Removing U.S. troops from Syria would be “the single worst decision” President Trump could make on the foreign policy stage and would create a power vacuum in the Middle East that Russia and Iran surely would rush to fill, Sen. Lindsey Graham said Sunday.
Appearing on “Fox News Sunday,” the South Carolina Republican blasted Mr. Trump’s declaration that he intends to pull roughly 2,000 U.S. troops from Syria “very soon.” U.S. troops are in Syria as part of the fight against the Islamic State.
“This is the Obama playbook: One foot in, one foot out. This is a disaster in the making,” Mr. Graham said, adding that military successes against the Islamic State could quickly be reversed with no U.S. presence.
“If we withdrew our troops anytime soon, ISIS would come back,” he said. “And you’d be giving Damascus to the Iranians without an American presence, and Russia and Iran would dominate Syria. It would be the single worst decision the president could make.”
Mr. Trump made the announcement during a speech last week near Cleveland.
“We’ll be coming out of Syria like very soon,” the president said. “Let the other people take care of it now.”
• Ben Wolfgang can be reached at bwolfgang@washingtontimes.com.
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