BAGHDAD – The US President Donald Trump and the first lady made a surprise visit to Iraq Wednesday to pay a holiday visit to the stationed troops.
POTUS used his nighttime appearance at Al Asad Air Base west of Baghdad as a show of support to the troops who were left surprised at the visit.
Mr. Trump, who was also accompanied by his national security adviser, John R. Bolton, said that “the United States cannot continue to be the policeman of the world.”
“If they want us to do the fighting, they also have to pay a price,” Trump said at the air base amongst cheering troops.
“Sometimes that’s also a monetary price, so we’re not the suckers of the world. We’re no longer the suckers, folks. And people aren’t looking at us as suckers,” the outspoken leader said.
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Trump remained on the ground for about three hours, greeting enthusiastic servicemen and women in their holiday-bedecked dining hall with a few of them posing for selfies with the couple.
The president told reporters that he had chosen Iraq for his first visit with troops abroad because ‘it’s a place that I’ve been talking about for many years.’
“We’re spread out all over the world. We’re in countries that most people have never even heard about. And, frankly, it’s ridiculous,” he added.
The visit comes days after the president announced that the US troops were being pulled out from Syria – a decision that shocked the global community which was expecting a stay of the troops in the Bashar al Assad-led war-battered zone.
On the other hand, Iraqi political and militia leaders have condemned US President Donald Trump’s trip as a violation of their country’s sovereignty.
Sabah al-Saadi, the leader of the Islah parliamentary bloc, called for an emergency session of the parliament “to discuss this blatant violation of Iraq’s sovereignty and to stop these aggressive actions by Trump who should know his limits: The US occupation of Iraq is over”.
“Trump’s visit is a flagrant and clear violation of diplomatic norms and shows his disdain and hostility in his dealings with the Iraqi government,” Al-Jazeera quoted a statement from Bina (Islah’s rival group).
