Last Friday, September 20, President Trump had Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison over to the White House during his state visit. As always, Trump answered some questions from the press in the Oval Office, where the question about what to do with the scores of ISIS prisoners we’ve been holding since we destroyed the caliphate. Granted, the Islamic State holds no large swaths of territory anymore, but that doesn’t mean these people, their operatives, or their poisonous ideas have left. Trump wants Europe to take back their share of the fighters, their citizens specifically. If they don’t, he threatened to dump them in Europe, where they would have to recapture them all over again (via NY Post):
President Trump has a message for Europe regarding the captured ISIS terrorists being held in the U.S. that came from their countries. pic.twitter.com/wDbAPqU79H
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) September 20, 2019
President Trump on Friday renewed his threat to dump ISIS prisoners back to the European countries they hailed from — saying the US would drop them at the border and the Europeans will “have to capture them again.”
“I defeated the caliphate. When I came, the caliphate was all over the place. I defeated the caliphate, ISIS, and now we have thousands of prisoners of war, ISIS fighters that are prisoners of war, and we’re asking the countries from which they came … from Europe, We’re asking them to take back these prisoners of war,” the president told reporters alongside Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison at the White House.
“So far, they’ve refused, and at some point, I’m going to have to say, ‘I’m sorry, you either take them back or we’re going to let them go at your border.’ And if they don’t take them back, we’re going to probably put them at the border and then they’ll have to capture them again,” Trump continued.
The commander in chief’s comments came after he was asked about possible retaliation against Iran.
That’s a whole other perilous situation, where Iran, a state sponsor of terrorism, reportedly launched a drone and cruise missile strike on Saudi Arabian oilfields. In response, Trump has slapped on more sanctions and has deployed a small contingent of troops to the region. Missile defense equipment will also be sent. This isn’t the first time the president has had to have stern words with Europe. NATO contributions were another point of contention, though European nations are now contributing more and have, in turn, strengthened the state of the alliance. Trump probably won’t unload thousands of ISIS terrorists—but you never know. The president doesn’t want to hold these people anymore. Let’s make a deal.
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