US President Donald Trump has taken to his favourite medium, Twitter to defend his decision to withdraw American troops from Syria, slamming critics for allegedly being hypocritical. Trump noted that any other US president would have been applauded for such a decision.
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. ISIS is mostly gone, we’re slowly sending our troops back home to be with their families, while at the same time fighting ISIS remnants……
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 31, 2018
READ MORE: US Withdrawal From Syria a Step in Right Direction — Russian Envoy to UN
Trump argued that he had always campaigned against "never ending wars", but at the same time achieved much in defeating the Daesh* in Syria, claiming that US troops will be returning home "with victory".
…..Except the results are FAR BETTER than I ever said they were going to be! I campaigned against the NEVER ENDING WARS, remember!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 31, 2018
I am the only person in America who could say that, “I’m bringing our great troops back home, with victory,” and get BAD press. It is Fake News and Pundits who have FAILED for years that are doing the complaining. If I stayed in Endless Wars forever, they would still be unhappy!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 31, 2018
Washington announced on 19 December that it will be withdrawing its troops from Syria within the next 60 to 100 days. US President Donald Trump justified the move by stating that the American forces had achieved their goal of defeating Daesh* in the Arab state and can now return home.
At the same time, Trump's close ally in the Congress, Lindsey Graham, told reporters on 31 December that he had discussed the withdrawal with Trump over lunch and convinced him to reconsider the decision.
"[Trump] promised to destroy ISIS. He's going to keep that promise. We're not there yet. But as I said today, we're inside the 10-yard line and the president understands the need to finish the job", he said.
The decision to pull out the country's forces was not welcomed by some US officials and was followed by two resignations — US Secretary of Defence Jim Mattis, who announced that his views were no longer aligned with Trump's, and Brett McGurk, special presidential envoy for the US coalition in Syria.
*Daesh (also known as ISIS/ISIL/IS) is a terrorist organisation banned in Russia