Pentagon planners scramble to produce strategy following sudden withdrawal of US troops from Northern Syria
Senior U.S. military officer, still actively serving, described the mood at the Pentagon as 'aghast' and 'horrified'; national security correspondent Jennifer Griffin reports.
"The View" co-host Meghan McCain blasted President Trump for his decision to pull troops out of Syria as well as Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., for supporting the move, claiming the two of them have "blood on their hands" amid the fallout.
McCain began by pointing to the reporting of Fox News National Security Correspondent Jennifer Griffin, who spoke with a U.S. Special Forces soldier on the ground and told her that abandoning the Kurds was the first time in his career he ever felt "ashamed."
"These special forces officers are standing and protecting terrorists, ISIS terrorists, in jail. And now they're going to be left without American soldiers fighting alongside them," McCain said. "I'm very happy that there's outrage on both sides. I'm happy that there's finally seems to be something that Republicans and Democrats are coming forward [on]."
MEGHAN MCCAIN CLASHES WITH SUSAN RICE OVER OBAMA'S SYRIA LEGACY: 'HOW CAN YOU CRITICIZE' TRUMP?
The conservative pundit then noted that the Kentucky senator was going to be appearing on "The View" on Friday but that she won't be there.
"I want you you to ask him, 'There's blood on his hand, on anyone's hands starting with his and President Trump's. who is letting this happen because these people are being slaughtered after standing with our troops in the Middle East for an extremely long time fighting against terrorist cells and we're not entering into a foreign war,'" McCain told her co-hosts. "They are proxies that are supporting us. The whole point of having proxies is so we don't get into another war. And I'm sorry... have we not learned the lessons of 9/11? And I don't understand it!"
McCain later warned that Trump's decision to abandon the Kurds could put 12,000 ISIS prisoners "out into the ether" and "go into Europe."
"We're talking about opening up Pandora's box of ISIS into Europe, into the rest of the world," McCain added.
Julian Assange's arrest drew fierce reactions from 'The View's' Meghan McCain, Sunny Hostin during Thursday's show. (Getty Images)
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Meanwhile, McCain's liberal colleague Sunny Hostin suggested that Trump possibly decided to withdraw troops from Syria in order to "change the subject" from the ongoing impeachment inquiry, something she believed would encourage more people to support impeachment.
Turkey’s ongoing military assault in Syria has left more than 100 Kurdish forces dead, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan claimed Thursday morning, a day after his troops launched airstrikes and unleashed artillery shelling on Syrian towns and villages along its border.
Information about the rising death toll came as Turkey's state-run news agency said Turkey-allied Syrian opposition fighters have "cleared of terror" two villages across the border in Syria — meaning there are no more Syrian Kurdish fighters in those villages. Turkey has long threatened to attack the Kurdish fighters whom Ankara considers terrorists allied with a Kurdish insurgency in Turkey.
Fox News' Greg Norman contributed to this report.
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