VP Biden: We don’t want to have to pay for Russia’s military deployment to Syria

Posted On September 16, 2021

CNN – VP Biden said Monday he supports the Trump administration’s call to deploy American troops to the country in the fight against the Islamic State.

“I do support the plan to deploy U.S. troops to Syria, but the reality is, we don’t have the resources or the time to do that,” Biden said in an interview with CNN’s Wolf Blitzer on “The Situation Room.”

“I think the U.N. has already been doing the work that they need to do to get there.

The Russians have a very significant presence in Syria, and they’re not going to be able to stop us.

And I don’t think it’s an effective strategy.”

The vice president added that he believes the Obama administration did not have the proper resources to go into Syria, where Russia is supporting the government and is backed by Iran.

“It was not the case when we were there, we had a limited budget and a limited amount of troops,” Biden told Blitzer.

“And it was clear that the president’s strategy was not working.

So we didn’t have a sufficient force to fight ISIS there.”

Biden added that President Donald Trump is being “unfairly criticized” for not doing enough to protect Americans from the threat posed by ISIS and other extremist groups.

“He’s doing a terrible job,” Biden added.

“He’s not doing the right thing, and I’m sure he’ll do the right kind of thing.”

Bidens remarks came as Trump warned Tuesday that he is prepared to take military action to stop the spread of the virus, despite concerns about how it will be handled.

“As I have said, if it continues to spread and we see more deaths and more suffering, then we will act to stop it,” Trump said at a news conference in Florida.

“We are very, very close to defeating the virus and the threat that it poses.”