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   Jump to:   2017;   2018;   2019;   2020; 

-- 2016 --

February 17: Trump on Iraq: How Could We Have Been So Stupid? "One Of The Worst Decisions In The History Of The Country"
https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2016/02/17/trump_on_iraq_how_could_we_have_been_so_stupid_one_of_the_worst_decisions_in_the_history_of_the_country.html

February 19: Donald Trump and the Iraq War

A timeline of Trump statements about the Iraq war, before and after it started, from September 2002 to December 2003.
https://www.factcheck.org/2016/02/donald-trump-and-the-iraq-war/

February 19: Donald Trump defends 2002 interview on Iraq war

In a September 2002 interview with Howard Stern, billionaire Donald Trump was asked directly if he supported invading Iraq.

Trump's response then, six months before the Mar. 2003 invasion of Iraq, was, "Yeah, I guess so,"

Nearly 14 years later, critics are now pointing to that clip, first reported by BuzzFeed News, as proof positive that Donald Trump lied about his opposition to the Iraq war -- a war that he has repeatedly slammed his rivals (and their family members) over while on the campaign trail.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/donald-trump-defends-2002-interview-on-iraq-war/

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September 27: 2003 clip backs up Trump on Iraq War opposition

After all the clamor for moderators to fact-check the candidates during Monday night's presidential debate, Donald Trump flipped the script on Lester Holt by rejecting his assertion Trump backed the war in Iraq - and history backs The Donald.

Holt began one question by stating that Republican nominee Trump “had supported the war in Iraq before the invasion,” a frequent claim from critics that Trump has adamantly disputed during the primary and general election seasons. Holt on Monday, and many in the media before him, pointed to a September 2002 interview Trump gave to Howard Stern in which he said “Yeah, I guess so” in response to a question about whether President Bush should go to war.

When Trump pushed back on Holt, saying “I was against the war in Iraq,” Holt countered: “The record does not show that.”
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2016/09/27/2003-clip-backs-up-trump-on-iraq-war-opposition.html

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September 27: Of all the myths of Donald Trump’s presidential campaign, few are as enduring as his claim to have opposed the war in Iraq from its inception. Trump used his alleged opposition to the invasion as a bludgeon in the Republican primary, tearing down challengers such as Jeb Bush and positioning himself as a prescient foreign policy thinker. Since winning the nomination, he’s repeatedly attacked Hillary Clinton for supporting the war. And he again insisted that he opposed the invasion during Monday’s presidential debate.

The problem is that there’s no evidence that Trump voiced his opposition to the war like he says he did; the only statements he gave prior to the invasion were supportive of it. And his own explanations of his position have in turn opened up even more contradictions in his record.
https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2016/09/every-position-donald-trump-iraq/

October 9: Here is audio evidence of Donald Trump saying he supported the Iraq War
https://www.dailydot.com/layer8/donald-trump-support-iraq-war-audio/

-- 2017 --        

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January 22: Trump Says U.S. Should Have Stolen Iraq’s Oil, and ‘Maybe We’ll Have Another Chance’
http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2017/01/trump-u-s-may-get-another-chance-to-take-iraqi-oil.html

January 26:
Whether he realizes it or not, Donald Trump is putting Americans in danger with careless rhetoric about taking Iraqi oil.
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/trump-creates-new-dangers-provocative-comments-about-iraqi-oil


February 13:
Memo to Trump: Iraq Is Too Big to Fail

If the president derails the U.S. alliance with Baghdad, the only ones to benefit would be Iran and the Islamic State.
https://foreignpolicy.com/2017/02/13/memo-to-trump-iraq-is-too-big-to-fail/

March 1: New Trump travel ban removes Iraq from list
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/iraq-trump-travel-ban-removed

March 31: Trump makes a deal with Iraq, and hundreds suddenly face deportation

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A state of limbo is about to lift for hundreds of Iraqis in the United States. The government tried to deport them after they committed crimes, but Iraq wouldn’t take them back.

Now some of them are headed home – and, quite possibly, into danger.
http://michiganradio.org/post/trump-makes-deal-iraq-and-hundreds-suddenly-face-deportation

August 23:
Trump Has Bashed Obama’s Actions in Iraq. But He’s Actually No Better

Since Trump has become president, civilian deaths in Syria and Iraq are occurring at a rate of a dozen a day, according to one report.
https://www.teenvogue.com/story/trump-obama-civilians-deaths-syria-iraq

September 1: How Iraq War Hawks Can Help Stop Trump from Going to War with Iran
https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/how-iraq-war-hawks-can-help-stop-trump-from-going-to-war-with-iran

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September 7: Trump repeats wrong claim that he opposed Iraq War
http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2016/sep/07/donald-trump/trump-repeats-wrong-claim-he-opposed-iraq-war/

September 12: Iraqi Prime Minister Haider Al-‘Abadi announced on Saturday afternoon that his nation has been freed from the Islamic State (IS).

In a swift operation that covered over 13,000 square kilometers, the Iraqi Armed Forces managed to rip through the Islamic State’s last defenses and liberate their entire border with Syria.

While they no longer control any ground in Iraq, the Islamic State is believed to possess several sleeper cells around the country, which requires the Iraqi counter-terrorism teams to remain alert.
https://www.almasdarnews.com/article/iraq-fully-liberated-isis/

October 17: Trump Says He Won't Take Sides As Iraqi Forces Oust Kurds From Kirkuk

Trump spoke after Iraqi troops and tanks swept across the northern province, capturing oil and military sites from the Kurds and seizing the governor's office in Kirkuk city.
https://www.rferl.org/a/iraq-kirkuk-kurdish-region-clashes-islamic-state/28797237.html

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October 21:
As Donald Trump blusters, Iran is reshaping the Arab world

America’s Shia and Kurdish allies in Iraq turn on each other just as they are about to defeat the jihadists of Islamic State
https://www.economist.com/leaders/2017/10/21/as-donald-trump-blusters-iran-is-reshaping-the-arab-world

December 1: Under Trump, U.S. Troops In War Zones Are On The Rise

Since President Trump came into office, U.S. troop numbers have been edging up in the three countries where the U.S. is most deeply involved in fighting — Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan.

U.S. forces totaled just over 18,000 in these three countries at the end of last December, just before President Obama completed his term, according to the Pentagon's Defense Manpower Data Center.

The combined figure was about 26,000 as of the end of September, the most recent data available from the Pentagon.
https://www.npr.org/sections/parallels/2017/12/01/566798632/under-trump-u-s-troops-in-war-zones-are-on-the-rise

December 9: Iraq is 'fully liberated' from ISIS, its military says
http://www.cnn.com/2017/12/09/middleeast/iraq-isis-military-liberated/index.html

-- 2018 --

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January 21: Senator who lost her legs in Iraq calls Trump 'a five-deferment draft dodger'

In a Senate-floor speech Saturday, Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., blasted President Donald Trump as a "five-deferment draft dodger" and accused him of trying to bait North Korea into a war, putting both the military and the national security of the United States at risk.
https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Senator-who-lost-her-legs-in-Iraq-calls-Trump-a-12513664.php

February 6: Duckworth calls out 'Cadet Bone Spurs' after Trump's 'treasonous' remark

An Illinois Democrat who was seriously wounded in Iraq derisively referred to President Donald Trump's draft deferments after Trump called Democrats "treasonous" for not clapping during his State of the Union speech.

"We don't live in a dictatorship or a monarchy. I swore an oath—in the military and in the Senate—to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States, not to mindlessly cater to the whims of Cadet Bone Spurs and clap when he demands I clap," Sen. Tammy Duckworth tweeted Monday evening.

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Duckworth, an Army veteran who lost her legs while serving in Iraq, appeared to be referencing Trump's draft deferments. Trump received five draft deferments throughout the Vietnam War, and on one occasion, Trump received a deferment because of bone spurs.
https://www.cnn.com/2018/02/06/politics/tammy-duckworth-cadet-bone-spurs/index.html

February 8: Trump reportedly jokingly referred to Iraqi officials as 'the most accomplished group of thieves he'd ever met'
http://www.businessinsider.com/trump-iraqi-most-accomplished-group-of-thieves-ever-met-2018-2

February 19: “For better or worse,” ... Trump sometimes speaks “in shorthand hyperbole”.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/feb/19/trumps-sweden-comment-referred-to-rising-white-house-says

February 19: Donald Trump’s Contradictory Iraq War Position Implodes

Trump was for the war before he was against it.
https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2016/02/donald-trump-iraq-war

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February 23: Trump administration: Troops can stay in Iraq, Syria indefinitely
https://www.defensenews.com/congress/2018/02/23/trump-administration-troops-can-stay-in-iraq-syria-indefinitely/

March 4: Trump Slams George W. Bush: Invading Iraq Was 'Single Worst Decision Ever Made'

'Here we are, like the dummies of the world, because we had bad politicians running our country for a long time' ...
https://www.haaretz.com/us-news/trump-slams-george-bush-invading-iraq-was-worst-decision-ever-made-1.5869272

March 5: President Trump eviscerated George W. Bush at a campaign event over the weekend, calling his invasion of Iraq "the single worst decision ever made," and sarcastically referring to the former president as a "real genius."
https://sputniknews.com/analysis/201803051062253324-trump-bush-iraq-criticism-commentary/

March 6:
War zones still waiting for a visit from Trump

Trump's absence more than a year into this presidency stands in contrast to his immediate predecessor.
https://www.politico.com/story/2018/03/06/trump-war-zones-afghanistan-iraq-390234

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March 14: Trump Attacks Bush Over 2003 Iraq War
https://www.albawaba.com/news/trump-attacks-bush-over-2003-iraq-war-1097224

March 23: A hawk's hawk: Iraq war champ Bolton joins Trump team
https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/world/a-hawk-s-hawk-iraq-war-champ-bolton-joins-trump-team-10069690

March 29: Iraq is a reminder: US crimes against humanity predate Trump
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/mar/29/iraq-war-15-years-later-george-bush-war-crimes

April 2:
Trump Can’t Afford to Forget About Iraq

Having won the war, will the United States end up yet again squandering the peace?
https://foreignpolicy.com/2018/04/02/trump-cant-afford-to-forget-about-iraq/

April 14: Trump Declares 'Mission Accomplished' In Syria, And Critics Remember Iraq
http://fortune.com/2018/04/14/trump-syria-mission-accomplished/

May 2: Why This Iraq War Vet Is Speaking Out Against Trump’s Reckless Foreign Policy

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To expand the anti-war movement, Maggie Martin is connecting struggles against U.S. militarism at home and abroad.
http://inthesetimes.com/article/21116/iraq-war-veteran-speak-out-donald-trump-foreign-policy

May 9: Trump's Iran move reminds some of run-up to Iraq war

Fifteen years after invading Iraq over weapons of mass destruction and ties to al Qaeda that both proved non-existent, the United States is again steering toward a possible confrontation with a Middle East power for suspected work on nuclear weapons and support for terrorism.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-iran-nuclear-intelligence/trumps-iran-move-reminds-some-of-run-up-to-iraq-war-idUSKBN1IB0HD

May 10: Is Trump repeating the mistakes of the Iraq War in Iran?
https://www.pri.org/stories/2018-05-10/trump-repeating-mistakes-iraq-war-iran

May 17: Iran Was the Big Winner in Iraq’s Elections—And Trump Helped

Iran’s infamous Gen. Qassem Soleimani is in Baghdad helping to organize a new government, and the one man who might stop him is a mullah with a lot of American blood on his hands.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/iran-was-the-big-winner-in-iraqs-electionsand-trump-helped

May 21: Iraq Just Got Its Own Version of Donald Trump

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He has been described as an impulsive, narcissistic egoist who lives in the shadow of his father. He’s also a populist, a political outsider who has hurtled to political power thanks to a surprise election win. This is not a description of U.S. President Donald Trump, but rather of cleric Muqtada Al-Sadr, whose political coalition recently won Iraq’s parliamentary election.
http://time.com/5285705/iraq-muqtada-al-sadr/

May 24: Iraqi voters undermine Trump’s Iran strategy

Muqtadar al-Sadr and Hadi al-Amiri, both anti-American, finished first and second in elections held on the day Trump scrapped the Iran nuclear deal
http://www.atimes.com/article/iraqi-voters-undermine-trumps-iran-strategy/

June 15: US Tells Iraqi Christians Help Is on Its Way (For Real This Time)

After months of delays, Vice President Pence pushes to streamline aid to the persecuted.
https://www.christianitytoday.com/news/2018/june/pence-usaid-iraqi-christians-help-persecuted.html


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June 30: Iraqi PM orders 'immediate' execution of all 'terrorists condemned to death'
https://www.cnn.com/2018/06/29/middleeast/iraq-executions-intl/

July 2: The Next Phase in Iraq’s Transition
https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/security/reports/2018/07/02/453034/next-phase-iraqs-transition/?src=ilaw

July 2: Iraq builds security fence along border with Syria
https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20180702-iraq-builds-security-fence-along-border-with-syria/

September 4: The Middle East’s Tinderbox Is Heating Up Again

There are danger signs all over the region ...
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2018/09/syria-iran-iraq-the-middle-east-looks-set-to-explode-again.html

September 4: Iraqi lawmakers who met this week for the first time since a May election and are still struggling to form a new government, decided on Tuesday to put off their next meeting until Sept. 15, having failed to elect a parliament speaker.

Naming a speaker and two deputies is the first major step towards establishing a new government, with lawmakers still trying to determine which of competing blocs had the most seats.

An alliance backing Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi and a populist Shi'ite cleric has been competing with a rival bloc backed by Abadi's predecessor Nuri al-Maliki and an Iran-backed Shi'ite armed group.
https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2018-09-04/iraq-lawmakers-agree-to-delay-next-meeting-and-speakers-election-to-sept-15

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September 11: Iraq reneges on travel ban deal with Trump, refuses to accept deportees

Iraq was the first country to earn its way off President Trump’s travel ban last year, after the administration said it wanted to thank the Muslim nation for agreeing to start taking back its deportees whom the U.S. was trying to oust.

But evidence has emerged suggesting that either Iraq has backslid or the deal was never what the administration said it was in the first place.

Iraq has told U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement that it will not take back any deportees who don’t volunteer to go back.
https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2018/sep/11/iraq-trump-administration-disagree-terms-travel-ba/

September 26: US Official: We May Cut Support for Iraq If New Government Seats Pro-Iran Politicians
https://www.defenseone.com/threats/2018/09/official-us-may-cut-support-iraq-if-new-government-seats-pro-iran-politicians/151597/

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October 19: The Trump administration intervened to quash a $15 billion deal for Siemens Corp.[a German conglomerate]  to develop power stations in Iraq, instead persuading Baghdad to sign an agreement with General Electric Co., two administration officials said.

Iraq signed a memorandum of understanding with GE on Monday, after senior U.S. officials warned Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi that the future of the U.S.-Iraq relationship would be at risk if his government accepted the deal with Siemens, according to the officials, who asked not to be identified discussing private deliberations. The Financial Times reported the U.S. move earlier Thursday.

The Trump administration's push supports American efforts to curb Iranian influence in Iraq and the region in the months since President Donald Trump backed out of a 2015 nuclear deal and prepares to re-impose sanctions on Iran next month. The U.S. officials said they want to wean Iraq of its dependence on Iranian natural gas and suspect Iran had spurred Iraqi leaders to pursue the Siemens deal as a way of undercutting ties with the U.S.
https://dailygazette.com/article/2018/10/19/trump-administration-pushes-iraq-deal-to-ge

November 19: White House discusses possible Trump visit to troops in Iraq or Afghanistan
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/white-house-discusses-possible-trump-visit-to-troops-in-iraq-or-afghanistan/2018/11/19/9f6724d8-ec2a-11e8-96d4-0d23f2aaad09_story.html?noredirect=on&utm_term=.11a1e54bc98b

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November 20: Trump Fans Sink Savings Into ‘Iraqi Dinar’ Scam

The president’s true believers are convinced he’s going to make them millionaires with Iraqi currency.

Trump supporter Hayes Kotseos runs a North Carolina pool-maintenance company, but she’s got a side bet that she thinks might make her fabulously wealthy: the Iraqi dinar.

The currency is nearly worthless outside of Iraq, but Kotseos bought millions of dinars in April, after watching a video of President Trump at a 2017 press conference. In the clip, Trump says, with characteristic vagueness, that all currencies will soon “be on a level playing field.”

In reality, Trump was talking about trade imbalances with China. But like other Trump supporters who have fallen into the dinar investment scam, which has existed since at least 2012, Kotseos interpreted Trump’s rambling statement as proof that the Iraqi dinar would soon be worth as much or even more than the dollar, making anyone who had been smart enough to buy in early a millionaire.

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Like other investors in the incredibly long-shot dinar scheme, Kotseos hopes that Trump and the Iraqi government will somehow “revalue” or “RV” the currency, boosting its current value of less than $0.001 to $3 or $4.

Dinar promoters have claimed that near-mythical event will occur for nearly a decade. But if it does it would theoretically make a millionaire of anyone with the foresight to put just a few thousand dollars into dinars.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-fans-sink-savings-into-iraqi-dinar-scam

November 25: Trump to Iraqi PM: How about that oil?

President Trump twice raised to the Iraqi prime minister the idea of repaying America for its wars with Iraqi oil, a highly controversial ask that runs afoul of international norms and logic, according to sources with direct knowledge.

Trump appears to have finally given up
on this idea, but until now it hasn't been revealed that as president he's raised the concept twice with Iraq's prime minister and brought it up separately in the Situation Room with his national security team.
https://www.axios.com/trump-to-iraqi-pm-how-about-that-oil-1a31cbfa-f20c-4767-8d18-d518ed9a6543.html

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November 26: Trump Twice Floated Plundering Iraq’s Oil to Iraq’s Prime Minister

The president’s staff had to smack the idea out of him.
https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2018/11/trump-iraq-oil

December 27:
President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump arrive to speak to members of the US military during an unannounced trip to Al Asad Air Base in Iraq on December 26, 2018.

Trump’s secret trip to Iraq didn’t quite go as planned

He failed to meet with any Iraqi officials and may have also exposed a covert Navy SEAL team.
https://www.vox.com/2018/12/27/18157575/donald-trump-iraq-secret-trip-us-troops


December 27: Trump to Iraq troops: 'We're no longer the suckers'

US President Donald Trump has expressed his "eternal gratitude" for the work of US troops in Iraq, on an unannounced Christmas visit to meet service personnel at al-Asad air base west of Baghdad.

He spoke about his recent decision to withdraw US troops from Syria, saying "America shouldn't be doing the fighting for every nation on earth".
https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-us-canada-46689505/trump-to-iraq-troops-we-re-no-longer-the-suckers


-- 2019 --  

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February 4: Iraq president says Trump did not ask permission to leave troops to 'watch Iran'
https://thehill.com/policy/international/428297-iraq-president-says-trump-did-not-ask-permission-to-leave-troops-to


February 5: President Donald Trump's suggestion that the US would use a base in Iraq as a means to "watch" Iran evoked the scorn of Iraqi lawmakers on Monday and seemed to cause confusion among Pentagon officials and analysts, while the State Department told CNN that the US mission in Iraq remains unchanged.

"One of the reasons I want to keep it is because I want to be looking a little bit at Iran because Iran is a real problem," Trump told CBS's "Face the Nation" Sunday, adding that he wouldn't use the US military outpost to strike Iran, but to "watch" it.

Trump's comments were strongly rejected by current and former Iraqi political leaders.

Iraqi President Bahram Salih said that the US had not asked permission to have forces on the ground "watch Iran," noting that "the US presence in Iraq is a part of an agreement between the two countries with a specific task which is to combat terrorism."

"Don't overburden Iraq with your own issues," Salih said during a forum in Baghdad.
https://www.cnn.com/2019/02/04/politics/trump-iraq-iran-comments/index.html

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February 17: All This Should Remind You of the Run-Up to the Iraq War

The march to war against Iran is echoing the drumbeats of America's last major Middle Eastern invasion.
https://foreignpolicy.com/2019/02/17/all-this-should-remind-you-of-the-run-up-to-the-iraq-war/


February 21: Trump Treats Iraq Like a Conquered Province

He recognizes the folly of staying in Syria and Afghanistan forever. So why is Baghdad the exception?
https://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/trump-treats-iraq-like-a-conquered-province/


-- 2020 --

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