BREAKING
US President Donald Trump is “fully prepared” to use military force against Turkey if “needed,” Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has declared, qualifying the statement by insisting Washington prefers to use its “diplomatic powers.”
“We prefer peace to war,” Pompeo told CNBC in a taped interview that aired Monday afternoon.
US President Donald Trump is “fully prepared” to use military force against Turkey if “needed,” Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has declared, qualifying the statement by insisting Washington prefers to use its “diplomatic powers.”
“We prefer peace to war,” Pompeo told CNBC in a taped interview that aired Monday afternoon.
He stopped short of revealing what action on Turkey’s part would constitute such a “need.”
Pompeo added that Washington would use economic and “diplomatic powers” before breaking out the heavy artillery. He did not want to “get out in front of the president’s decision about whether to take the awesome undertaking of using America’s military might,” he said, indicating that it was up to Trump to decide whether Ankara had crossed the line.
Trump had earlier touted the wisdom of giving Turkey some space to enact its campaign on the border of Syria against Kurdish groups Ankara considers to be terrorists. “Sometimes you have to let them fight a little while, then people find out how tough the fighting is,” he quipped at a campaign rally last week. “Sometimes you have to let them fight like two kids in a lot, you gotta let them fight, and then you pull them apart.”
Trump had earlier touted the wisdom of giving Turkey some space to enact its campaign on the border of Syria against Kurdish groups Ankara considers to be terrorists. “Sometimes you have to let them fight a little while, then people find out how tough the fighting is,” he quipped at a campaign rally last week. “Sometimes you have to let them fight like two kids in a lot, you gotta let them fight, and then you pull them apart.”
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