Trump: Syria is ‘not our problem’
House votes to condemn withdrawal of US troops
WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump, facing bipartisan condemnation over Turkey’s invasion of Syria, defended his handling of the matter on Wednesday as “strategically brilliant” and downplayed the U.S. alliance with the Kurds, whom he repeatedly described as “not angels.”
“It’s not our problem,” Trump told reporters, hours before Vice President Mike Pence and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo were set to travel to Turkey to try to negotiate a cease-fire and avoid a humanitarian crisis.
Also Wednesday, the House overwhelmingly backed a resolution condemning Trump’s decision to withdraw U.S. troops from Syria, a rare bipartisan rebuke at a time when the president is trying to shore up GOP support to stave off impeachment.
After the vote, congressional Democrats walked out of a White House meeting on Syria, saying Trump was demeaning to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
“He was insulting, particularly to the speaker. He called her a ‘third-rate politician,’ ” said Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y. “This
was not a dialogue; it was sort of a diatribe.”
The House vote was 354-60, with every Democrat and more than two-thirds of the Republicans supporting the measure. Pelosi said Trump was “shaken up” by having lost so many Republicans on the vote.
“What we witnessed on the part of the president was a meltdown, sad to say,” Pelosi said.
Wisconsin’s seven U.S. House members joined the lopsided bipartisan majority. Those voting for the measure included Wisconsin’s four House Republicans: Jim Sensenbrenner, Glenn Grothman, Mike Gallagher and Bryan Steil. All three House Democrats from Wisconsin also voted yes: Ron Kind, Gwen Moore and Mark Pocan. (One of Wisconsin’s eight House seats is vacant due to the resignation of Sean Duffy of the 7th District).
In an interview Wednesday after the vote, Sensenbrenner said the president’s troop withdrawal has created in the short term a vacuum in the region that Russia is filling.
“And the long-term consequence I think is people will wonder what the word of the United States is worth, because we’ve been backing the Kurds for a very, very long time and all of a sudden that backing was pulled out almost without notice. And as a result, a group of people that has been essentially fighting on our side in all of the messes in the Middle East ends up getting a stab in the back,” said Sensenbrenner, a member of the House foreign affairs committee.
Trump’s decision to remove the troops near the Turkish border has allowed Turkey to launch an attack on U.S. Kurdish allies who helped in the fight against the Islamic State terrorist group.
Throughout the day, Trump dismissed mounting criticism on Capitol Hill and from other allies in the region while further questioning the Kurds.
During an East Room news conference with Italian President Sergio Mattarella, the president welcomed reports that Russian troops had entered regions once occupied by a small number of U.S. special forces — a stance that runs counter to the views of many lawmakers.
“Frankly, if Russia is going to help the Kurds, that’s a good thing,” Trump said.
The president’s latest remarks came days after he appeared to diminish the U.S.-Kurd alliance by saying the group is “fighting for their land” and noting that the Kurds had not fought with Allied powers in World War II. Trump said one group of Kurds, the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, was “more of a terrorist threat” than IS.
“They’re not angels,” Trump said Wednesday. “Go back and take a look.”
“What the president said today is just outrageously dangerous ... And I don’t agree with his construct that Turkey’s invasion of Syria is of no concern.”
Sen. Lindsey Graham R-S.C.
The president has repeatedly framed his decision on Syria as part of his broader pledge to withdraw U.S. troops from foreign entanglements.
But U.S. troops remained in Syria on Wednesday despite Trump’s statement that they’d been withdrawn, according to a U.S. official who was not authorized to speak publicly.
Trump’s remarks on Syria drew renewed ire from Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., who has been a close Trump ally on many issues but critical of the president’s Middle East policy.
“What the president said today is just outrageously dangerous,” Graham said. “It undercuts Pence and Pompeo. And I don’t agree with his construct that Turkey’s invasion of Syria is of no concern.”
On the battlefield, Syrian forces rolled into the strategic border town of Kobani on Wednesday night, blocking one path for the Turkish military to establish a “safe zone” free of Syrian Kurdish fighters along the frontier as part of its week-old offensive.
The seizure of Kobani by forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar Assad also pointed to a dramatic shift in northeastern Syria: The town was where the United States military and Kurdish fighters first united to defeat the Islamic State group four years ago and holds powerful symbolism for Syrian Kurds and their ambitions of selfrule.