Video transcript
But I wanted to announce something that I'm also very proud of today. I'm pleased to announce that the last American forces are leaving Iraq. It's been a long time with very bad decision-making that got us involved in this quagmire. In the first place, it was a quagmire. Many, many years it lasted. But soon, that part of history will be over. This is a great day for America, and importantly, we leave with Iraq, having a wonderful new prime minister, Ali Al-Zaidi, a fantastic guy, a friend of mine, and somebody I supported from the very beginning, and I fully endorsed. He was running for election. He wasn't given even a chance, and I endorsed him in politic form a little bit, and he ended up winning in a virtual landslide, beating somebody that was not a good person, in my opinion. So I'm very proud of him, and hopefully he's going to do a fantastic job. But he won the election, and it was very unexpected, it was a very big thing, and he did so in landslide order. Launched in 2003 under the presidency of George W. Bush, and continued under the administration of Barack Hussein Obama - have you heard of him? - in 2014, and then further continued under Sleepy Joe Biden, Operation Inherent Resolve, which is what they called it, ends in 2026 under the leadership of President Donald J. Trump. We're getting the hell out of there. So this day is a victory for the United States, it's a victory for Iraq, and a decisive victory over ISIS, which has been completely decimated, which is the reason we went in there in the first place. I decimated them and took them out in my first administration, so I don't know what took them so long to be making the announcement that I'm making today, but it was all about ISIS at the time. It should have never been allowed to form, it did form. We took it out, others weren't able to do so. But it's just a very big thing, and just to go on just a little bit about it, I have to make some comparisons, unlike Afghanistan, where much military equipment and everything else was left behind, and 13 warriors lie dead. I know the families of those incredible young people got to know them very well over the last couple of years what happened to those - to their children should never have been allowed to happen. With many badly wounded, so many badly - 48 were so badly wounded, they never get mentioned, I mention them all the time - badly wounded, no legs in some cases, arms, face. This orderly departure of coalition forces and equipment from Erbil Air Base marks the end of a very expensive excursion into hell, and again, we took all of our equipment. I said, take a little longer, take everyone - we left all of the equipment, if you remember, in Afghanistan and everything was left behind, we left. I said, I want every screw taken. If there's a screw lying on the ground, take it. If we have a canvas tent, take it. We took everything. I set a clear mission, gave our commanders the tools to finish it, and refused to let a temporary presence become a permanent one. A lot of people wanted us to be permanently there. I had a choice to stay or to leave and felt, without question, that it was time for America to go home. Prime Minister - (applause) - Prime Minister al-Zaidi is outstanding and will hopefully be able to handle things very well. We came to fight a caliphate, and there is no longer a caliphate, so we are going home indeed. Now, as a comparison, we have been in that war for 23 years, lost more than 4,500 great American soldiers, and had over 31,000 injured, some very badly, plus hundreds of civilian contractors were killed. So think of that - 23 years, 4,500 dead soldiers, 31,000 badly injured, and that doesn't include contractors that were many killed. By comparison, in our war with Venezuela - a place you're very familiar with, by the way - did we do a good job in Venezuela, huh? (Applause) That's right, I'm speaking to the right group. I'm speaking to the right group. But by comparison, in our war with Venezuela, we lost zero soldiers. (Applause) And, you know, I don't know if you know, but we went into a major fort, a major military complex with thousands of - thousands of soldiers. We went in with 201 great, talented, brilliant, tough people. We lost zero, accomplished our mission of getting the number one state sponsor of Terra. He was the number one, rated number one. We took him out. He was locked behind iron doors. Those iron doors came down in seconds, so you've got to see this, too. You wouldn't believe it. And the war lasted for exactly 148 minutes. The fake news doesn't talk about that. And Venezuela has now been, you know, great. We're helping the people become rich again. The big oil companies are moving in. We've taken out many, many times the cost of the war in oil and getting along really well - really, really well - and the country's coming back and the people have a smile in their face. They see what's happening. The money is pouring. (Applause) And we opened it up for travel. Some of you are Venezuelan. And I know in Doral - Doral, as they call it, "Little Venezuela" - I love Doral Country Club. (Laughter) But it's Little Venezuela, and it's a great area. It's an amazing area, with the most amazing - and as you know - and as you know, we've - as you know, we now have flights going into Venezuela. Who thought - who would have thought that was going to be happening any time soon? You have full flights going in. But think of it. So it's 148 minutes, as opposed to 23 years. We lost nobody. We had - have complete a total military victory. Likewise in Iran, we have been there for six months, with 18 killed. By the way, one is too many. But they lost 4,500. We lost 18. And we have very soon - you'll see things happening very soon - but we have a nation that's been virtually destroyed. Their economy is no good. They have 300 percent plus inflation. Their navy is gone. Their air force is gone. Their anti-aircraft equipment is gone. Their last week in the Hormone Strait, which we have almost total control - I would say total, but every once in a while they'll drop a mine and then disrupt things a little bit. But we have virtually total control of the Hormone Strait. And in fact, in the last three days, more oil has come out of the Hormone Strait than at any time in the history of the Hormone Strait. I'm not just talking about - I'm not talking about - since the war, I'm saying at any time in history. It's been pent up. So we don't - you know, the fake news isn't like talking about it, but I like talking about it. But think of it. So we have a war that was over in 148 minutes. We have another one where we're six months in, and we have - you know, their military is totally wiped out, and we're going to have that war won very quickly one way or the other. They'll either be one way or the other. Does everyone know what that means?
Transcribed automatically. Expect errors in names and numbers.