Donald Trump's bone spurs are showing - cluster stero

Cluster of opinion echo letters published in the Kansas City Star:

1.  Honor Lost- How it is that Secretary of Defense Mark Esper doesn’t resign over Donald Trump’s ignorant, impulsive, immoral and dangerous decision to pull our special forces off the front lines in Syria and abandon our Kurdish allies, is beyond me.

Faced with a similar decision by Trump late last year, resign is exactly what his predecessor, the honorable James Mattis, did. Unlike Esper, he understood the ramifications for U.S. national and global security and the morale and fighting spirit of U.S. service members. Mattis stood on principle.

Make no mistake: Trump’s decision, made late at night Oct. 6 after a phone call with autocratic Turkish President Recep Erdogan and announced on Twitter, has set the conditions for Turkish and Russian genocide against the Kurds and the reconstitution of the Islamic State after its defeat in northeastern Syria — not to mention the horrible stain Trump’s decision has on the reputation and honor of the United States as the global leader.

As a 30-year U.S. Army veteran, I hate to ask this, but how is the U.S. still that exceptional and indispensable nation, respected around the world by friends and foes alike?

- Myron J. Griswold, Leavenworth, Kansas

2.  A Raw Deal

In the early 1990s, I spent five years in U.S. Army Special Operations Command units at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. One of these was the 3rd Special Forces, who are currently serving in northwest Syria.

I am sure the president doesn’t understand the bond that develops between groups that have stood in combat together. Service to country and to others wouldn’t even occur to him. Betrayal of allies is what we should expect when he sees a better deal elsewhere.

From Richard Randolph III, Lenexa

3.  A Line Crossed
Abandoning the Kurds was the last straw for me to abandon the big tent after 50 years of voting Republican.

Perhaps there will be future GOP candidates with spines, integrity, decency and ethics for me to vote for, but all I see now are future generations lined up to defile the graves of those who did not do their duty to stop the rot in Washington.

H. Jonathan Pratt, Kansas City