Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) on Wednesday criticized President Trump’s decision to withdraw U.S. forces from Syria, saying the move would be an “Obama-like mistake.”
“If these media reports are true, it will be an Obama-like mistake made by the Trump Administration,” Graham wrote in a statement. “While American patience in confronting radical Islam may wane, the radical Islamists’ passion to kill Americans and our allies never wavers.”
Earlier Wednesday, The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post reported that Trump is planning to “immediately” remove 2,000 troops from northern Syria.
Trump appeared to confirm the reports in a tweet Wednesday, saying that the U.S. has “defeated” the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) in Syria.
“We have defeated ISIS in Syria, my only reason for being there during the Trump Presidency,” he tweeted.
Graham, who sits on the Senate Armed Services Committee , added that a withdrawal “would be a big win” for ISIS, Iran, Syrian President Bashar Assad and Russia.
“I fear it will lead to devastating consequences for our nation, the region, and throughout the world. … Staying there is an insurance policy against the reemergence of ISIS and destruction of our Kurdish allies who fought so bravely against them,” he added.
White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders also said in a statement Wednesday that the U.S. had defeated ISIS in Syria and confirmed that the U.S. was beginning to remove troops.
“Five years ago, ISIS was a very powerful and dangerous force in the Middle East, and now the United States has defeated the territorial caliphate. These victories over ISIS in Syria do not signal the end of the Global Coalition or its campaign. We have started returning United States troops home as we transition to the next phase of this campaign," Sanders said.
Theory: Trump pulled out of Syria to send a message to the Industrial Military complex that has (sort of) been protecting him from the Deep State that “the wall gets built or the nation building comes to an end.” could see the wall happen shortly.
Awesome! Now that our troops are coming home from Syria, they can get started on securing our border. Looking forward to watching the military build the wall.
im torn between this creating another power vacuum in the ME, but at the same time, the troops could use some rest, and can be deployed at our border where they oversee the wall construction. Im sure the men would prefer that over Syria.
Whether it’s getting Mexico to fund a border wall, prosecuting Hillary, or delivering us Trumpcare, Trump has proven to be as lying and impotent as a liberal coastal elite.
The recent change seems to be pissing off the left so it must be good. elimination of the penalty for non compliance. Sorry the SCOTUS called it a tax.
No, he was repetitively consistent - repeal AND replace, with something that covered everyone for a fraction of the price.
The man is a feckless liar, and like idiots we trusted him to deliver. Now his lies are catching up to him, and long after he’s gone the Republican party and conservatism will be tainted by him. We should have held out for better.
I’m always a bit miffed at these establishment critters when they suggest we have to remain there forever. I’d like to see us 100% out of Europe. Let them defend their crap for a while.
Laws are the responsibility of congress. Without a congress who does its job, nothing is done as proven in the last 2 years. The GOPers paid a price for their feckless deeds. The American people will now pay the price for their short sightedness.
And yet he swore repeatedly he would. He swore he would build a wall with Mexican funds, he swore he would prosecute Clinton, he swore he was the only one who could deliver what we wanted.
He lied. We fell for it. And the left will exploit that for decades. The worst part is, conservatives are responsible for our own downfall because we refused to accept that Donald is the lying, impotent grifter he never really tried to hide.
I didn’t want either, which is why I refused to vote for either. Some so-called conservatives didn’t feel the same way, and now we’re all screwed because their support for a coastal elitist peddling weak pipe dreams fooled them into taking a knee for him.
All they can do is declare war without the president. The president can veto the declaration. So, really the the Senate can only complain. They don’t have the power or authority to prevent him from pulling out troops.
