Democratic presidential hopefuls started Tuesday’s debate by slamming President Donald Trump’s Iran policy and articulating their own vision for the future US force posture in the Middle East.
Former Vice President Joe Biden vowed to “leave troops in the Middle East in terms of patrolling the Gulf,” characterizing the roughly 40,000 US troops currently stationed in the Arab Gulf states as “a small number of troops.” He also called it “a mistake to pull out the small number of troops that are there now to deal with [the Islamic State],” vowing to leave US special forces in place to deal with the terrorist group.
