Trump defends northern Syria withdrawal
Erdogan ignores his letter warning ‘don’t be a fool’
WASHINGTON • President Donald Trump on Wednesday attempted to distance himself from the escalating chaos in northern Syria after his decision to withdraw U.S. troops from the region and lashed out at lawmakers on both sides of the aisle critical of the decision.
In remarks in the Oval Office early in the day, Trump insisted that the conflict between Turkey and the Kurds was “over land that has nothing to do with us” and that the Kurds, who served as a U.S. ally against the Islamic State, were “no angels.”
“There’s a lot of sand they can play with,” Trump said as he sat alongside visiting Italian President Sergio Mattarella. “It’s possibly never going to be very stable.”
Trump’s decision to pull U.S. troops from northern Syria has led to a cascade of bipartisan criticism as worries grow that Turkey’s military offensive will lead to the slaughter of Kurds and the release of Islamic State fighters jailed in the region.
Trump has defended the decision, but he has sent mixed signals by downplaying the region’s importance to the United States while striking back at critics who say he gave Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan a “green light” to invade, arguing that he has been clear he will “destroy” Turkey’s economy if the Turkish president does not back off the offensive.
Trump cited a letter he said he sent to Erdogan last week as evidence of his tough approach, although it did not deter the Turkish president from launching his attack.
“History will look upon you favourably if you get this done the right and humane way,” he wrote in a letter dated Oct. 9 and first reported by Fox News and confirmed by the White House.
“It will look upon you forever as the devil if good things don’t happen. Don’t be a tough guy. Don’t be a fool!”
It concluded: “I will call you later.”
Later Wednesday, Democratic leaders walked out of a White House meeting after what they described as an insulting and “nasty diatribe” by Trump during which he called Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi a “third-rate politician.”
“He just couldn’t handle it, so he kind of engaged in a meltdown,” Pelosi told reporters, referring to the 35460-4 bipartisan vote in the House earlier Wednesday that broadly condemned the troop withdrawal.
Later, Pelosi added: “I think now we have to pray for his health, because this was a very serious meltdown on the part of the president.”
White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham said that Trump remained “measured, factual and decisive” and that the Speaker’s decision to leave the meeting was “baffling, but not surprising.”
According to Senate Democratic Minority Leader Charles Schumer and two other officials, Trump repeatedly downplayed the threat from the released Islamic State fighters, saying America “didn’t need to worry about terrorists 7,000 miles away.”
Rep. Liz Cheney, the House Republican Conference chairwoman, spoke up to remind Trump that the terrorists who killed more than 3,000 Americans in the 9/11 terrorist attacks “came from 7,000 miles away” themselves.
At another point, Schumer began reading to the president comments from former defence secretary Jim Mattis on NBC’s “Meet the Press” this week.
Mattis, whose resignation last year centred on his disagreement with Trump on Syria, said the United States needed to keep up the pressure in the region.
Trump then interjected, calling Mattis the “world’s most overrated general” and remarked that he wasn’t “tough enough” and that Trump himself “captured” the Islamic State, according to three officials familiar with the comments.
Earlier in the day, Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham, normally an ally of the president, said his comments Wednesday “completely undercut” Vice-President Mike Pence and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who are heading to Turkey to urge Erdogan to embrace a ceasefire and negotiate with the Kurds.
“I worry we will not have allies in the future against radical Islam, ISIS will reemerge, & Iran’s rise in Syria will become a nightmare for Israel,” Graham tweeted. “I fear this is a complete and utter national security disaster in the making and I hope President Trump will adjust his thinking.”
At the news conference, Trump also said the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or the PKK — a militant group that has regularly launched attacks inside Turkey in the name of Kurdish nationalism — “is probably worse at terror and more of a terrorist threat in many ways” than the Islamic State.
“So it’s a very semi-complicated — not too complicated if you’re smart,” Trump said.
“But it’s a semi-complicated problem, and I think it’s a problem that we have a very nicely under control.”
I FEAR THIS IS A COMPLETE AND UTTER NATIONAL SECURITY DISASTER IN THE MAKING.