Rep. Justin Amash, I-Mich., continued on Sunday his criticism of President Trump’s decision to withdraw U.S. military forces from northern Syria, saying the president is using troops as “paid mercenaries” and questioning the role Congress should play in the decision-making process.
In an interview on NBC’s “Meet The Press,” Amash said it was “pretty clear” from the outset that Trump had no plans of bringing the U.S. troops deployed in northern Syria back to American soil.
“He’s moving troops back into Iraq. He’s moving other troops into Saudi Arabia,” said Amash, who earlier this year left the Republican Party over his disagreements with Trump. “He’s using our forces as paid mercenaries. What happened to the American people having their voices heard through their representatives in Congress.”
U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper said over the weekend that under current plans all U.S. troops leaving Syria will go to western Iraq and the American military will continue to conduct operations against the Islamic State group to prevent its resurgence.
Esper, who arrived in the Afghan capital on Sunday, did not rule out the idea that U.S. forces would conduct counterterrorism missions from Iraq into Syria. But he told reporters traveling with him that those details will be worked out over time.
His comments were the first to specifically lay out where American troops will go as they shift from Syria and what the counter-ISIS fight could look like. Esper, who flew overnight to Afghanistan, said he has spoken to his Iraqi counterpart about the plan to shift about 1,000 troops leaving Syria into western Iraq.