AL ASAD AIR BASE, Iraq _ Vice President Mike Pence on a surprise visit to Iraq told U.S. troops on Saturday that he wanted them to have a pay raise but Congress was engaged in "partisan politics" instead of doing its job.
He expressed gratitude to the troops at Al Asad Air Base for their service during the visit ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday, saying at this "special time of year" they are in the hearts of all Americans.
Pence said the administration would fight to make sure troops had the resources needed for their mission. "But we need Congress to do their job," he said. "The truth is Congress should have finished their work on defense appropriations months ago. But you all know partisan politics and endless investigations have slowed things down in Washington, D.C."
He also praised the killing of Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi by U.S. forces in October.
Pence said that he was with President Donald Trump in the White House situation room during the operation, listening. "I'll never forget the words. 100 percent confidence. Jackpot. Over," he recalled to applause.
Pence told the troops that he brought greetings from Trump. "The president wanted us to be here at the start of this holiday week to make sure you all know how thankful we are in America," he said.
"And I know it doesn't beat a home-cooked meal or spending time with your families, but we hope that maybe we brought a little bit of home here to Al Asad," he said.
Pence and his wife, Karen, left Washington on Friday on a covert 15-hour journey to Iraq to surprise troops who will spend the Thanksgiving holiday away from home. They flew in a C-17 military aircraft with a handful of aides.
With communications jammed, the vice president delivered remarks to U.S. service members at the air base and helped serve a traditional Thanksgiving meal of turkey, cranberries and dinner rolls to approximately 150 troops.
Pence piled generous helpings of meat on their plates and greeted them by name _ "Hey Gomez," "Hey Mitchell," "Hey Hulac." He asked them where they were from, offering a personal anecdote for each place. Orange County? "Our kids learned to surf." Louisville, "a great place."
Karen Pence had to prod her husband away from the reception line, telling him he needed to let someone else finish the job. "They tell me I gotta stop talking to people," he said.
Pence then went to Erbil where he also visited U.S. troops and reaffirmed U.S. support for Iraqi Kurds.
He met with the president of the Kurdistan region of Iraq, Nechirvan Barzani, and said they spoke about Trump's decision to leave U.S. troops in parts of Syria. Trump earlier in October had drawn sharp criticism for a sudden withdrawal of U.S. forces from northern Syria that left Kurdish allies who had fought against Islamic State vulnerable to attacks.
The United States was resolved that any terrorist group "will not be able to gain a foothold in this region again," Pence said.
"I hope that you will convey our gratitude and deepest respects to your great soldiers. This especially to the families of the fallen, who made such extraordinary sacrifices in achieving what is not just a victory over ISIS (for) this region, for Iraq, Syria, but really for the wider world," Pence said to Barzani.
Trump ran for office on a pledge to curb U.S. involvement in "endless wars" in the Middle East and justified his troop drawdown in Syria on that basis. The policy won him the support of anti-war lawmakers, but it was roundly rejected by top-ranking Republicans in Congress.
Asked while in Erbil if there was a sense of betrayal from the Kurds that needed to be smoothed over as a result of Trump's actions in Syria, Pence replied to reporters: "I don't think there was any confusion now among the leadership here in the Kurdish region of President Trump's commitment to our allies here in Iraq as well as those in the Syrian Defense Force, the Kurdish forces who fought alongside us. It's unchanging."
"Your visit at this particular time is an important indication of your continuing support to Kurdistan," Barzani told Pence. "We hope that you convey our sincere gratitude and thanks to President Trump. And we are hopeful that the continued relationship between the Kurdistan region and the United States could continue to develop further and further in all things."
Pence did not meet with the prime minister or president of Iraq during his visit, but after three tries to get through, discussed the protests and unrest in Iraq in a phone call with Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi shortly after landing. "He pledged to me that they would work to protect and respect peaceful protesters as part of the democratic process," Pence said to reporters traveling with him.
The Iraqis were informed of the secret trip on Thursday evening, according to Katie Waldman, spokeswoman for Pence. A senior U.S. official told reporters that taking Pence to Baghdad to meet the Iraqi leaders posed a security challenge and speculated that the Iraqi leaders did not want to be seen visiting an American air base.
The incident highlighted ongoing tension between the Trump administration and Iraqi officials. The White House has called on Iraqi President Barham Salih to pass electoral reforms, hold an early election and quell violence in Iraq against protesters. At least 100 people have died in demonstrations against economic conditions and more than 6,000 have been injured in the Iraqi protests.
It was the first trip to Iraq for Pence as vice president. He visited Afghanistan in December 2017.
Pence declined any public comment on the allegations in impeachment testimony to reporters traveling with him to Iraq.
The trip followed a series of carefully managed distractions that have kept Pence away from the impeachment proceedings on Capitol Hill.
He was traveling in Wisconsin on Wednesday when EU Ambassador Gordon Sondland testified at a congressional impeachment hearing that President Donald Trump engaged in a "quid pro quo" with Ukraine, and that Pence knew about it.
Trump is accused of withholding a promised White House meeting and congressionally mandated security assistance for Ukraine to get the country to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden, then a candidate for the Democratic nomination to challenge Trump, and his son Hunter Biden.
Pence had largely been able to steer clear of the impeachment frenzy before Sondland's testimony, even though his Sept. 1 meeting in Warsaw, Poland, with Ukranian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy was under the microscope of congressional Democrats.
Sondland testified earlier this week that he informed the vice president and other senior White House officials before that meeting that security assistance to Ukraine was being held up because Zelenskiy had not agreed to open up investigations requested by Trump.
"I was in a briefing with several people and I just spoke up and I said, 'It appears that everything is stalled until this statement gets made,'" Sondland testified.
He said he doesn't remember Pence giving a verbal response. "The vice president nodded like you know he heard what I said, and that was pretty much it as I recall," he said.
Security assistance came up in the meeting with Zelenskiy, but Sondland said Pence made no mention of the investigations.
His testimony reflects what Pence told reporters the next day during a news conference, that he did not bring up the Bidens when talking with Zelenskiy.
"But I called on him to work with us to engage our European partners to participate at a greater level in Ukraine, and also told him that I would carry back to President Trump the progress that he and his administration in Ukraine are making on dealing with corruption in their country," Pence said.
The vice president's office in a statement Wednesday said Pence never participated in a conversation like the one described in Sondland's testimony.
"The Vice President never had a conversation with Gordon Sondland about investigating the Bidens, Burisma, or the conditional release of financial aid to Ukraine based upon potential investigations," said the statement from Pence's chief of staff Marc Short. "This alleged discussion recalled by Ambassador Sondland never happened."
Short said: "Multiple witnesses have testified under oath that Vice President Pence never raised Hunter Biden, former Vice President Joe Biden, Crowdstrike, Burisma, or investigations in any conversation with Ukrainians or President Zelensky before, during, or after the September 1 meeting in Poland."
