February 07, 2019
Like Trump, troops say we should watch Iran — but maybe not by increasing our forces in Iraq
Source: The Military Times
Journalist: Joshua Axelrod
Troops agree with President Donald Trump that we should keep an eye on Iran — but that doesn’t mean they want a big presence in Iraq to do so, the results of a recent Military Times poll suggest.
On Sunday, Trump told CBS’ “Face the Nation” that he planned on moving the roughly 2,000 troops currently stationed in Syria to Iraq so the U.S. can better “watch Iran.”
“All I want to do is be able to watch," Trump said. "We have an unbelievable and expensive military base built in Iraq. It’s perfectly situated for looking at all over different parts of the troubled Middle East.”
In an October Military Times poll, which included responses from nearly 900 active-duty troops, 51 percent of respondents said the U.S. should either slightly or substantially decrease its force levels in Iraq, with fewer than 20 percent saying we should slightly or substantially increase our presence.
Read the full article and more in The Military Times.