Updated: at 12:20 p.m. with Cornyn explaining his earlier remark and at 1 p.m. with comments from Cristina Tzintzún Ramirez

WASHINGTON — One day after Sen. John Cornyn defended the president’s decision to move U.S. troops out Syria and allow Turkey to purge the area of Kurds — a group that worked closely with the United States to defeat ISIS — Democrats seeking his seat next year blasted him for turning a blind eye to ethnic cleansing.

And they accused him of taking a “cut and run” approach shamefully at odds with American and Texas values.

“I did not put on the uniform to be the policeman of the world, but I did not put on the uniform to get out of the way of ethnic cleansing, especially when it comes to people who we have made agreements with and understandings with and made promises to,” Democrat MJ Hegar, a decorated former Air Force pilot who saw combat in Afghanistan, said Thursday.

“If I didn’t know that John Cornyn didn’t serve in the military, I would know now," she said. "We do not put on the uniform to ‘get out of the way’ of ethnic cleansing. And If John Cornyn and his ilk don’t have the stomach for national security … maybe they should get out of the way and let those of us who do understand national security and foreign policy take the lead, so that we can maintain our position as leader of the free world.”

On Thursday, Cornyn called a clash between Turkey and Kurds “inevitable” and insisted that he was not defending ethnic cleansing, even as he reiterated a defense of President Donald Trump’s decision to move U.S. troops out of Syria, paving the way for Turkey’s invasion, which has driven out at least 160,000 Kurds.

U.S. forces had served as a buffer between two U.S. allies with a long history of tension: Turkey, a NATO member, and Kurds, an ethnic group that fought with the United States, losing more than 10,000 fighters in seven years of war to dismantle the “caliphate” established by the radical Islamic State.

On Wednesday, Cornyn asserted that because Turkey seemed intent on going ahead with an invasion and the United States couldn’t stop it, there was wisdom in moving U.S. troops.

“If Turkey was planning on coming into northern Syria and trying to ethnically cleanse the Kurds, and U.S. troops were caught in the middle, I am not completely convinced that it was a bad idea to get them out of harm’s way,” he said on a call with Texas reporters. The comment came after he was asked by The Dallas Morning News: “Can you discuss this outcome with the Kurds — are you satisfied with this abrupt withdrawal and where things now stand, with Russia and Turkey moving into the vacuum?”

The senator’s comment drew widespread criticism from across the political spectrum, amid a perception that he was downplaying ethnic cleansing.

Seeking to clarify his stance Thursday, he told reporters at the Senate: “I wasn’t very clear. If the U.S. isn’t committed to stay in Syria, getting our troops out of harm’s way where they might be injured or killed during the inevitable conflict between the Turks and the Kurds was something I was concerned about.”

Cornyn about this quote: “I wasn’t very clear. If the US isn’t committed to stay in Syria, getting our troops out of harm’s way where they might be injured or killed during the inevitable conflict between the Turks and the Kurds was something I was concerned about.” https://t.co/ewLP5wKmXx — Igor Bobic (@igorbobic) October 24, 2019

State Sen. Royce West of Dallas, another of the Democrats competing in the 2020 primary, hit Cornyn for a “cut and run” attitude that misread the strategic situation.

Focusing on U.S. troops being in harm’s way, he said, ignores that their presence protected the Kurds from attack.

“I doubt seriously whether the Turks were going to do an invasion and kill American troops,” West said. “The U.S. troops being there was a deterrent against a Turkish military invasion.”

“From the standpoint of turning our backs on allies that have given their blood frankly to protect our homeland, we shouldn’t do that. And to the extent that ethnic cleansing is going to be the result of that, we really shouldn’t do that,” West said.

“Can America be the police for the entire world? No," West said, but the Kurds had sacrificed for U.S. national security and “we should make certain that we honor relationships” like that. "That isn’t valued for some strange reason that Cornyn has forgotten. We protect and work with allies, and Texans don’t run. And we sure don’t throw people under the bus.”

He... he said "ethnically cleanse". He just said it out loud. To reporters he knew were listening. https://t.co/RqxVowpVe3 — Cody Johnston (@drmistercody) October 24, 2019

Sure, why would the United States want to interfere with the ethnic cleansing of its allies? You can always count on Republicans for moral clarity. https://t.co/YegdFhw9nI — Max Boot (@MaxBoot) October 24, 2019

This is not an @TheOnion headline. This is a real statement from a real elected official. https://t.co/IBtNGyQBoA — Alyssa Milano (@Alyssa_Milano) October 24, 2019

Cornyn is seeking a fourth six-year term next year, and nearly a dozen Democrats are vying for the chance to challenge him in the fall.

Another of those candidates, Cristina Tzintzún Ramirez of Austin, an activist and political organizer, called the senator’s stance “callous” and “dangerous,” and she gave him no credit for trying to clarify his initial remark about ethnic cleansing.

“What John Cornyn has forgotten, perhaps because he’s been in Washington too long, is that what’s most important to Texans is keeping our word,” she said. “If one of our most important allies can’t expect us to honor our word, not recklessly abandon them … how can we expect the rest of our global partners to see us?”

The withdrawal of U.S. troops, she argued, creates regional instability and will allow the Islamic State to flourish.

“We are talking about a catastrophe that we helped create,” she said. “The Kurdish people have been longtime allies of the American people of the American military. The idea that we will just abandon them, and think that it would be OK to allow them to suffer ethnic cleansing — or any people globally to suffer ethnic cleansing — just tells me why John Cornyn has no business being our senator anymore.”

Chris Bell, a former congressman from Houston, called Cornyn’s comment “despicable.”

The Texas Democratic Party called it “disgusting" and “shameful.” Said executive director Manny Garcia: “After rationalizing ethnic cleansing, supporting a move to abandon our allies, and breaking with nearly every foreign policy expert, complicit John Cornyn has proven once again that he will stop at absolutely nothing to defend his partisan political allies in Washington, even if it means jeopardizing our national security."