Donald Trump’s plans for Syria are unpredictable, ill-informed and most likely ignorant, the White House said Wednesday in response to Trump’s charge that Hillary Clinton’s policies there would “lead to World War III.”
“He’s called for indiscriminate bombing, other times he’s chided his opponent for being too tough on Russia … It’s difficult to discern exactly what he’s advocating for in that interview,” White House press secretary Josh Earnest said, referring to a Trump interview with Reuters published Wednesday morning.
“When you look at the totality of the remarks, even over the last several months, it’s impossible to figure out if he knows what he is talking about, and even if he does, what policy” he would pursue, Earnest said.
In an interview mainly focused on foreign policy, Trump told Reuters that Clinton’s plan for Syria would lead to World War III because of the likelihood of direct clashes with Russian military forces.
Trump stressed that Russia has nuclear weapons and argued that the U.S. should abandon its goal of seeing Syrian President Bashar Assad ousted from control and focus solely on fighting the Islamic State instead.
“What we should do is focus on ISIS. We should not be focusing on Syria,” he said. “You’re going to end up in World War III over Syria if we listen to Hillary Clinton.
“You’re not fighting Syria anymore, you’re fighting Syria, Russia and Iran, alright?” he said. “Russia is a nuclear country, but a country where the nukes work as opposed to other countries that talk.”
Clinton during the debates reaffirmed her support for a no-fly zone and “safe zones” in Syria to protect civilian non-combatants. As Reuters pointed out, some analysts argue that establishing the zones would require U.S. boots on the ground or more active U.S. air patrols, which could bring the United States into direct conflict with Russian fighter jets.
