Trump Says U.S. Troops Stayed in Syria 'Because I Kept the Oil'

https://www.newsweek.com/donald-trump-us-troops-syria-oil-bashar-al-assad-kurds-wisconsin-rally-1482250

"People said to me, 'Why are you staying in Syria,'" Trump said Tuesday. "Because I kept the oil, which frankly we should have done in Iraq," he added, to cheers and applause from the audience. The president has previously criticized his predecessors for not profiting off Iraqi oil wells.

"So they say, 'Trump's in Syria,' I didn't pull out—I did pull out," the president continued. "We have the oil, really secure. We'll see what happens with it."

Trump's Middle East policy has been erratic, in few places more so than Syria. The president has repeatedly voiced his desire to bring U.S. troops home and disengage from another unwinnable, long-running, low-intensity conflict there.

The president abruptly ordered the withdrawal of U.S. forces from positions in northeastern Syria near the border with Turkey in October.