Graham plans resolution urging Trump to change mind on Syria

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) plans to introduce a resolution calling on President Trump to reverse his decision to withdraw U.S. troops from Syria, the senator said Thursday.

“Mr. President, you have a chance to change course. You’ve got a lot of bipartisan support to do so. Take advantage of it,” Graham said at a news conference alongside Sens. Jack Reed (R.I.) and Bob Menendez (N.J.), the top Democrats on the Senate Armed Services and Foreign Relations committees respectively.

Graham, a staunch Trump ally, has been among the most vocal critics of the president’s Wednesday declaration of victory against ISIS in Syria and the decision to send home the 2,000 U.S. troops in the country.

The decision received bipartisan backlash, both because the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) continues to hold territory in Syria and because of the haphazard way it was made. Congress was not notified ahead of time, and the Pentagon appeared to be caught off guard as well.

On Thursday morning, Trump defended his decision on Twitter asking, “Does the USA want to be the Policeman of the Middle East.”

“Russia, Iran, Syria & many others are not happy about the U.S. leaving, despite what the Fake News says, because now they will have to fight ISIS and others, who they hate, without us,” Trump added.

Graham, who previously said the idea that Russia, Iran and Syria are unhappy is “fake news,” said at the press conference that “the only reason they’re not dancing in the aisles in Tehran and ISIS camps is they just don’t believe in dancing.” 

Graham spoke with Defense Secretary James Mattis and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Wednesday after Trump’s announcement. On Thursday, Graham said Mattis “thought that the time was not right to leave” and Pompeo “understands that the conditions on the ground are not right yet for us to leave.”

“I don’t know how this decision was made,” Graham said. “It literally came out of left field.”

Lindsey Graham on Syria troop withdrawal: “I don’t know how this decision was made. It literally came out of left field, it has rattled the world…I can promise you that everything that happened in Iraq is going to happen in Syria unless we change course” https://t.co/lQLEIyVmRh pic.twitter.com/ilhi7LzKL4

— This Week (@ThisWeekABC) December 20, 2018

While Trump has “every right to make that decision” on his own, Graham added, “we’re urging him to reconsider.”

On his resolution, Graham said he is “signing up co-sponsors as quick as we can” and indicated he wants a vote on it before the Senate departs for the holidays.

“I’m calling on [Senate Minority Leader Charles] Schumer [D-N.Y.] and [Senate Majority Leader Mitch] McConnell [R-Ky.] to join this resolution,” Graham said. “We’re all hoping to leave town, but this bipartisan effort to support a resolution urging the president to change course, I think there’s a lot of votes for it.”

In addition to a resolution, Graham said he is writing a letter to Mattis, Pompeo and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Joseph Dunford asking them what will happen to the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) if U.S. forces withdraw, as well as what will happen to the hundreds of foreign-born ISIS fighters the SDF is currently detaining.

Mattis is “very worried about the Kurds,” Graham said. “He asked me, ‘What are we going to do with these prisoners?’ These are 700, approximately, foreign fighters and they’re probably going to back to the fight. I think he knows that.”