Mitt Romney: Abandoning Kurds ‘Will Stand’ as ‘Bloodstain’ in U.S. History

Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, speaks to reporters following a roundtable discussion at Intermo
AP Photo/Rick Bowmer

Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT) said during a Senate floor speech Thursday that President Trump’s decision to withdraw from Syria and allegedly “abandon the Kurds” “will stand as a bloodstain in the annals of American history.”

Sen. Romney, a frequent Republican critic of President Trump, lashed out at President Trump’s decision to withdraw from Syria. The failed 2012 Republican presidential candidate alleged the president stained America’s honor on the world stage and gave Russia and Iran more power in the Middle East.

Romney said:

The decision to abandon the Kurds violates one of our most sacred duties. It strikes at American honor. What we have done to the Kurds will stand as a blood stain in the annals of American history. There are broad strategic implications of our decision as well. Iranian and Russian interests in the Middle East have been advanced by our decision at a time when we’re applying maximum pressure on Iran. By giving them a stronger hand in Syria, we’ve actually weakened that pressure. Russia’s objective to play a greater role in the Middle East has also been greatly enhanced. The Kurds, out of desperation, have now aligned with Assad.

Further, Romney attacked the “administration,” or President Trump, for speaking “cavalierly, even flippantly, even as our ally has suffered death and casualty.”

Sen. Romney even discounted President Trump’s efforts to cease America’s “endless wars.”

The Utah senator has been severely critical of President Trump’s decision to pull troops from Kurdish-controlled areas of the Syria-Turkey border, although in 2007 Romney warned that “Kurdish nationalism could destabilize the border with Turkey.”

However, despite Romney’s opposition to Trump’s move to withdraw from Syria, Sens. Rand Paul (R-KY) and Mike Braun (R-IN) have backed Trump’s efforts to put a stop to America’s endless wars.

Sen. Paul blocked a Democrat-led effort to condemn Trump’s Syria strategy.

Sen. Braun also led a Senate floor Thursday afternoon, suggesting that the president’s cease-fire agreement with Turkey “is proof” that Trump “made the right decision.

“We need more business-minded leaders like Trump in Washington to disrupt the status quo and deliver results,” the Hoosier senator said.

Braun added:

President Trump took a lot of unfair heat about withdrawing American troops from Syria, and this cease-fire agreement is proof that he made the right decision. We need more business-minded leaders like Trump in Washington to disrupt the status quo and deliver real results.

In an interview with Breitbart News Wednesday, Sen. Braun said that “only neocons,” or neoconservatives, oppose President Trump’s withdrawal from Syria and that “main street Republicans” back his America First foreign policy.

Sean Moran is a congressional reporter for Breitbart News. Follow him on Twitter @SeanMoran3.

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