Former Defense Secretary James Mattis said that President Trump’s decision to pull troops from northern Syria could lead to a comeback for the Islamic State.
“We have got to keep the pressure on ISIS so they don’t recover,” Mattis said in a Saturday preview for Sunday’s Meet the Press on NBC. “We may want a war over; we may even declare it over. You can pull your troops out, as President Obama learned the hard way, out of Iraq, but the ‘enemy gets the vote,’ we say in the military.”
He added, “And in this case, if we don’t keep the pressure on, then ISIS will resurge. It’s absolutely a given that they will come back.”
EXCLUSIVE: Former Defense Secretary James Mattis tells Chuck Todd that if the U.S. does not keep pressure, “ISIS will resurge.” #MTP #IfItsSunday
Mattis: “It’s absolutely a given that they will come back.” pic.twitter.com/5hCrrVB2j0
— Meet the Press (@MeetThePress) October 12, 2019
Mattis’ criticism follows Trump’s decision this week to pull troops from the northern border of Syria near Turkey. The area is occupied by U.S. allies, the Kurds, who have helped fight ISIS.
Turkey announced plans Wednesday to begin an invasion of the territory. Both Republicans and Democrats have accused Trump of abandoning an American ally as a result.
A Pentagon official said Friday that Turkey had shelled U.S. Special Forces, which the country insists was a mistake. However, Turkey knows where U.S. troops in the area are “down to the grid,” and United States officials are unsure if the move was intentional.
Mattis, 69, headed up the Pentagon for the first two years of Trump’s presidency. He resigned in 2018 after the president decided to lower U.S. troop presence in the Middle East.
