Military service is for "suckers."
President Donald Trump defended his controversial military draw-down in Syria during a surprise trip to Iraq on Wednesday, telling American soldiers stationed in the war-torn country that the U.S. military is no longer the laughingstock of the world.
"We're no longer the suckers, folks," Trump told troops at the Al Asad Airbase in western Iraq while gushing about the genius of his military pullout in neighboring Syria. "We're respected again as a nation."
Thousands of American troops have been in Syria and Iraq for years as part of an international coalition to defeat the Islamic State terrorist group.
But Trump abruptly announced last week he's withdrawing all remaining U.S. forces from Syria because he claimed the terror group has been defeated _ even though some extremist militants remain in the country's eastern regions. The president's surprise withdrawal stunned his own military leaders and resulted in Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and top envoy on Islamic State Brett McGurk resigning in protest.
In what marks his first visit to a combat zone since taking office, Trump insisted to the troops in Iraq that the U.S. mission in Syria is done.
"I made it clear from the beginning that our mission in Syria was to strip ISIS of its military strongholds," Trump told soldiers dressed in fatigues during a hanger rally. "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."
Trump's unannounced visit to Iraq comes as a large swath of the federal government remains closed because of a congressional standoff over Trump's demand for a border wall with Mexico.
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