Lindsey Graham Calls Donald Trump’s Decision On Turkey ‘A Disaster In The Making,’ Vows Resolution To Reverse
South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham, long a vocal supporter of President Trump, tweeted Monday morning that the president’s recent military and foreign policy decision regarding Turkey is a “disaster in the making.” He even went on Fox News to criticize the move, stating that he would have expected something like this from Barack Obama, not Trump.
In a series of tweets Monday morning, Trump announced that the U.S. will no longer be involved in northern Syria, near the Turkish border, saying that ISIS has been defeated and that there is no longer any reason for the U.S. to be in the region. He then reminded his followers that one of his campaign promises was to get the U.S. out of these so-called “endless wars,” including the Syrian conflict. Trump claims the U.S. was only supposed to be involved in Syria for 30 days.
As CBS News reports, the news of the U.S. military’s departure from the region has sparked fears that Turkey will make a military incursion into the region’s Kurdish-held territory. The Kurds, the largest ethnic group in the world without their own country, have long been allies of the U.S. With American troops withdrawing, however, they are effectively going to be left at the mercy of the Turks.
Graham, in his own series of tweets Monday morning, said that the decision to pull out could be potentially disastrous.
“If press reports are accurate this is a disaster in the making,” Graham tweeted, further noting that he’d be scheduling a phone call with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to sort things out.
In a follow-up tweet, Graham laid out his fears for what could happen if this were to go through.
* Ensures ISIS comeback.
* Forces Kurds to align with Assad and Iran.
* Destroys Turkey’s relationship with U.S. Congress.
* Will be a stain on America’s honor for abandoning the Kurds.— Lindsey Graham (@LindseyGrahamSC) October 7, 2019
He then tweeted that he planned to introduce a Senate resolution to oppose the move, which he claims will get “strong bipartisan support.”
Following his tweets, Graham then did something unexpected — he called Fox News’ “Fox & Friends” to explain his opposition to Trump’s decision.
ICYMI:
Spoke with @foxandfriends this morning about the latest news on Turkey and Syria.WATCH:https://t.co/4jEcjChQvP
— Lindsey Graham (@LindseyGrahamSC) October 7, 2019
Graham said that, if he didn’t know otherwise, he’d have thought the tweets he read about the U.S. withdrawing from Syria had come from President Obama.
He then went on to call Trump’s statements about ISIS being defeated “the biggest lie being told by the administration.”
“This impulsive decision by the president has undone all the gains we’ve made, thrown the region into further chaos. I hope I’m making myself clear how shortsighted and irresponsible this decision is in my view,” the senator said.
Trump has not responded to Graham’s statements, as of this writing.
