I'm listening now to the audio of Trump speaking to troops in Iraq. He told them of his meeting with military leaders: "We had an incredible meeting that lasted for about an hour. And you have no idea what we’ve come up with. You’re gonna be so happy."
More: "we had a meeting with [Commanding Gen. LaCamera] and some of your great representatives and we have some ideas that are more than ideas that are going to be just… We like to win. Do we like to win? We’re gonna win."
Of trip to the region: "we felt very safe coming in. It was a pretty difficult journey in certain ways. But we felt very very good. Very safe. And also we knew exactly where we were going and we’re going to say hello to you and wish you all a merry Christmas and a happy new year"
More from speech to troops: "As we get all of this billions and billions of dollars of new equipment that I approved over the last two years, you’re getting such new equipment your eyes are popping, right? Your eyes are popping. You’re getting the best equipment in the world."
And more: "I just want you to relax, just have a good time for a few minutes. And then I’ll be heading to another location and then I’ll be heading back, but I have you totally in mind. Totally in mind."
(This video hasn't fed in yet so I'm live tweeting the audio that was provided by the radio pool as I transcribe)
To base commander Col. Michael Maddox: "Colonel, thank you very much. Great job. Thank you Colonel. No games. I can see, I know people. No games with the Colonel. No games with your general, right? Not a lot of games. It’s called, they wanna win."
More: "The other reason I’m here today is to personally thank you and every service member throughout this region for the near elimination of the ISIS territorial caliphate in Iraq and Syria. Two years ago, when I became president, they were a very dominant group...
"They were very dominant. Today they’re not so dominant anymore [cheers]"
Trump to troops: "We’re not nation building. Rebuilding Syria will require a political solution and it’s a solution that should be paid for by its very rich neighboring countries, not the United States. Let them pay for it. And they will. They will."
Trump: "Our presence in Syria is not open ended and was never intended to be permanent. Eight years ago we went there for three months and we never left." (Note: US airstrikes in Syria began in September 2014 -- four years ago)
Speaking of not being the world's policeman: "If they want us to do the fighting, they also have to pay a price and sometimes that’s also a monetary price so we’re not the suckers of the world. We’re no longer the suckers, folks. And people aren’t looking at us as suckers"
Then Trump shifts to the political fight over wall $: "I don’t know if you folks are aware of what’s happening – we want to have strong borders in the United States, the Democrats don’t want to let us have strong borders. Only for one reason. You know why? Because I want it."
Trump to soldiers deployed in Iraq: "When you think about it, you’re fighting for borders in other countries! And they don’t want to fight, the Democrats, for the border of our country. It doesn’t make a lot of sense."
Trump then makes two flagrant lies in a row: 1) He said the US military got its first pay raise in 10 years. FACT: The military has received a pay increase each year except for '83 and that was a technical glitch. @PolitiFact rated it Pants on Fire. politifact.com/truth-o-meter/…
Then 2) He said he raised the military's pay by ten percent. FACT: It was raised 2.8% in 2018 and another 2.6% in the current NDAA.
Here are the quotes from his speech in Iraq: "You haven’t gotten [a raise] in more than ten years. More than ten years. And we got you a big one. I got you a big one."
And --
"You had plenty of people that came up and said, you know, we can make it smaller. ...I said no. Make it ten percent. Make it more than ten percent. Because it’s been a long time."
Both those quotes are lies that the president has been called out on before.
"You had plenty of people that came up and said, you know, we can make it smaller. ...I said no. Make it ten percent. Make it more than ten percent. Because it’s been a long time."
Both those quotes are lies that the president has been called out on before.
Lastly -- here's how Trump re-enacted conversations with his military leaders/advisers about leaving Syria which concludes with him saying, "Nope. I gave you a lot of 'six months.'" It was too complicated for a series of tweets so just read the attached. 
