The United States of Betrayal

U.S. Policy Decisions on Support for Partners and Allies: Selected Historical Cases

President Donald Trump addressed the Iranian people on February 28, urging them to rise against the government and stating that America would back them with overwhelming strength. Less than five months later, at the NATO summit in Ankara, Turkey, Trump stated that Iranian opposition forces lacked the capacity to prevail, noting they had no guns while the other side had machine guns. In an interview with the Washington Post on the first day of the Iran conflict, Trump described freedom for the Iranian people as a goal. These statements form part of a pattern of U.S. policy adjustments toward groups that had received prior encouragement or assistance.

During the American Revolution, several Native nations assessed their positions amid the conflict between colonial forces and Britain. The Oneida Nation separated from the majority of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy, which aligned with British forces. Historian Heather Bruegl has stated that Oneida support helped the Continental Army during the winter at Valley Forge by alleviating supply shortages. The Pentagon has recognized this assistance as sustaining the army during a difficult period. Following the war, Oneida land holdings, initially estimated at five to six million acres, were reduced to approximately 32 acres by the early 1900s through subsequent treaties and federal actions.

The Lenape people signed an agreement with the emerging United States that included pledges of mutual support and provisions for a Native-governed territory. The agreement dissolved shortly afterward. State Department historical records note the death of Lenape leader White Eyes, with American officials attributing it to smallpox while other accounts indicated militia involvement. Some Lenape fighters continued to assist Continental forces, and a delegation sought to restore the arrangement. In 1782, Pennsylvania militia killed 96 members of a neutral Christian Lenape settlement at Gnadenhutten, including 39 children.

In World War II, approximately 250,000 Filipinos served in units integrated with U.S. forces. After the war, Congress passed and President Harry Truman signed the Rescission Act of 1946, which excluded that service from eligibility for certain U.S. military benefits. The act was enacted on the same day the United States granted independence to the Philippines on July 4, 1946, transferring responsibility for veterans’ affairs to the new Philippine government.

Also during World War II, the Office of Strategic Services provided arms and training to Vietnamese forces opposing Japanese occupation. In September 1945, Ho Chi Minh declared Vietnamese independence in Hanoi, drawing language from the U.S. Declaration of Independence. U.S. policy subsequently supported French efforts to reestablish control in Vietnam. Over the following decades, the United States provided military aid, advisers, and combat forces to the government of South Vietnam. In 1973, the United States and North Vietnam signed the Paris Peace Accords. Two years later, U.S. forces completed their withdrawal from South Vietnam as North Vietnamese forces advanced.

Counterintelligence officer Stuart Herrington, who participated in the final evacuation from the U.S. Embassy in Saigon in April 1975, later described assurances given to Vietnamese personnel on the embassy grounds. The evacuation proceeded by helicopter without accommodating all those present. In neighboring Cambodia, the U.S.-supported government fell in 1975. In Laos, Hmong forces that had cooperated with U.S. operations faced reduced support after 1975; some survivors remained displaced into the 2000s.

Before the 1956 uprising in Hungary, U.S. radio broadcasts and leaflets criticized the government and referenced the possibility of external support. János Rainer of the 1956 Institute Foundation has noted that these messages created expectations of assistance. Soviet forces suppressed the uprising, resulting in approximately 20,000 casualties and subsequent executions and imprisonments. Writer Tamás Aczél, who left Hungary that year, later observed that Western statements on liberation had not been matched by military action.

In 1961, the United States trained and equipped Cuban exiles for an operation at the Bay of Pigs. Participants had been told to expect air support and possible reinforcement. President John F. Kennedy canceled a second round of airstrikes. The landing force was defeated, and surviving personnel were captured. CIA operative Grayston Lynch later reported radio exchanges with U.S. Navy vessels that declined direct intervention under standing orders.

U.S. contacts with Kurdish groups date to the 1920s and continued through later decades. In the early 1970s, the United States coordinated with Iran to provide assistance to Kurdish forces in Iraq. After the arrangement ended, Iraqi government forces conducted operations against Kurdish areas. A subsequent congressional report described the operation as a limited effort without expectation of sustained commitment. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger stated that covert actions should not be equated with missionary work.

During the 1991 Gulf War, President George H.W. Bush publicly called on Iraqis to remove Saddam Hussein. Shia populations in southern Iraq and Kurdish populations in northern Iraq initiated uprisings. Iraqi government forces suppressed both, with reported deaths reaching approximately 20,000 Kurds and up to 60,000 Shia. No direct U.S. military intervention occurred in those regions at that time.

After the 2003 Iraq war and the subsequent rise of the Islamic State, Kurdish-led forces participated in operations against that group between 2014 and 2017. In September 2017, a referendum in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq showed 93 percent support for independence. Iraqi federal forces, supported by Hashd al-Shaabi militias, later retook disputed territories including Kirkuk. The United States did not provide military assistance to the Kurdish side during that operation. In 2019, the United States withdrew forces from parts of northeastern Syria, after which Turkish military operations began in areas previously held by the Syrian Democratic Forces.

During the U.S. military presence in Afghanistan, hundreds of thousands of Afghan nationals worked with U.S. military, diplomatic, and contractor personnel. Following the 2021 withdrawal, many of those individuals faced uncertain status regarding relocation or protection.

These episodes illustrate repeated instances in which U.S. policy toward local partners changed in response to shifting strategic priorities, domestic legislation, or decisions by subsequent administrations. In each case, the groups involved had operated under earlier understandings of support that were later modified or ended.