Trump Calls Defense Secretary Mark Esper ‘Mark Esperanto,’ Claims Victory In Syria

President Donald Trump misspelled the name of the Secretary of Defense Mark Esper, as Mark Esperanto, while tweeting. The president’s misspelling of the name of his Cabinet Secretary generated derision on Twitter.

He further tweeted the U.S. withdrawal from the Turkey-Syria border in conjunction with the U.S.-brokered truce with Turkey was successful. He tweeted he had restored peace in the region, secured oil and ensured the soldiers would return home.

Twitterati pointed out the factual inaccuracies in his tweet.

This further compounded a difficult time for the Trump administration. There has been scathing bipartisan criticism for the president’s decision to withdraw U.S. troops from the region. The decision emboldened Turkey to launch an all-out attack in Northern Syria. This led to the deaths of scores of Kurdish fighters and civilians. The Kurds were loyal allies of the in the fight against ISIS.

The truce brokered by Vice President Mike Pence and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo gave Turkey control of huge swathes of Northern Syria. The Russians and the Syrian regime were waiting on the other side. There were thousands of refugees as Kurds fled the Turkish offensive.

Pentagon officials indicated the US is likely to still retain a few hundred troops in the region. They would be stationed at the Syria-Iraq border to keep watch over the oil fields and prevent the Russians, Syrians and the ISIS fanatics from gaining control of oil installations.

The claims in Trump’s tweet have been called into question: peace has yet to restored, the security of the oil fields uncertain and all the U.S. troops will not be able to come home soon.

Article by Rajeet Guha