Boston Herald
By ALEXI COHAN | alexi.cohan@bostonherald.com |
U.S. Rep. Stephen Lynch blasted President Trump’s latest move regarding Turkey and Syria Wednesday, saying the president’s decision to lift sanctions on Turkey and withdraw American troops will have “disastrous consequences.”
“President Trump ceded virtually all of America’s ability to influence events on the ground in northern Syria,” Lynch said. “He abandoned our allies, the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, who for years were our partner force and the most effective fighters against the Islamic State and Iraq and Syria.”
Lynch said the move will cause a resurgence of ISIS. The chairman of the Subcommittee on National Security, Lynch held a hearing Wednesday on Trump’s decision to withdraw troops from Syria.
Lynch criticized the statement released by the White House following Trump’s phone conversation with Turkey’s President, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, saying it did not condemn Turkey’s invasion, warn thousands of displaced residents, or delay the operation.
“President Trump’s uninformed, whimsical, and indifference to loyalty and life, decisions on the phone with President Erdogan, will result in disastrous consequences for U.S. national security and has undermined U.S. credibility on the world stage,” he said in the hearing.
Trump warned that if Turkey does not honor its pledge for a permanent cease-fire, he will not hesitate to reimpose sanctions.
“The job of our military is not to police the world,” Trump said. “Other nations must step up and do their fair share. Today’s breakthrough is a critical step in that direction.
“This was an outcome created by us, the United States, and no other nation, very simple, and we are willing to take blame and we are willing to take credit,” said Trump at the White House Wednesday. “Turkey, Syria and all forms of the Kurds have been fighting for centuries. We have done them a great service, we’ve done a great job for all of them and now we’re getting out.”
Trump, who campaigned on a promise to cease American involvement in “endless wars,” took a victory lap as he cut back the American presence inside Syria in less than a year from about 2,000 troops to a contingency force in southern Syria of 200 to 300.
But the U.S. pullout was seen as an abandonment of Kurdish fighters, who have incurred thousands of casualties as they fought with U.S. forces against Islamic State militants.
Lawmakers chastised the president for abandoning the Syrian Kurds, whose fighters battled side-by-side with American troops to beat back the Islamic State group.
Herald wire services contributed to this report.
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