President Donald Trump's 2016 election opponent Hillary Clinton and his former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley on Monday almost simultaneously denounced his decision to withdraw American troops from northeastern Syria ahead of an expected invasion by Turkey, abandoning the Kurds who helped fight ISIS.
"Let us be clear: The president has sided with authoritarian leaders of Turkey and Russia over our loyal allies and America's own interests," tweeted Clinton, who has continued to be at odds with Trump. "His decision is a sickening betrayal both of the Kurds and his oath of office."
A minute later, Haley, who was thanked by Trump for her ambassador service when she resigned in late 2018, called his decision "a big mistake."
"We must always have the backs of our allies, if we expect them to have our back. The Kurds were instrumental in our successful fight against ISIS in Syria. Leaving them to die is a big mistake," Haley tweeted, along with the hashtag #TurkeyIsNotOurFriend.
On my timeline, nearly simultaneous: Hillary Clinton and Nikki Haley vs. Trump on Syria pic.twitter.com/TNy8aRprEP
— Steven Dennis (@StevenTDennis) October 7, 2019
Syria's Kurds, who were the United States' main allies in fighting ISIS in the region, warned that Trump's decision late Sunday to pull out of Syria could jeopardize their gains in the fight against the Islamic State group.
But in a string of tweets on Monday morning, Trump stood by his decision, saying that the U.S. was only supposed to be in Syria for 30 days and got "deeper and deeper into battle with no aim in sight."
"The Kurds fought with us, but were paid massive amounts of money and equipment to do so. They have been fighting Turkey for decades," Trump tweeted. "I held off this fight for ... almost 3 years, but it is time for us to get out of these ridiculous Endless Wars, many of them tribal, and bring our soldiers home."
Trump also made it clear that the U.S. would leave the Kurds on their own, by tweeting, "WE WILL FIGHT WHERE IT IS TO OUR BENEFIT, AND ONLY FIGHT TO WIN."
"Turkey, Europe, Syria, Iran, Iraq, Russia and the Kurds will now have to ... figure the situation out, and what they want to do with the captured ISIS fighters in their 'neighborhood,'" Trump continued. "They all hate ISIS, have been enemies for years. We are 7000 miles away and will crush ISIS again if they come anywhere near us!"
Clinton's criticism of Trump is not at all surprising, while Haley's shows a desire to stand apart from his more controversial policies.
Speaking at Elon University in North Carolina late last month, Haley said she was able to leave the Trump administration "unscathed" because "I told the president the truth."
"We never had a conflict," said Haley, who previously served as South Carolina governor. "He always heard me out. It didn't mean I won all the time, but he always heard me out and had a conversation on it."
"Life is easier when you tell the truth," she concluded.
Uncommon Knowledge
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
About the writer
A Los Angeles native, Jessica Kwong grew up speaking Spanish, Cantonese and English, in that order. Her journalism career started ... Read more
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