President Donald Trump made a surprise Christmas visit to US troops in Iraq on Wednesday (December 26), his first trip to a conflict zone nearly two years into his presidency and days after announcing a pullout of American troops from neighboring Syria.
Air Force One touched down at the Al Asad Air Base west of Baghdad after an overnight flight from Washington with first lady Melania Trump, a small group of aides and Secret Service agents, and a pool of reporters. They stayed for a little more than three hours.
During his visit he addressed troops, defending his Syria withdrawal, calling on other nations to contribute and defending his proposal for a wall along the US southern border.
Trump has drawn fire from some in the US military for not having visited US troops in conflict zones since taking office in January 2017, particularly after he canceled a trip to a World War One cemetery in France last month due to rain.
While there has been no full-scale violence in Iraq since Islamic State suffered a series of defeats last year, some 5,200 U.S. troops train and advise Iraqi forces still waging a campaign against the militant group.
On his way home from Iraq, Trump will stop to visit troops at Ramstein Air Base in Germany.