Mideast safer with Gaddafi, Saddam, says Trump
The Middle East would be safer, if the US had not “made a mess” by attacking Iraq and Libya to remove their ex-dictators from power, Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump says.
“It's not even a contest,” Trump said on NBC’s “Meet the Press” Sunday, when asked if he believed the Middle East would have been better off with Muammer Gaddafi and Saddam Hussein still holding power in Libya and Iraq.
“You can make the case, if you look at Libya, look at what we did there, it's a mess; if you look at Saddam Hussein with Iraq, look what we did there, it’s a mess,” the real estate magnate said.
Trump likened Washington’s current approach to the Syrian conflict to the same failed policies and predicted that the result will be “the same thing.”
On Saturday, while addressing a crowd of some 1,500 in Franklin, Tennessee, the reality TV star said there were “no terrorists in Iraq” during Saddam’s “vicious” rule.
He also blamed the White House for the emergence of Daesh (ISIL) terrorists in Iraq, calling them “the leftovers that didn't get taken care of.”
‘I'm not a masochist’
In reaction to speculations that, sooner or later, he will fall out of the race for the 2016 GOP presidential nomination, Trump asserted that he doesn’t see a reason to leave the scene just yet.
"I'm not a masochist...If I were doing poorly, if I saw myself going down, if you would stop calling me because you no longer have any interest in Trump because 'he has no chance,' I'd go back to my business," he said.
"But in all fairness, I think I'm in the exact opposite position right now," he added.
A new NBC/Wall Street Journal/Marist poll revealed on Sunday that, despite decline in his support, Trump still holds a significant edge over his rivals in the Republican field in Iowa and New Hampshire.
In Iowa, he trounced retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson, 24 percent to 19 percent, to top the list. Former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina trailed them with 8 percent, followed by former Florida Governor Jeb Bush at 7 percent. Texas Senator Ted Cruz, Florida Senator Marco Rubio and Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal all tied at 6 percent.
In New Hampshire, Trump remained on top with 21 percent. Fiorina followed him with 16 percent. Bush stood on the third place with 11 percent, followed by Rubio and Carson, who tied at 10 percent.
‘Trump witnessed killing, disposal of Epstein victim’s infant,’ released files show
Venezuela's oil grab reveals Trump’s ‘supremacist, colonialist’ agenda: Analyst
A million more Epstein files found; US lawmakers slam Trump admin’s ‘illegal’ withholding
Venezuelans will defend their independence in face of unlawful US moves: Iran FM
VIDEO | Millions of Afghans facing severe hunger amid aid cuts
Iran labels Royal Canadian Navy a ‘terrorist organization’ over IRGC designation
Palestine Action hunger strikers near death
VIDEO | Haibat al-Halbousi elected as speaker of Iraqi Parliament for four years
Assassination of Gen. Soleimani aimed at dismantling resistance security order: Iranian envoy
Extreme cold kills 25 Palestinians, including children, in Gaza in December
VIDEO | Press TV's news headlines
PressTV NEWSLETTER
now
This makes it easy to access the Press TV website
