Ron DeSantis is questioning President Joe Biden’s troop deployments to the Middle East. And while he won’t say whether there should be more troops or a total withdrawal, he says forces that are there are “sitting ducks.”
During an interview on the Hugh Hewitt Show, the Florida Governor and 2024 presidential candidate said he is concerned about “what Biden’s doing with our troops that are in the Middle East.”
“We’ve got troops in Syria and Iraq. It’s not clear what their mission is. They’re there in insufficient numbers to probably make a huge impact, but they’re there in sufficient numbers to be an inviting target. And Iran has lobbed attacks on our troops,” DeSantis said.
Describing retaliatory strikes against buildings in Syria used by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as “a weak response,” DeSantis said Biden was “inviting more attacks against our troops.”
“I definitely wouldn’t have that policy where they’re sitting ducks and then it’s a weak response. If they shouldn’t be there, if it doesn’t make sense, then they shouldn’t. If they’re there and they’re attacked, then you’ve got to go fight back.”
The “sitting ducks” line is a rehash from an interview a few days prior, where the Governor again suggested that while there may be too many or too few American assets deployed, it’s clear the current number simply isn’t right.
“It seems to me we’ve got troops there. It’s not clear to me that we have enough troops to really make an impact with whatever they’re trying to do. And yet we have enough troops to where they’re going to be able to be targets. And so they’re kind of sitting ducks there,” DeSantis said on Friday’s “Fox & Friends.”
“Now, I’m not sure Biden’s policy with how he’s deploying those troops is the right one. He’s not really articulated why that’s there. It seems like the risks are better than the benefits in terms of that,” DeSantis added during the Friday segment.
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