00:00But I wanted to announce something that I'm also very proud of today.
00:04I'm pleased to announce that the last American forces are leaving Iraq.
00:15It's been a long time with very bad decision-making that got us involved in this quagmire.
00:22In the first place, it was a quagmire.
00:26Many, many years it lasted.
00:27But soon that part of history will be over.
00:32This is a great day for America.
00:34And importantly, we leave with Iraq, having a wonderful new prime minister, Ali al-Zaidi,
00:42a fantastic guy, a friend of mine, and somebody I supported from the very beginning and I fully
00:49endorsed.
00:49He was running for election.
00:51He wasn't given even a chance.
00:53And I endorsed him.
00:55He politicked for him a little bit and he ended up winning in a virtual landslide, beating
01:01somebody that was not a good person, in my opinion.
01:04So I'm very proud of him.
01:05And hopefully he's going to do a fantastic job.
01:09But he won the election and it was very unexpected.
01:11It was a very big thing.
01:13And he did so in landslide order.
01:19Launched in 2003 under the presidency of George W. Bush and continued under the administration
01:27of Barack Hussein Obama.
01:29Have you heard of him?
01:31In 2014 and then further continued under Sleepy Joe Biden.
01:39Operation Inherent Resolve, which is what they called it, ends in 2026 under the leadership
01:46of President Donald J. Trump.
01:48We're getting the hell out of there.
01:52So this day is a victory for the United States.
01:55It's a victory for Iraq and a decisive victory over ISIS, which has been completely decimated,
02:02which is the reason we went in there in the first place.
02:04I decimated them and took them out in my first administration.
02:10So I don't know what took them so long to be making the announcement that I'm making today.
02:15But it was all about ISIS at the time.
02:17Should have never been allowed to form.
02:19It did form.
02:20We took it out.
02:21Others weren't able to do so.
02:24But that's just a very big thing.
02:26And just to go on just a little bit about it, I have to make some comparisons.
02:32Unlike Afghanistan, where much military equipment and everything else was left behind and 13 warriors lie dead.
02:40I know the families of those incredible young people.
02:45Got to know them very well over the last couple of years.
02:47What happened to those to their children should never have been allowed to happen.
02:53With many badly wounded, so many badly.
02:5548 were so badly wounded, they never get mentioned.
02:58I mention them all the time.
02:59Badly wounded.
03:00No legs in some cases, arms, face.
03:04This orderly departure of coalition forces and equipment from airbase marks the end of a very expensive excursion into hell.
03:15And again, we took all of our equipment.
03:18I said, take a little longer.
03:19Take every one.
03:20We left all of the equipment, if you remember, in Afghanistan.
03:24Everything was left behind.
03:26We left.
03:26I said, I want every screw taken.
03:28If there's a screw lying on the ground, take it.
03:32If we have a canvas tent, take it.
03:35We took everything.
03:36I said a clear mission, gave our commanders the tools to finish it, and refused to let a temporary presence
03:43become a permanent one.
03:45A lot of people wanted us to be permanently there.
03:48I had a choice to stay or to leave and felt without question that it was time for America to
03:54go home.
03:56Prime Minister, Prime Minister Al-Zadi is outstanding and will hopefully be able to handle things very well.
04:05We came to fight a caliphate, and there is no longer a caliphate, so we are going home indeed.
04:13Now, as a comparison, we have been in that war for 23 years, lost more than 4,500 great American
04:25soldiers and had over 31,000 injured, some very badly, plus hundreds of civilian contractors were killed.
04:35So think of that, 23 years, 4,500 dead soldiers, 31,000 badly injured, and that doesn't include contractors that
04:46were many killed.
04:49By comparison, in our war with Venezuela, a place you're very familiar with, by the way.
04:57Didn't we do a good job in Venezuela, huh?
05:01That's right.
05:03I'm speaking to the right group.
05:05I'm speaking to the right group.
05:07But by comparison, in our war with Venezuela, we lost zero soldiers.
05:17And, you know, I don't know if you know, but we went into a major fort, a major military complex
05:22with thousands of thousands of soldiers.
05:25We went in with 201 great, talented, brilliant, tough people.
05:30We lost zero, accomplished our mission of getting the number one state sponsor of terror.
05:38He was the number one, rated number one.
05:41We took him out.
05:42He was locked behind iron doors.
05:45Those iron doors came down in seconds.
05:47So you've got to see this to, you wouldn't believe it.
05:50And the war lasted for exactly 148 minutes.
05:57The fake news doesn't talk about that.
06:00And Venezuela has now been, you know, great.
06:03We were helping the people become rich again.
06:08The big oil companies are moving in.
06:10We've taken out many, many times the cost of the war in oil and getting along really well, really, really
06:18well.
06:18And the country's coming back.
06:19And the people have a smile on their face.
06:21You see what's happening.
06:22The money is pouring.
06:26And we opened it up for travel.
06:28Some of you are Venezuelan.
06:30And I know in Doral, Doral is, they call it Little Venezuela.
06:33I love Doral.
06:34I love Doral Country Club.
06:37But it's Little Venezuela, and it's a great area.
06:40It's an amazing area with the most amazing.
06:44And as you know, and as you know, we now have flights going into Venezuela.
06:49Who would have thought that was going to be happening anytime soon?
06:52You have full flights going in.
06:54But think of it.
06:55So it's 148 minutes as opposed to 23 years.
07:00We lost nobody.
07:01We have complete a total military victory.
07:05Likewise, in Iran, we have been there for six months with 18 killed.
07:11By the way, one is too many.
07:12But they lost 4,500.
07:16We lost 18.
07:19And we have very soon, you'll see things happening very soon.
07:24But we have a nation that's been virtually destroyed.
07:30Their economy is no good.
07:32They have 300 percent plus inflation.
07:36Their Navy is gone.
07:38Their Air Force is gone.
07:39Their anti-aircraft equipment is gone.
07:43The last week in the Harmo Strait, which we have almost total control.
07:49I would say total, but every once in a while, they'll drop a mine in there and disrupt things a
07:53little bit.
07:54But we have virtually total control of the Harmo Strait.
07:59And, in fact, in the last three days, more oil has come out of the Harmo Strait than at any
08:04time in the history of the Harmo Strait.
08:08I'm not just talking about – I'm not talking about since the war.
08:12I'm saying at any time in history.
08:14It's been pent up.
08:16So we don't – you know, the fake news doesn't like talking about it, but I like talking about it.
08:24But think of it – so we have a war that was over in 148 minutes.
08:31We have another one where we're six months in, and we have – you know, their military is totally wiped
08:36out.
08:37And we're going to have that war won very quickly, one way or the other.
08:42They'll either be one way or the other.
08:44Does everyone know what that means?
08:45Does everyone know what that means?
08:45We're going to have a war.
08:45We're going to have a war.
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