Remember ISIS? They’re the rabidly Muslim group that imitated their prophet Muhammad directly. Indeed, at The Stream I’ve called them the “Muslim Franciscans.”

ISIS murdered tens of thousands of Christians and other non-Muslims, and Muslims who disagreed with them. They chained up and raped thousands of girls and women as sex slaves. They sponsored or encouraged dozens of brutal terror attacks throughout the West and in America.

ISIS Will Rise Again, Thanks to Turkey, al Qaeda, and the U.S.

And now they have lost their only really effective enemy. The Syrian Kurdish/Christian alliance called the Syrian Democratic Forces were the first to beat ISIS in battle. They conquered its capital of Raqqa, and ended its pretensions to be a “caliphate.” They did so in partnership with a few U.S. advisors and some modest American help.

But now the SDF have announced that they’re pulling out of the fight against ISIS. So we can expect that brutal organization to make a resurgence in Syria and Iraq. Who knows if they will get so strong that they must be attacked again? But if that happens, American soldiers will have to do the fighting. The Syrian Kurds are out.

Abandoning Our Allies

Why? Because we abandoned our only real allies in the region. We left them to suffer a brutal invasion by Turkey and the forces of al Qaeda. (Yes, that al Qaeda.) All in service of the expansionism of Islamist dictator Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey. So the Syrian Democratic Forces have pulled out of the fight against ISIS. Now they will send their brave soldiers, men and women, Muslim and Christian, to fight against a NATO member and its terrorist militias.

So to save their women and children now, the Kurds and Christians are leaving ISIS alone. If anyone fights ISIS now, it will American soldiers and airmen, whose flag-draped coffins will stream back into the U.S. by the hundreds, and maybe the thousands.

In a statement, the Syrian Democratic Forces cited “the increase in the Turkish brutal air and land bombardment causing dozens of civilian innocent victims. … We would not take this decision if it had not been for the international silence towards the Turkish aggression.”

The facts are clear: The only force in Syria that favors religious freedom and rights for women regards Turkey and al Qaeda to be greater threats than ISIS. They share the same ideology as ISIS, drawn from the same branch of the same religion. Turkey even helped ISIS over the years, buying its oil and keeping it going. Now it will fill ISIS’s sandals and reenact its crimes.

Kurds and Christians Will Now Fight a NATO “Ally,” Turkey

So to save their women and children now, the Kurds and Christians are leaving ISIS alone. If anyone fights ISIS now, it will be American soldiers and airmen, whose flag-draped coffins will stream back into the U.S. by the hundreds, and maybe the thousands.

Now that’s a foreign policy triumph of which President Trump can be mighty proud: Leaving the Kurds to suffer the fate of the South Vietnamese. Gee, won’t people be lining up to be U.S. allies next time.

How Britain Ended Up Alone in 1940

On Sunday, one of the only worthy films to be honored was Darkest Hour. It depicted a great man’s response to a desperate situation. Winston Churchill took over the reigns of Britain when it faced the Nazi juggernaut friendless, at almost impossible odds. It’s a testimony to one man’s profound leadership, and a nation’s hidden strengths.

But how did Britain get to be so friendless? By abandoning its allies and failing to keep its word. By denying obvious dangers and hiding behind wishful thinking. Remember the grand strategy of the British and French after World War I to keep Germany down: Surround it with small countries strongly motivated to resist imperialism. Keep a firm military alliance with each of them. Prevent Germany from rearming, and support its moderate politicians.

But cynicism and cowardice among leaders in Britain and France undermined this policy. Afraid of a fight, denying the plain words they read in Mein Kampf, they chose appeasement. They let first the Rhineland, then Austria, then Czechoslovakia fall to the Nazi juggernaut. They ignored Hitler’s brutalities, as today the U.S. ignores Turkey’s. They mocked the German promises to dominate all Europe.

The West’s Next Enemy: Erdogan

So today, we say nothing when Turkey meddles in Western elections. When Erdogan tells Turkish emigrants to outbreed and outvote their Christian hosts. When Erdogan blackmails the EU with threats of millions more Muslim migrants dumped on its doorstep. Just as the British pretended that the SS were not a threat, now we imagine that al Qaeda has somehow changed its stripes.

We are laying the groundwork for another “darkest hour” for Europe and for the West. Will we have a Churchill to take charge when we face our own Dunkirk? Don’t presume on God’s giving us another second chance. The next tide of Jew-hating, anti-Christian totalitarianism might well prevail. If it does, we will look back on our abandonment of the Kurds as we do on Neville Chamberlain’s pathetic surrender at Munich. It seems that “America First” has given way to “Peace in Our Time.”