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Donald Trump
Promising ‘Safe Zones’ For Syria
By Mark Landler
December 17, 2016
"Information
Clearing House"
- "NYT"
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HERSHEY, Pa. —
President-elect
Donald J. Trump said on Thursday that the United
States would create “safe zones” in Syria, his first
reference to such an American role in the war there
since he was elected, and one that comes as the Syrian
government has
all but recaptured the rebel stronghold of Aleppo.
“When I look at
what’s going on in Syria, it’s so sad,” he told a crowd
here. “It’s so sad, and we’re going to help people.” Mr.
Trump said he would ask the Persian Gulf nations to put
up money for the project, adding, “We’ll build and help
build safe zones in Syria, so people will have a
chance.”
Mr. Trump talked
during the campaign about building safe zones,
presenting them as a way to stem the tide of refugees
into Europe. But this was the first time he had repeated
the proposal since he began receiving intelligence
briefings. Some analysts and military commanders have
warned that it would be a significant and potentially
dangerous undertaking on a complex battlefield over
which Russian planes have been flying raids.
The
president-elect coupled his plan with a familiar promise
to restrict entry into the United States by people from
countries with a history of Islamic extremism.
It was Mr. Trump’s
second rally of the week, in what has become an extended
“thank you” tour of states he won. And it featured a
familiar mix for him: a lovingly detailed recap of his
victory on election night, along with campaign appeals
to populism, economic nationalism, and anti-immigration
and anti-free-trade sentiment.
“From now on, it’s
going to be America first,” he declared. “There is no
such thing as a global anthem, a global currency, a
global flag.”
“We salute one
flag, and that is the American flag,” Mr. Trump said.
“We’re going to make sure the American flag gets the
respect it deserves,” he added. “We’re going to maybe
have to do something about that” — an apparent reference
to
his earlier suggestion that people should face
penalties for burning the flag, despite a 1989 Supreme
Court ruling that found that such actions were protected
speech.
Mr. Trump also
repeated his campaign promise of a multibillion-dollar
plan to rebuild roads, bridges and airports — something
for which the Republican leadership in Congress has
shown little appetite. Even his designated chief of
staff, Reince Priebus, has emphasized other priorities,
like a tax overhaul and
repealing the Affordable Care Act. -
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