Pompeo: Trump ‘Fully Prepared’ to Use Force Against Turkey, If Necessary

Says US will use military force to enforce 'fundamental norms'

In an interview on CNBC today, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said that President Trump is “fully prepared” to engage in military force against Turkey if he believes it is necessary to do so.

Asked to elaborate on what might make it necessary, Pompeo said anything that was an American interest, or if the US believed there was a “fundamental norm” that they wanted to enforce could be a reason to use “all the powers that we have.”

Attacking Turkey is potentially problematic, both in that they are a fellow NATO member, and that the US is operating out of an air base in Turkey, a base where the US has an estimated 50 nuclear bombs.

This is more of a threat to Turkey than the US has offered previously. President Trump did threaten to totally destroy their entire economy, though this appeared to be an empty threat to destroy the economy through sheer force of will.

This is a specific war threat in northern Syria, and comes as President Trump concedes that the troops he’s announced were coming home won’t actually be returning to the US any time soon, rather staying in Iraq just in case.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.