President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump meet with officials during an unannounced visit to Al Asad Air Base in Iraq, December 26, 2018. Jonathan Ernst/REUTERS
Business Insider: Trump says 'the generals' asked for more time in Syria, but he said 'Nope' because 'We've knocked them silly'
* President Donald Trump made an unannounced visit to US troops in Iraq on the day after Christmas.
* It was Trump's first visit with US troops in a combat zone since taking office.
* While on the ground, Trump described his reasoning for abruptly pulling US troops out of neighboring Syria.
President Donald Trump said during a surprise trip to Iraq that he had denied a request from military leaders to extend the US deployment in Syria because the Islamic militant group ISIS had been knocked "silly."
Trump arrived in Iraq for his first visit to a combat zone as president on Wednesday night, after a secretive 11-hour flight to Al Asad air base, west of Baghdad, where he addressed the more than 5,000 US troops stationed in Iraq.
After arriving just after 7:15 pm local time, Trump and first lady Melania Trump met with advisers and other officials for a briefing, after which he made remarks and took questions from reporters.
Read more ....
WNU Editor: He gave 4 six month extensions to his commanders to stay in Syria. The fifth was no longer in the cards.
