RUTHFULLY YOURS

White House pool reporter Brian Bennett of Time magazine reports from Al Asad Air Base, a joint U.S.-Iraqi facility west of Baghdad:

Trump: “I want to come and pay my respects most importantly to the great soldiers, great troopers we have here.” While in Iraq, President Trump met with U.S. military leaders and spoke to troops.

Nancy Youssef notes in the Journal:

Surprise visits by commanders in chief have been a hallmark of the holiday season since President George W. Bush made a surprise visit to Iraq in 2003 for Thanksgiving. President Bush and President Obama, who each made multiple trips to Iraq and Afghanistan, always received warm receptions from the forces as they dished out holiday meals, shook hands and rallied troops away from their families.

On this year’s visit to thank the troops, President Trump also received a briefing from military commanders and then took questions from reporters. In response to a media query on his decision to withdraw troops from Syria Mr. Trump said that he had given “the generals” multiple six month “extensions” to get out of Syria. Mr. Bennett adds in his pool report:

Trump said: “They said again, recently, can we have more time? I said, ‘Nope.’ You can’t have any more time. You’ve had enough time. We’ve knocked them out. We’ve knocked them silly. I will tell you that I’ve had some very good talks with [Turkey’s] President Erdogan who wants to knock them out also and he’ll do it. And others will do it to. Because we are in their region. They should be sharing the burden of costs and they’re not.

“The United States cannot continue to be the policeman of the world.”

“It’s not fair when the burden is all on us, the United States.”

“… In Syria, Erdogan said he wants to knock out ISIS, whatever’s left, the remnants of ISIS. And Saudi Arabia just came out and said they are going to pay for some economic development. Which is great, that means we don’t have to pay.”

“We are spread out all over the world. We are in countries most people haven’t even heard about. Frankly, it’s ridiculous.”

When asked why he chose to make the trip during the partial shutdown of the federal government, Mr. Trump replied:

We actually had a couple set up but were canceled for security reasons because people were finding out. Pretty sad when you spend 7 trillion dollars in the Middle East and going in has to be under this massive cover with planes all over and all of the greatest equipment in the world and you do everything to get in safely. Pretty sad when you spend 7 trillion dollars and you have to come in through military escorts and all of the other incredible things that they did.

Mr. Bennett notes in his press pool report that when Mr. and Mrs. Trump entered the base’s dining hall, more than 100 “service members in uniform stood and clapped.” He adds:

Trump and Melania made their way through the crowd for about 15 minutes. Trump stopped to talk and signed several red Make America Great Again hats service members had brought. At one point he signed an embroidered patch that read “TRUMP 2020.”

One man with the name SINGER on his uniform shook Trump’s hand. Trump turned to the reporters: “He came back into the military because of me,” Trump said. Turning to the man, Trump added: “And I am here because of you.”

As he walked by the press pool, Trump told Steve Holland from Reuters that he was pleased about his meeting with military leaders. He said they have a “great plan.” “You’ll see. I wish I could tell you,” Trump said.

The Trumps then entered a large hangar and according to Time’s Mr. Bennett, “Hundreds of troops in uniform cheered.” Mrs. Trump gave the troops and their families greetings for the holidays and then spoke for so many Americans when she said, “I’m very proud of you.”