‘We’re no longer the suckers of the world,' Trump tells troops in Iraq

Trump makes unannounced visit to US troops in Iraq

President’s first visit to a war zone comes a week after he announced he would withdraw troops from Syria

David Smith Washington bureau chief

 @smithinamerica

Thu 27 Dec 2018 01.19 GMT First published on Wed 26 Dec 2018 19.44 GMT

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/dec/26/trump-iraq-visit-us-troops-shutdown

‘We’re no longer the suckers of the world,' Trump tells troops in Iraq – video

Nearly two years into his presidency, Donald Trump has made his first visit to a war zone with a surprise trip to Iraq.

The unannounced visit a day after Christmas came after the US president faced growing pressure to spend time with troops on the frontline.

It also comes a week after the president stunned his national security advisers by announcing that he would withdraw US troops from neighbouring Syria, where they have been fighting Islamic State militants, prompting the resignation of the defense secretary, Jim Mattis.

Trump made the secret 11-hour flight on Air Force One with lights off and window shades drawn plus military jet escorts. He was accompanied by the first lady, Melania Trump, and national security adviser, John Bolton.

Asked if he had concerns about making the trip, the president told reporters: “I had concerns about the institution of the presidency. Not for myself personally. I had concerns for the first lady, I will tell you. But if you would have seen what we had to go through in the darkened plane with all windows closed with no light anywhere. Pitch black. I’ve been on many airplanes. All types and shapes and sizes.

“So did I have a concern? Yes, I had a concern.”

The president spent around three and a half hours at al-Asad airbase in western Iraq but did not visit Baghdad. He met US military leaders and addressed hundreds of troops. A scheduled in-person meeting with Iraq’s prime minister, Adil Abdul-Mahdi, was cancelled.

The tweet was accompanied by an 83-second video clip that showed Trump, wearing suit and tie, giving a thumbs-up as he was flanked by Melania and soldiers in helmets and combat fatigues. The video showed him shaking hands, signing autographs and posing for photos, then wearing a green bomber jacket as he addressed troops in a hangar.

In a speech lasting roughly 20 minutes, Trump reportedly said he has “no plans at all” to remove American troops from the country. But he defended his decision to withdraw all 2,000 US troops from Syria.

“We’re no longer the suckers, folks,” he told the troops. “We’re respected again as a nation.”

Trump continued: “I made it clear from the beginning that our mission in Syria was to strip Isis of its military strongholds. Eight years ago, we went there for three months and we never left. Now, we’re doing it right and we’re going to finish it off.”

Though Isis has lost a significant amount of territory in Iraq and Syria, it is still seen as a threat.

Trump argued that the US presence was never intended to be “open-ended” and that Turkey had agreed to eliminate remnants of the Isis terror group still remaining in the country.

Earlier, Trump took questions from reporters. He described how he gave “the generals” multiple six-month “extensions” to get out of Syria. Trump said of the generals: “They said again, recently, can we have more time? I said, ‘Nope.’ You can’t have any more time. You’ve had enough time. We’ve knocked them out. We’ve knocked them silly.”

The US cannot continue to be the policeman of the world, he added. “In Syria, [Recep Tayyip] Erdoğan said he wants to knock out Isis, whatever’s left, the remnants of Isis. And Saudi Arabia just came out and said they are going to pay for some economic development. Which is great, that means we don’t have to pay.

“We are spread out all over the world. We are in countries most people haven’t even heard about. Frankly, it’s ridiculous.”

Trump had planned to spend Christmas at Mar-a-Lago, his private club in Florida, but stayed behind in Washington due to a partial government shutdown prompted by a stalemate between him and congressional Democrats over his demand for a wall along the US-Mexico border.

Fifteen years after the 2003 invasion, the US still has more than 5,000 troops in Iraq supporting the government as it continues the fight against remaining pockets of resistance by the Islamic State group.

Trump, who speaks often about his support for the US military, had faced criticism for not yet visiting US troops stationed in harm’s way as he approaches the halfway point in his presidency. He told the Associated Press in an interview in October that he “will do that at some point, but I don’t think it’s overly necessary”.

Trump’s visit marks the sixth time that a US president has visited Iraq.

George W Bush went to Iraq in November 2003, about eight months after that conflict began. Due to security concerns, Bush waited until 2006 to make his first visit to Afghanistan. Barack Obama visited Iraq in April 2009 as part of an overseas tour and went to Afghanistan in 2010.

The vice-president, Mike Pence, visited Afghanistan in December 2017, soon after Trump outlined a strategy to break the impasse in America’s longest war.

Asked why he wanted to come to Iraq, Trump told reporters: “It’s a place I have been talking about for many years, many, many years. I was talking about it as a civilian. ”

"Falso diagnóstico" de bicos de papagaio nos pés livraram Trump do Vietname

As filhas de um médico podólogo, que já morreu, garantem que o seu pai ajudou Donald Trump a livrar-se do serviço militar no Vietname

Paula Sá

26 Dezembro 2018 — 19:11

https://www.dn.pt/mundo/interior/falso-diagnostico-de-bicos-de-papagaio-nos-pes-livraram-trump-do-vietname-10366775.html

Elysa Braunstein e Sharon Kessel, filhas de Larry Braunstein, afirmaram ao New York Times que, em 1968, o seu pai fez, a título de "favor", um falso diagnóstico de osteófitos - vulgo bicos de papagaio - nos pés, que terá permitido ao agora presidente dos Estados Unidos livrar-se do serviço militar.

Em troca, segundo as duas filhas do médico, Barry obteve acesso a Fred Trump, pai de Donald Trump e proprietário do prédio de Queens no qual funcionava o seu consultório. "Se houvesse alguma coisa errada no prédio, o meu pai ligava a Trump, que tratava do assunto imediatamente. Este foi o pequeno favor que recebeu", disse Elysa Braunstein ao jornal americano.

O New York Times não conseguiu encontrar a documentação sobre a família do médico que comprou a clínica de Braustein ou dos Arquivos Nacionais para corroborar a versão das filhas de Larry Braunstein, que morreu em 2007.

Trump teve direito a quatro adiamentos no alistamento enquanto estudava na Universidade de Fordham de Pensilvânia, embora tivesse sido dado como apto para o serviço militar em 1966. Mas em 1968 foi medicamente desqualificado, segundo o registo que se encontra no Arquivo Nacional. O livro não detalha, no entanto, o motivo pelo qual Trump reprovou no exame. O serviço de seleção destruiu todos os registos médicos e arquivos individuais, depois de em 1973 os militares passarem a ser voluntários.

Durante a campanha para a presidência dos Estados Unidos, o seu staff argumentou que teria sido dispensado do serviço militar por problemas nos pés, mas nunca foram claros sobre a razão que o fez não participar na guerra do Vietname. Trump também sempre prestou poucas declarações sobre a natureza da doença, que o deixou desqualificado para para servir as forças armadas americanas, a não ser em caso de emergência nacional.

As filhas de Larry Braunstein disseram ao New York Times que o pai, que era democrata, tal como elas, estava inicialmente orgulhoso de ter ajudado alguém famoso, mas depois ter-se-á cansado das excentricidades de Donald Trump.