Article snippet: MORE made an unannounced trip Wednesday to Iraq, his first visit to troops in a combat zone as president that comes amid roiling criticism of his national security strategy. Trump delivered a speech to roughly 100 uniformed service members at an air base west of Baghdad and later defended his decision to withdraw troops from Syria and Afghanistan, which angered many of his allies. “The United States cannot continue to be the policeman of the world,” Trump told reporters traveling with him. “We don’t want to be taken advantage of any more by countries that use us and use our incredible military to protect them.” He said that the U.S. could use Iraq as a regional launching pad to carry out operations against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), a fight Republicans accused him of undermining by his decision earlier this month to pull out of Syria. “If we see something happening with ISIS that we don’t like, we can hit them so fast and so hard they really won’t know what the hell happened,” Trump said. Trump and first lady MORE also used the roughly three-hour trip to deliver holiday greetings to service members in Iraq, where the U.S. has kept a sustained military presence since the 2003 invasion launched by former President George W. Bush. The first couple entered the dining hall on base to cheers and applause and they spent time speaking with service members and posing for selfies after the president received a briefing from military and diplomatic personne... Link to the full article to read more