THE LEAD STORY – TRUMP FLIES TO IRAQ, TELL U.S. TROOPS ‘WE’RE RESPECTED AGAIN AS A NATION’: After a secret 11-hour journey aboard Air Force One, President Trump arrived in Iraq on the day after Christmas in a show of support for the U.S. troops stationed there. The president also took the opportunity to inform U.S. service personnel about his recent decision to pull American forces out of Syria.
Trump – who was accompanied on the trip by first lady Melania Trump -- said the U.S. mission in Syria was to strip the Islamic State terror group (ISIS) of its military strongholds, not to be a nation builder. He said that's a job that should be shouldered by other rich nations — reiterating his America First policies and an ideology that challenges America's roles as global cop.
"I made it clear from the beginning that our mission in Syria was to strip ISIS of its military strongholds," Trump told troops at Al Asad Air Base, west of Baghdad.
The president said the U.S. presence in Syria was never to be "open-ended," and that Turkey has agreed to eliminate ISIS remnants. - Reported by Travis Fedschun and Frank Miles
- Trump visits troops in Germany after surprise Iraq stop
- Christian Whiton: After Mattis, Trump needs a very different kind of defense secretary
- John Dale Grover: Trump should consider withdrawing from Iraq as well as Syria
- Kennedy: Pulling out of Syria sets a bad example
No hay comentarios:
Publicar un comentario