of any prominent political/military leader doesn't really change things on the ground, it just gives people like tRUMP and his cultists a chance to gloat. Believe me, the new ISIS leader took charge 5 minutes after the attack.

There's lots of backstory here and we already know most of it. Remember when the death of Osama
bin Laden solved the problems of Mideast unrest and terrorism? Yeah, of course we don't remember
it since it didn't work out that way. At all.