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Trump creates new dangers with provocative comments about Iraqi oil

Whether he realizes it or not, Donald Trump is putting Americans in danger with careless rhetoric about taking Iraqi oil.
Republican U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump poses for a photo after an interview with Reuters in his office in Trump Tower, in the Manhattan borough of New York, N.Y., May 17, 2016. (Photo by Lucas Jackson/Reuters)
Republican U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump poses for a photo after an interview with Reuters in his office in Trump Tower, in the Manhattan borough of New York, N.Y., May 17, 2016.

"This is a dangerous thing to not have clarity on, and I don't mean it's dangerous in some academic, geopolitical sense; I mean it's literally, physically dangerous for the American troops who are in Iraq right now."If the Iraqis they're serving alongside think that the United States has these members of our military in that country right now because it is now U.S. policy to take Iraq's oil, that is very dangerous for American troops in that environment -- like fighting ISIS wasn't dangerous enough."

In part of yesterday's ABC interview, David Muir asked Trump if he's concerned about anger from the Middle East in response to the White House's new "extreme vetting" policies towards Muslims. "Anger?" the president responded, "There's plenty of anger right now. How can you have more?"Asked if his administration might be exacerbating a problem, Trump added, "David, I mean, I know you're a sophisticated guy. The world is a mess. The world is as angry as it gets. What? You think this is gonna cause a little more anger? The world is an angry place."The phrase to remember is, "The world is as angry as it gets." In the new American president's mind, it's impossible to inflame tensions in the Middle East, because the region is already at Peak Rage.New York's Jon Chait concluded, "Trump has gone out of his way as a candidate and as a president to depict his policies toward the Muslim world in the most hostile and imperialistic terms, and he literally cannot imagine how this could create problems. ISIS could not have dreamed up a more effective recruiter. The consequences will be horrific."