Despite reality, Trump insists 'we've taken the oil' in Syria [View all]

[babylonsister]

Despite reality, Trump insists 'we've taken the oil' in Syria
"We've taken the oil," Trump said this morning, referring to Syrian oil fields. It's one of his favorite claims, but it's not true.
Feb. 25, 2020, 9:20 AM EST
By Steve Benen


snip//

The president certainly seems to enjoy saying this. As regular readers know, Trump started boasting months ago that the United States has "taken" Syrian oil and he's prepared to "militarily stop" those who try to claim it.

Reflecting on the Syrian oil's value, Trump went on to say in October that the United States "should be able to take some," adding, "[W]hat I intend to do, perhaps, is make a deal with an ExxonMobil or one of our great companies to go in there and do it properly." (In context, "it" appeared to refer to extracting oil.)

There's no real defense for this -- it's illegal for a country to send troops into another country to take its natural resources -- but the president continued to echo his message, boasting at a series of campaign rallies about "keeping" Syrian oil.

When Trump spoke at the Economic Club of New York in November, Trump said, in reference to Syrian oil fields, "We kept the oil. You know, we kept the oil." Soon after, sitting in the Oval Office alongside Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Trump echoed the line, boasting, "We're keeping the oil."

Eventually, a Pentagon spokesperson felt compelled to explain that the United States is not, in reality, keeping Syrian oil for ourselves.

And yet, he just keeps saying it.

more...

https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/despite-reality-trump-insists-we-ve-taken-oil-syria-n1142391