President Donald Trump defended the decision he announced Monday to withdraw American troops from Syria, despite near-universal criticism from the foreign policy establishment in Washington.
“The endless and ridiculous wars are ENDING!” Trump wrote on Twitter. “We will be focused on the big picture, knowing we can always go back & BLAST!”
The president announced Monday that he will withdraw troops from Syria, allowing Turkey to fill the void left by the destruction of the Islamic State (ISIS).
Former United States Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley criticized the decision, as did Republican Sens. Mitt Romney and Lindsey Graham. They lamented that Trump was abandoning Kurdish allies who helped the United States destroy ISIS.
But Trump said he had a political mandate to withdraw.
“I was elected on getting out of these ridiculous endless wars, where our great Military functions as a policing operation to the benefit of people who don’t even like the USA,” Trump said.
Trump explained that Russia and China celebrated the ongoing American involvement in the Middle East, which sapped the strength of the United States.
“The two most unhappy countries at this move are Russia & China because they love seeing us bogged down, watching over a quagmire, & spending big dollars to do so,” Trump wrote. “When I took over, our Military was totally depleted. Now it is stronger than ever before.”
Trump said he would monitor the Turkish actions in Syria and punish them economically if they crossed American interests.
“As I have stated strongly before, and just to reiterate, if Turkey does anything that I, in my great and unmatched wisdom, consider to be off-limits, I will totally destroy and obliterate the Economy of Turkey (I’ve done before!),” he said.
The president stated that it was up to Europe to handle the ISIS prisoners, which was part of the deal with Turkey.
“The U.S. has done far more than anyone could have ever expected, including the capture of 100% of the ISIS Caliphate,” he wrote. “It is time now for others in the region, some of great wealth, to protect their own territory.”