Pence and his wife make surprise Thanksgiving visit to troops in Iraq
AL ASAD AIR BASE, IRAQ
Vice President Mike Pence on an unannounced visit to Iraq told U.S. troops on Saturday that he wanted them to have a pay raise but Congress was engaged in “partisan politics” instead of doing its job.
He expressed gratitude to the troops at Al Asad Air Base for their service during a visit ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday, saying at this “special time of year” they are in the hearts of all Americans.
Pence said the administration would fight to make sure troops had the resources needed for their mission. “But we need Congress to do their job,” he said. “The truth is Congress should have finished their work on defense appropriations months ago. But you all know partisan politics and endless investigations have slowed things down in Washington, D.C.”
He also praised the killing of Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi by U.S. forces in October.
Pence said that he was with President Donald Trump in the White House situation room during the operation listening. “I’ll never forget the words. 100 percent confidence. Jackpot. Over,” he recalled to applause.
Pence told the troops that he brought greetings from Trump. “The president wanted us to be here at the start of this holiday week to make sure you all know how thankful we are in America,” he said.
“And I know it doesn’t beat a home-cooked meal or spending time with your families, but we hope that maybe we brought a little bit of home here to Al Asad,” he said.
Pence served turkey to troops in the dining room, piling generous helpings of meat on their plates and greeted the soldiers by name — “Hey Gomez,” “Hey Mitchell,” “Hey Hulac,” — and asked them where they were from, offering a personal anecdote for each place. Orange County? “Our kids learned to surf.” Louisville, “a great place.”
Karen Pence had to prod her husband away from the reception line, telling him he needed to let someone else finish the job. “They tell me I gotta stop talking to people,” he said.
Pence then went to Erbil, where he also spoke to troops and served them turkey. He met with the president of the Kurdish region of Iraq, Nechirvan Barzani, and said they spoke about Trump’s decision to leave U.S. troops in parts of Syria. Pence pledged to keep pressure on the Islamic State.
Trump ran for office on a pledge to curb U.S. involvement in “endless wars” in the Middle East and justified his troop drawdown in Syria on that basis. The policy won him the support of anti-war lawmakers, but it was roundly rejected by topranking Republicans in Congress.
Asked if there was a sense of betrayal from the Kurds that needed to be smoothed over as a result of Trump’s actions in Syria, Pence replied: “I don’t think there was any confusion now among the leadership here in the Kurdish region of President Trump’s commitment to our allies here in Iraq as well as those in the Syrian Defense Force, the Kurdish forces who fought alongside us. It’s unchanging.”
Pence did not meet with the prime minister or president of Iraq during his visit, but said that he discussed the protests and unrest in Iraq in a phone call with Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi shortly after landing. “He pledged to me that they would work to protect and respect peaceful protesters as part of the democratic process,” Pence said to reporters traveling with him.
The Iraqis were informed of the secret trip on Thursday evening, according to Katie Waldman, spokeswoman for Pence.