Last updated on January 18th, 2019 at 05:03 pm
Fox News reporter Jennifer Griffin blamed Donald Trump directly for Wednesday’s deadly attack in Syria that left four Americans dead.
During an appearance on Shepard Smith’s program, Griffin said, “U.S. allies remain up in arms about the U.S. announcing it is pulling out of Syria.”
She added, “A senior foreign diplomat tells Fox News ‘This attack today is a direct result of the announcement made by President Trump that U.S. forces are pulling out. These troops had a bullseye on them when the president telegraphed that he was ordering a pullout’.”
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Trump likes to claim ISIS has been defeated under his watch, but as The Hill reported on Wednesday, the terror organization has taken responsibility for the attack.
Nonetheless, hours after the attack, Vice President Mike Pence said in a speech that “ISIS has been defeated.”
Watch: Mike Pence Says ‘ISIS Has Been Defeated’ Hours After Deadly Bombing Kills American Troops https://t.co/U07pWdcyr3 pic.twitter.com/QH4x3eRrtl
— Tommy MMXIXtopher (@tommyxtopher) January 16, 2019
In a separate statement addressing the bombing, Pence said, “President Trump and I condemn the terrorist attack in Syria that claimed American lives and our hearts are with the loved ones of the fallen.”
“We honor their memory and we will never forget their service and sacrifice,” the VP added.
Using U.S. troops as political pawns has deadly consequences
Instead of some half-hearted template response to the deadly terrorist attack in Syria, the White House should be issuing an apology to American troops for using them as political pawns.
In this case, it had deadly consequences.
Whether or not one agrees with American troops being stationed in Syria is beside the point. It’s never okay to put the military in limbo for political purposes, as this president so recklessly did in Syria.
As Rachel Maddow pointed out shortly after Trump unexpectedly decided to pull troops from Syria, he put no thought into the move. Neither the Pentagon nor the White House staff appeared to know what was going on. It caught the men and women on the ground completely off guard.
Wednesday’s attack in Syria showed that there are deadly ramifications to Donald Trump‘s irresponsible realty show governing style.
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Sean Colarossi currently resides in Cleveland, Ohio. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and was an organizing fellow for both of President Obama’s presidential campaigns. He also worked with Planned Parenthood as an Affordable Care Act Outreach Organizer in 2014, helping northeast Ohio residents obtain health insurance coverage.