Pompeo denies Trump gave Turkey 'green light'

(SOUND BITE) (English) PBS NEWSHOUR ANCHOR JUDY WOODRUFF:

"The U.S. has given Turkey a green light."

(SOUND BITE) (English) SECRETARY OF STATE MIKE POMPEO, SAYING:

"Yeah, well, that's just false."

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in an interview with PBS said the United States has not given Turkey a green light to invade Syria and defended President Donald Trump's decision to pull out American soldiers in the region, as members of the president's own party condemned him for making way for the incursion.

(SOUND BITE) (English) SECRETARY OF STATE MIKE POMPEO, SAYING:

"The United States didn't give Turkey a green light. We'll continue to be in a position to do what we need to do to keep the American people as safe as we possibly can from this threat. But it is not only in Syria. It emanates from Iraq. There are a dozen other countries where the threat from radical Islamic terrorism continues to exist, and we the United States, has to make sure we position our forces our resources, appropriately to reduce that threat to the United States."

Turkey pressed ahead with its military offensive against U.S.-allied Kurdish fighters in northeast Syria on Thursday, shelling towns and bombing targets from the air.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said at least 23 fighters with the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces and eight civilians have been killed. and that more than 60,000 people have fled since the Turkish offensive began. At a news conference on Wednesday, Trump defended his policy towards Kurds - who have been loyal allies of Washington in the fight against Islamic State in Syria - and appeared to minimize their contributions.

(SOUND BITE) (English) U.S. PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP, SAYING:

“The Kurds are fighting for their land, just so you understand. They're fighting for their land. And as somebody wrote in a very, very powerful article today, they didn’t help us in the Second World War, they didn’t help us with Normandy as an example. They mentioned names of different battles. But they were there to help us with their land, and that’s a different thing.”

Some of Trump's closest Republican allies in Congress have strongly criticized him for abandoning Syrian Kurds, including Senator Lindsey Graham, who said failing to support the Kurds would be “the biggest mistake of his presidency.”