In December 2018, then US President Donald Trump flew into the Ain al-Assad airbase in western Iraq to wish the troops a ‘Merry Christmas’.
“We have no plans at all to withdraw from Iraq,” he told them. “Our troops will remain in Iraq to prevent the resurgence of IS (the Islamic State), safeguard American interests, and also monitor Iran’s activities. And we will monitor.”
The visit caused a rumpus when Trump insisted that the then Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi come to al-Assad base after Abdul Mahdi invited him to Baghdad. Still, it was noteworthy for Trump’s insistence that the US was staying in Iraq.
However, that was not his stance on US military presence in Syria. “I have informed the generals of our need to withdraw,” he told journalists in reference to Syria.
Not our problem
He said it was “time for others to handle the conflict, " adding that when the US intervened in Syria, “it was supposed to be for three or four months... that was many years ago”.
At al-Assad, he said: “We’re not nation-building. Rebuilding Syria will require a political solution. It’s a solution that should be paid for by its very rich neighbouring countries, not the United States. Let them pay for it. And they will.”
