During Sunday’s “State of the Union” on CNN, 2020 Democratic presidential hopeful South Bend, IN Mayor Pete Buttigieg argued that by withdrawing from Northern Syria, President Donald Trump was taking away the honor of Americans soldiers.

Buttigieg said, “Putting an end to endless war doesn’t mean ending American engagement around the world. Often it means making sure we do our part to stabilize or help keep the peace so that full-blown conflicts don’t break out. But look at what happened here. This isn’t even a strategy or a policy. It is the president systematically destroying American alliances and American vials, and that makes America worse off. The 21st century will be filled with these kinds of messy asymmetric conflicts, and we need to make sure the U.S. is in a position to defend our interests and to live up to our obligations to our allies. And right now we’re seeing the reverse. It is horrifying to see what is emerging not just in terms of what is being done to Kurds but in terms of ISIS fighters now being released, exactly as we were warned would happen. And we’re seeing the first reports of atrocities too.”

He continued, “And what is even more disturbing as a veteran is hearing from soldiers who feel they are lost their honor and unable to look in the eye allies who put their lives on the line to fight with us and if you take away a soldier’s honor you might as well go after their body armor next, and that is what the commander-in-chief is doing right now.”

He added, “Under this president, America is being turned into just another country. Just another country out there scrapping for advantage not showing leadership. Not in an exceptional position to shape outcomes around the world and the consequences of that are terrible both for American values and for American interests.”

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