Romney blasts Trump again as Turkey launches airstrikes against Kurdish forces

President Donald Trump and Utah Sen. Mitt Romney. Photos: Gage Skidmore

WASHNINGTON D.C., Oct. 9, 2019 (Gephardt Daily/UPI) — Utah’s U.S. Senator Mitt Romney has again blasted President Donald Trump’s decision remove U.S troops from northern Syria as Turkey launched airstrikes against Kurdish forces Wednesday.

Romney tweeted Wednesday afternoon:

“Reports indicate Turkey is predictably attacking the Kurdish allies we abandoned. It’s a tragic loss of life among friends shamefully betrayed. We can only hope the President’s decision does not lead to even greater loss of life and a resurgence of ISIS.”

Turkey launched the airstrikes Wednesday in northern Syria, the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces reported.

The sudden airstrikes are causing a “huge panic” among the people in the region, SDF spokesman Mustafa Bali tweeted.

On the border, Turkish military forces are amassing with plans to cross into Syrian territory “shortly” to begin targeting Kurdish fighters in the region, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s office said Wednesday.

The White House issued a statement late Sunday following a phone call between Trump and Erdogan, in which it said the administration will neither support nor interfere with Turkey’s mission.

The White House decision generated sharp responses Monday.

Romney called the decision a “betrayal that will have grave humanitarian and national security consequences.”

A statement issued Monday by Romney and Senator Chris Murphy (D-CT), Chairman and Ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on Near East, South Asia, Central Asia and Counterterrorism, reads, in part:

“The President’s decision to abandon our Kurdish allies in Northern Syria in the face of an assault by Turkey is a betrayal that will have grave humanitarian and national security consequences. After enlisting support from the Kurds to help destroy ISIS and assuring Kurdish protection from Turkey, the U.S. has now opened the door to their destruction. This severely undercuts America’s credibility as a reliable partner and creates a power vacuum in the region that benefits ISIS.

“With some 15,000 ISIS fighters on the ground, and tens of thousands in prison camps controlled by the Kurds, the security situation remains precarious. A Turkish invasion will further destabilize conditions on the ground and could result in the escape of ISIS detainees and supporters.”

Romney and Murphy recently convened a subcommittee hearing focused on the findings of the Syria Study Group’s report on assessments and recommendations for U.S. strategy in Syria.

Trump answered his critics by saying a U.S. withdrawal in Syria was long overdue.

“I held off this fight for almost three years, but it is time for us to get out of these ridiculous endless wars, many of them tribal, and bring our soldiers home,” he said. “WE WILL FIGHT WHERE IT IS TO OUR BENEFIT, AND ONLY FIGHT TO WIN. Turkey, Europe, Syria, Iraq, Russia and the Kurds will have to figure the situation out.

“We are 7,000 miles away and will crush ISIS again if they come anywhere near us!”

Just five days ago, on Saturday, Trump took to Twitter, calling fellow Republican Romney a “pompous ass” for openly questioning his administration’s attempt to invite foreign players into the 2020 election.

He’s also suggesting it’s Romney who should be impeached.

Trump’s broadsides appeared in a series of tweets, the first of which appeared at 8:17 a.m. Saturday.

“Somebody please wake up Mitt Romney and tell him that my conversation with the Ukrainian President was a congenial and very appropriate one, and my statement on China pertained to corruption, not politics. If Mitt worked this hard on Obama, he could have won. Sadly, he choked! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 5, 2019.

Trump’s second tweet took an even nastier tone.

“Mitt Romney never knew how to win. He is a pompous ‘ass’ who has been fighting me from the beginning, except when he begged me for my endorsement for his Senate run (I gave it to him), and when he begged me to be Secretary of State (I didn’t give it to him). He is so bad for R’s!” — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 5, 2019.

Trump’s tweets came a day after Romney took to Twitter and blasted Trump for his direct appeal to communist China to investigate the Bidens.

“By all appearances, the President’s brazen and unprecedented appeal to China and to Ukraine to investigate Joe Biden is wrong and appalling.” — Mitt Romney (@MittRomney) October 4, 2019.

Saturday afternoon Trump upped the ante, tweeting Romney should be impeached.

“I’m hearing that the Great People of Utah are considering their vote for their Pompous Senator, Mitt Romney, to be a big mistake. I agree! He is a fool who is playing right into the hands of the Do Nothing Democrats!”

U.S. Senators cannot be impeached, but they can be removed from office by way of a recall election.

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