President Trump Makes Surprise Visit to Troops in Iraq for Christmas With First Lady

President Donald J. Trump traveled to Iraq Christmas night, according to the White House, his first visit to U.S. troops in a war zone and a day after facing criticism for failing to spend time with any military personnel on Christmas Day.

Trump, who was accompanied by first lady Melania Trump, had been derided by his critics for not visiting troops in a combat zone, particularly after he canceled a trip to an American military burial ground outside of Paris because of bad weather. Two days later, he skipped a Veterans Day visit to Arlington National Cemetery.

Trump defended his decision to withdraw 2,000 U.S. forces from Syria where they have been fighting Islamic State militants.

“We’re no longer the suckers, folks,” Trump told American servicemen and women at a base in western Iraq, according to The Associated Press. “We’re respected again as a nation.”

Trump spent three hours on the ground with the troops. Air Force One flew overnight from Washington, landing at an airbase west of Baghdad in darkness Wednesday evening, The AP wrote.

Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders tweeted that Trump visited the troops and senior military leadership “to thank them for their service, their success and their sacrifice and to wish them a Merry Christmas.”

There had been chatter on Twitter about a possible trip after Air Force One was spotted over Europe.

Trump’s visit follows his controversial Syria announcement just before Christmas, a decision that his opponents said could endanger Kurdish allies who have been fighting ISIS there. Secretary of Defense James Mattis abruptly submitted his resignation in a letter that lambasted Trump’s worldview and treatment of allies.

Trump, in remarks to reporters on Wednesday, said he had “no plans at all” to remove U.S. troops from Iraq. About his decision to leave Syria, saying, “A lot of people are going to come around to my way of thinking,” according to Reuters.

“I made it clear from the beginning that our mission in Syria was to strip ISIS of its military strongholds,” Trump told troops at al-Asad Airbase west of Baghdad, according to AP.

Troop said that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has agreed to take out “any remnants” of IS left in Syria, AP wrote.

He said that he was in no hurry to name a replacement for Mattis, and that the planned acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan “could be there for a long time,” Reuters reported.

“I think a lot of people are going to come around to my way of thinking. It’s time for us to start using our head,” Reuters reported that the president said.

Trump is to visit other U.S. troops at Ramstein Air Base in German on his way back to Washington, D.C.

On the government shutdown, Trump said he was prepared to wait for “whatever it takes” to get border security, Reuters reported. 

The visit also came as The New York Times revived questions about Trump avoidance of the Vietnam War draft after finding the daughters of a doctor who diagnosed the bone spurs that kept him from combat. They suggested he made the diagnosis as a favor to Trump’s father, Fred, though the doctor left no medical records with his family. The White House has not responded to written questions.

Last year, Trump visited wounded troops at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center.