President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump made a surprise visit to Iraq on Wednesday — their first visit to a war zone since the sitting president took office nearly two years ago.
As President Trump continues to order massive airstrikes on ISIS as the US prepares to pull out from Syria, he and the First Lady made a surprise visit to the 5,000 troops stationed in Iraq. The love between the president and the troops is quite evident, and his visit really boosted their spirits and was very well received.
Interesting side note, the president of Iraq has just ordered that Christmas be celebrated as a national holiday in the Muslim-majority nation, no doubt another great side effect of the Trump presidency. If this had happened during the Obama presidency, this news would be splashed cover-to-cover all week long, but because it happened with President Trump, you won’t hear a word of this on fake news CNN or any other others.
Donald and Melania Trump make a surprise visit to Iraq to wish troops a Merry Christmas
FROM THE DAILY MAIL UK: The White House said in a statement that the Trumps secretly traveled to Iraq yesterday evening, on Christmas, to wish service men and women a happy holiday. President Trump was in the country for more than two hours before the White House confirmed his whereabouts, a report in Bloomberg News indicated.
In a speech to the rank and file at Al Asad Airbase the president said he does not plan to withdrawal troops from Iraq and could use the site as the home base for future operations in the region.
The base is a roughly 185 kilometers outside of Syria, where the president last week initiated a withdrawal of U.S. troops. ‘It’s time for us to start using our head. We don’t want to be taken advantage of anymore,’ Trump said of the topic on Wednesday from Iraq.
We extend our warmest wishes to Christians in Iraq and around the world for a very happy and peaceful Christmas. pic.twitter.com/eqOR2JJ0LS
— Government of Iraq – الحكومة العراقية (@IraqiGovt) December 25, 2018
In photos distributed by Reuters, the president and first lady posed for selfies with the troops. The president spoke to military and political leaders at at the airbase that is west of Baghdad, as well.
‘IF WE SEE SOMETHING HAPPENING WITH ISIS THAT WE DON’T LIKE, WE CAN HIT THEM SO FAST AND SO HARD THEY REALLY WON’T KNOW WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED,’ THE PRESIDENT SAID. ‘WE’VE KNOCKED THEM SILLY.’
The flight to and from Iraq takes 14-odd hours to make and the president was not expected to return to the United States until Thursday, when lawmakers were also due to be back in Washington, which is currently in the throes of a government shutdown.
The secret trip came amid speculation that President Trump was not at the White House, because he had not tweeted for hours and the marine that stands guard when he’s in the Oval Office was not outside the West Wing.
President Trump had said he would visit Afghanistan at some point but visited Iraq first over the Christmas holiday, several days after announcing that he will be pulling U.S. troops out of Syria.
In a statement posted on Twitter, White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders confirmed the visit in a tweet shortly after Reuters shared the photos of the president.
‘President Trump and the First Lady traveled to Iraq late on Christmas night to visit with our troops and Senior Military leadership to thank them for their service, their success, and their sacrifice and to wish them a Merry Christmas,’ she said. READ MORE