Home
Trump Makes Surprise Visit to Iraq to See American Troops
President Trump and Melania Trump pose for photos as they greet members of the United States military in a dining hall at al-Asad air base, on Wednesday during an unannounced trip to Iraq.CreditAl Drago for The New York Times
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
Image[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
President Trump and Melania Trump pose for photos as they greet members of the United States military in a dining hall at al-Asad air base, on Wednesday during an unannounced trip to Iraq.CreditCreditAl Drago for The New York Times
By Annie Karni and [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
[size]
WASHINGTON — President Trump visited American military forces in Iraq on Wednesday, a surprise trip and the first visit to troops stationed abroad in a combat zone by a commander in chief who has made withdrawing the United States from foreign wars a signature issue.
The trip, shrouded in secrecy, came in the [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] and less than a week after Mr. Trump disrupted America’s military status quo and infuriated even some of his staunchest political allies by announcing plans to [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] and about [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]. That decision on Syria, made over the objections of American military generals and civilian advisers, led to the [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.], and fueled tensions within the national security establishment.
The place Mr. Trump chose to visit is the one theater of war where he has not promised a rapid drawdown of forces — and it is where he claims his greatest military victory, the defeat of the Islamic State in Mosul, the Iraqi city where the group’s leader, [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] declared the beginning of its self-proclaimed caliphate. The assault on Mosul by Iraqi forces, backed by Americans, began under President Barack Obama but culminated in the summer of 2017 under Mr. Trump.
Mr. Trump, who was accompanied by his wife, Melania Trump, was expected to make two stops on his post-Christmas trip, delivering a holiday message to the more than 5,000 American forces stationed in the country.
“President Trump and the First Lady traveled to Iraq late on Christmas night to visit with our troops and Senior Military leadership to thank them for their service, their success, and their sacrifice and to wish them a Merry Christmas,” Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the White House spokeswoman, said in a tweet.
[/size]
Visiting troops abroad is a cherished tradition for presidents. President George W. Bush served Thanksgiving turkey to the soldiers in Baghdad in 2003, in the early days of the Iraq War. Mr. Obama flew to Baghdad in April 2009, four months after his inauguration, winning cheers when he told the troops it was time for the Iraqis to take responsibility for their own country. He visited Afghanistan four times while in office.
[/size]
You have 3 free articles remaining.
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
[size]
But nearly two years into his presidency, Mr. Trump had yet to visit any troops abroad, [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] from various corners.
After he canceled a rainy-day visit to an American cemetery outside of Paris last month during a World War I battlefield commemoration, he told Chris Wallace, the Fox News anchor, that he had not visited troops abroad because of “an unbelievably busy schedule.”
Mr. Trump ran for the presidency on a platform of bringing the troops home from Afghanistan and Syria, part of a broader strategy of ending nearly two decades of American military interventions — from Iraq and Libya to Syria and Afghanistan — that he criticized as costly, ineffective and at odds with his “America First” foreign policy.
But the United States still has 14,000 troops in Afghanistan and about 2,000 in Syria. While the number of casualties in these conflicts is a fraction of what it was during the two previous administrations, the fact that American troops are still on the ground — in the case of Afghanistan, 17 years after they were first deployed — attests to the difficulty of extracting the country from these entanglements.
Mr. Trump’s trip came at a sensitive moment, as the president’s clash with Mr. Mattis over the troop withdrawals opened a rift between the commander in chief and the military.
Over the weekend, Brett McGurk, the special presidential envoy to the coalition fighting the Islamic State, [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.], telling colleagues that he could not in good conscience carry out Mr. Trump’s newly declared policy of withdrawing American troops from Syria. Mr. McGurk, a seasoned diplomat who was considered central to the fight against the terrorist group, had originally planned to retire in February.
Mr. Trump’s announcements on Syria and Afghanistan have left a trail of confusion, with White House officials unable to explain the timetable for the withdrawals or their strategy to prevent a return of radical extremism in either country.
Adding to the sense of uncertainty is the partial shutdown of the government, which does not affect active-duty military but had led Mr. Trump to cancel his holiday visit to his Florida estate, Mar-a-Lago, and remain sequestered in the White House.
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.], the first lady, made calls from the West Wing to troops stationed abroad, though he was criticized in the media for being the first president since 2002 not to visit troops or wounded warriors on the holiday.
Mr. Trump says he has “done more for the military” than many of his recent predecessors but had not made visiting active duty military personnel a priority.
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.][/size]
President Trump and Melania Trump pose for photos as they greet members of the United States military in a dining hall at al-Asad air base, on Wednesday during an unannounced trip to Iraq.CreditAl Drago for The New York Times
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
Image[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
President Trump and Melania Trump pose for photos as they greet members of the United States military in a dining hall at al-Asad air base, on Wednesday during an unannounced trip to Iraq.CreditCreditAl Drago for The New York Times
By Annie Karni and [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
- Dec. 26, 2018
[size]
WASHINGTON — President Trump visited American military forces in Iraq on Wednesday, a surprise trip and the first visit to troops stationed abroad in a combat zone by a commander in chief who has made withdrawing the United States from foreign wars a signature issue.
The trip, shrouded in secrecy, came in the [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] and less than a week after Mr. Trump disrupted America’s military status quo and infuriated even some of his staunchest political allies by announcing plans to [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] and about [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]. That decision on Syria, made over the objections of American military generals and civilian advisers, led to the [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.], and fueled tensions within the national security establishment.
The place Mr. Trump chose to visit is the one theater of war where he has not promised a rapid drawdown of forces — and it is where he claims his greatest military victory, the defeat of the Islamic State in Mosul, the Iraqi city where the group’s leader, [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] declared the beginning of its self-proclaimed caliphate. The assault on Mosul by Iraqi forces, backed by Americans, began under President Barack Obama but culminated in the summer of 2017 under Mr. Trump.
Mr. Trump, who was accompanied by his wife, Melania Trump, was expected to make two stops on his post-Christmas trip, delivering a holiday message to the more than 5,000 American forces stationed in the country.
“President Trump and the First Lady traveled to Iraq late on Christmas night to visit with our troops and Senior Military leadership to thank them for their service, their success, and their sacrifice and to wish them a Merry Christmas,” Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the White House spokeswoman, said in a tweet.
[/size]
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
[size][You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
President Trump and the First Lady traveled to Iraq late on Christmas night to visit with our troops and Senior Military leadership to thank them for their service, their success, and their sacrifice and to wish them a Merry Christmas.
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
Visiting troops abroad is a cherished tradition for presidents. President George W. Bush served Thanksgiving turkey to the soldiers in Baghdad in 2003, in the early days of the Iraq War. Mr. Obama flew to Baghdad in April 2009, four months after his inauguration, winning cheers when he told the troops it was time for the Iraqis to take responsibility for their own country. He visited Afghanistan four times while in office.
[/size]
You have 3 free articles remaining.
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
But nearly two years into his presidency, Mr. Trump had yet to visit any troops abroad, [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] from various corners.
After he canceled a rainy-day visit to an American cemetery outside of Paris last month during a World War I battlefield commemoration, he told Chris Wallace, the Fox News anchor, that he had not visited troops abroad because of “an unbelievably busy schedule.”
Mr. Trump ran for the presidency on a platform of bringing the troops home from Afghanistan and Syria, part of a broader strategy of ending nearly two decades of American military interventions — from Iraq and Libya to Syria and Afghanistan — that he criticized as costly, ineffective and at odds with his “America First” foreign policy.
Editors’ Picks
But the United States still has 14,000 troops in Afghanistan and about 2,000 in Syria. While the number of casualties in these conflicts is a fraction of what it was during the two previous administrations, the fact that American troops are still on the ground — in the case of Afghanistan, 17 years after they were first deployed — attests to the difficulty of extracting the country from these entanglements.
Mr. Trump’s trip came at a sensitive moment, as the president’s clash with Mr. Mattis over the troop withdrawals opened a rift between the commander in chief and the military.
Over the weekend, Brett McGurk, the special presidential envoy to the coalition fighting the Islamic State, [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.], telling colleagues that he could not in good conscience carry out Mr. Trump’s newly declared policy of withdrawing American troops from Syria. Mr. McGurk, a seasoned diplomat who was considered central to the fight against the terrorist group, had originally planned to retire in February.
Mr. Trump’s announcements on Syria and Afghanistan have left a trail of confusion, with White House officials unable to explain the timetable for the withdrawals or their strategy to prevent a return of radical extremism in either country.
Adding to the sense of uncertainty is the partial shutdown of the government, which does not affect active-duty military but had led Mr. Trump to cancel his holiday visit to his Florida estate, Mar-a-Lago, and remain sequestered in the White House.
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.], the first lady, made calls from the West Wing to troops stationed abroad, though he was criticized in the media for being the first president since 2002 not to visit troops or wounded warriors on the holiday.
Mr. Trump says he has “done more for the military” than many of his recent predecessors but had not made visiting active duty military personnel a priority.
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.][/size]
» Judy, MilitiaMan, Walkingstick and more......Wednesday AM 3-29-2023
» The Turkish Energy Minister denies fining his country $1.4 billion in the case of exporting Kurdista
» Integrity: the arrest of a wanted former trade official after his return from outside Iraq
» Report: Paving the Silk Road passes through pumping more Chinese loans to transit countries
» The Finance Committee breaks its silence: Al-Halbousi is alone discussing the budget in his private
» What is the benefit of the return of Iranian-Saudi relations to Iraq? Parliament answers
» Ports: 3 Travelers Were Arrested In Possession Of 522 Master Card Cards Intended For Smuggling
» Seizing A Factory For Industrial Fraud And Counterfeiting Trademarks, And Arresting Its Owner In Bag
» Iraq and Romania are discussing a mechanism for mutual coordination to support expertise between the
» The Agricultural Bank launches car purchase advances
» Al-Sudani calls for solving citizens' problems without waiting for the Prime Minister's directives
» Parliamentary Work: We have obligated local and foreign companies to employ the Iraqi workforce and
» Iraq Ports Company: The completion rate of the Al-Faw Grand Port project has reached more than 44.5%
» The head of the Service Council mortgages the launch of appointments to two issues and talks about t
» The Iraq Stock Exchange ends the day's trading, down 0.49%
» The arrest of a former official in the Ministry of Commerce after his return from abroad
» “Al-Kazemi incites Washington by inciting against Al-Sudani.” An American network warns the former p
» Deputy likely date of inclusion of the draft budget law on the agenda of Parliament
» The Central Bank of Iraq announces the imminent issuance of a decision regarding the possibility of
» Rashid: The United Nations has shown interest in helping Iraq solve water problems
» Exposing corruption and waste of public money worth 123 billion dinars in Basra (documents)
» After abolishing it years ago.. Restoring the provincial councils for the benefit or for the interes
» With rising prices, drought and lack of subsidies threaten the livestock market in Iraq
» The Iraqi Central Bank wants to issue a denomination of 20,000 dinars: we will issue a decision to p
» International trade obliges Iraq to pay compensation to Ankara in the arbitration case
» Declining Central Bank of Iraq sales of dollars
» An Iraqi bank launches car purchase advances
» International Trade orders Iraq to pay compensation to Ankara in the arbitration case
» Experts: Growing crude sales to China reflect positively on the economy
» Integrity monitors 5,000 lagging projects worth $20 billion over 5 years
» The maximum limit is 150 million.. An Iraqi company determines deposit compensation rates
» DNO begins closing oil fields in Kurdistan
» New talk from the Central Bank regarding the exchange rate and the possibility of printing a denomin
» Minister of Labor We await approval of the budget to include 600,000 families with social protection
» Al-Sudani calls for expediting registration for health insurance: services at subsidized prices
» Investors Association: Foreign investors are now selling their shares from Iraqi companies
» Baghdad and Muscat are finalizing the memorandum of understanding in the field of combating corrupti
» Parliament hosts the representative of the International Monetary Fund
» Parliamentary Oil confirms its intention to dismiss a number of officials of the Iraqi Oil Marketing
» The Iraqi charge d'affaires in Manama (tickles) the King of Bahrain, and its government officially p
» Al-Rafidain launches a new meal from the predecessors of employees and associates electronically
» The start of the tasks of the government services team in Baghdad
» Amending the election law raises controversy
» Parliamentary Committee: Basra Oil incurred 10 billion dinars as delay fines
» Lawmakers: The three-year budget cuts the path of corruption
» Kurdistan parties do not agree on an electoral system
» The central bank records the highest cash reserve in its history
» Kurdistan loses its most prominent supporters.. Washington is "angry" with its Kurdish allies, and t
» The Sudanese registers in the health insurance electronic form
» With a value of 123 billion dinars.. Parliamentary integrity reveals corruption and waste of public
» With fears of disruption to Kurdistan's supplies, oil is approaching $79 a barrel
» The President of the Republic stresses the need to support the oil industry
» Oil: directives to expedite the investment of 200 cubic meters per day of associated gas in Dhi Qar
» A Norwegian oil company closes wells and withdraws from the Kurdistan region
» Dollar prices recorded a noticeable decline in Baghdad markets
» The Iraqi Central Bank’s sales of dollars reach more than 200 million
» In numbers.. the new taxes in the budget and its “citizen victim”
» Oil: directives to expedite the investment of 200 cubic meters per day of associated gas in Dhi Qar
» On his visit to the Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).. The Minister of Education discusses the developmen
» The Iraqi government withdraws the bill to confiscate the funds of the pillars of Saddam's regime
» Parliament passes the election law with security intervention after chaos
» Iraq makes the water file sovereign and tends to store the Turkish increase in releases
» An international report: 75% of the displaced farming families did not return to their homes
» The delegation of the Kurdistan region returns to Baghdad to discuss the settlement of previous diff
» The coordination framework is preparing to abolish the Judicial Commission and the Kirkuk elections
» Central Bank: Our measures contributed to the stability of the exchange rate
» The general amnesty returns to the fore... and a political consensus to speed up its approval
» Al-Sudani conveys the issue of water from his artistic side and makes it a sovereign file
» The Minister of Foreign Affairs directs to return the Iraqi Chargé d'Affairs to Bahrain to Baghdad
» The Minister of Finance is discussing cooperation with France and Britain in 3 sectors
» Electricity announces the operation of a crutch generation station on free national gas
» Al-Mandalawi and Al-Hakim stress the need to expedite the legislation of the budget law
» Retirement begins with the disbursement of the second meal for the beneficiaries of the category of
» Agriculture shows the mechanism of importing crops
» The Central Bank expects a decrease in the difference between the official and parallel exchange rat
» Deputy: It is expected that 15 laws will be presented to Parliament during the coming weeks
» Social protection: transgressors are held accountable and the money they received is returned
» Cabinet decisions at its meeting today
» The Social Protection Authority clarifies the mechanism for recovering money from those who violated
» Sudanese advisor: Central Bank reserves reached 115 billion dollars
» International oil prices continue to rise and are approaching $78 a barrel
» Demands for Iraq to move to put pressure on Türkiye to obtain its share of water
» Among them is the budget.. Al-Mandalawi and Al-Hakim discuss the importance of approving legislation
» KTFA Monday Night CC "Don't Go Chasing Waterfalls" 3-27-2023
» The House of Representatives is close to approving a law that has been suspended for more than a dec
» Advisor to the Prime Minister: Iraq's economy is strong and moving towards improvement
» Sudanese advisor: The official exchange rate will match the parallel exchange rate within a few week
» The most prominent of which is the discussion of the oil file.. A delegation from the regional gover
» Parliamentary Finance: We have received the draft budget and it is not necessary to return it to the
» Parliamentary mobilization for statement "One" against the dictatorship of Al-Halbousi during the se
» Framework: We will not make any concessions in order to pass the election law
» Al-Bayati: The budget will be decided during next April, and the Kurds will not hinder its passage
» With an area of 330 dunums.. revealed the details of an economic and commercial city project in Ba
» Framework: Reviewing the strategic agreement with America will be a next priority after its failure
» A parliamentary move to host the Minister of Commerce due to the delay in disbursing the ration card
» Kurdistan's oil is stacked in storage tanks after exports to Turkey stopped
» Parliament was surprised by Al-Halbousi's behavior by hiding the budget and putting forward politica
» Expert: The American presence on the borders undermines the country's security and threatens its saf