President Trump is intensifying his defense of removing troops from northern Syria, saying he fulfilled a campaign promise and that a subsequent Turkish invasion was not his responsibility.
“We have a situation where Turkey is taking land from Syria. And Syria is not happy about it,” Trump said Wednesday. “Let them work it out. We shouldn’t be over there.”
In a defiant series of remarks to reporters, Trump said critics include “the military-industrial complex” and Syrian Kurds who were “no angels” and released Islamic State prisoners in a bid to damage him politically.
Conditions on the Turkey-Syria border were “for the United States strategically brilliant,” Trump said in the Oval Office alongside Italian President Sergio Mattarella. “Our soldiers are totally safe, they have to work it out.”
Trump spoke at length during a subsequent press conference in the White House East Room, where he equated a Kurdish political group based in Turkey with ISIS.
“It didn’t surprise me at all. They have been warring for many years. It’s unnatural for us, but it is sort of natural for them,” Trump said of Turkey’s invasion. “The PKK, which is a part of the Kurds, as you know, is probably worse at terror and more of a terrorist threat in many ways than ISIS.”
Trump spoke moments before the House voted 354-60 to rebuke his policy and shortly before a group of lawmakers visited the White House to implore him to change course.
Democrats walked out of the White House meeting after Trump allegedly insulted House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
“He said there are communists involved, and you guys might like that,” recounted Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer. Trump apparently was referring to leftist Kurdish groups, including the Turkey-based PKK and its U.S.-armed Syrian offshoot, the YPG.
Trump pushed back on suggestions that his withdrawal was abrupt and created an unanticipated power vacuum.
“I think it’s a problem we have very nicely under control,” Trump said.
Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, one of Trump’s toughest critics on withdrawing troops, “would like to stay in the Middle East for the next thousand years,” Trump said.
Although an initial White House statement appeared to endorse a Turkish intervention, administration officials have since scrambled to halt the Turkish invasion. The White House announced economic sanctions against Turkey this week, and Vice President Mike Pence is expected to depart for a peace mission to Turkey this week. Pence sat in the front row for Trump’s press conference.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan says he will not agree to a ceasefire. In response to Turkey’s invasion, Syrian Kurds reached an agreement with Syria’s government to share control of some border areas.
Trump said he approved of Russia backing Syria’s government.
“Frankly, if Russia is going to help in protecting the Kurds, that’s a good thing, not a bad thing,” he said.
Trump argued he won the 2016 election after vowing to withdraw troops from “these crazy endless wars” and would withdraw troops from additional countries.
“I campaigned on bringing our soldiers back home, and that’s what I’m doing. That includes other places, too, many other places,” Trump said. “We are in many countries. Many, many countries. I’m embarrassed to tell you how many. I know the exact number but I’m embarrassed to say it because it’s so foolish. We are protecting countries that don’t even like us. They take advantage of us, they don’t pay.”
Trump said that he recently approved the deployment of Saudi Arabia because the kingdom agreed to pay the “full cost.”
