US President Donald Trump has defended his decision to withdraw American troops from Syria, saying he is “just doing what I said I was going to do” during his 2016 election campaign.
Trump made the comments on Monday, one day after Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, a close ally of the US leader, told reporters at the White House that Trump will reevaluate the withdrawal plan for Syria.
Graham has been a harsh critic of the withdrawal decision, which he initially called a “disaster.”
“… I campaigned on getting out of Syria and other places. Now when I start getting out the Fake News Media, or some failed Generals who were unable to do the job before I arrived, like to complain about me & my tactics, which are working,” Trump wrote on Twitter.
“Just doing what I said I was going to do!”
…I campaigned on getting out of Syria and other places. Now when I start getting out the Fake News Media, or some failed Generals who were unable to do the job before I arrived, like to complain about me & my tactics, which are working. Just doing what I said I was going to do!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 31, 2018
However, Trump asserted that US forces are being sent home “slowly,” adding to the uncertainty about the timetable of an action that has drawn widespread criticism.
The US has stationed about 2,000 soldiers in several bases across Syria since
“If anybody but Donald Trump did what I did in Syria, which was an ISIS loaded mess when I became President, they would be a national hero,” Trump said in another tweet earlier on Monday, using another acronym for the terror group also known as Daesh or ISIL.
Trump announced his decision to withdraw the US troops from Syria on Wednesday, asserting that ISIL had been defeated.
Trump’s unexpected announcement shocked top US officials and allies.
France, a leading member of the so-called anti-Daesh coalition, has said it would keep troops in Syria.
The decision to withdraw ran counter to Defense Department and State Department messaging on US policy in Syria, and led to the resignation of Defense Secretary James Mattis.
Mattis wrote in his resignation that he and the Trump did not see eye to eye, adding that it was the president's right to choose a defense secretary whose views were “better aligned” with the views of the Commander in Chief.
The US deployed troops and equipment to Syria in 2014 as part of a Washington-led coalition that is supposedly fighting ISIL.
The terror group is widely reported to be financed by Saudi Arabia and partially trained and protected by American forces in Syria to support the terror campaign against the Syrian government and ordinary citizens.