Speaking Thursday at a rally, President Trump said that the US is likely to pull troops out of Syria “very soon,” saying they’ll “let the other people take care of it now.” The US officially has around 2,000 troops in Syria.
Trump told the rally that they are “knocking the hell out of ISIS,” and that the last of the ISIS territory is soon recovering. His presentation of this as the end of the US war in Syria is not in keeping with what other administration officials say, however.
The Pentagon has been talking up new military goals in Syria for months on end, with Defense Secretary James Mattis saying troops would stay in Syria to prevent the creation of an ISIS 2.0. The State Department plead ignorance to Trump’s comments, saying they are unaware of any planned withdrawals from Syria.
That’s unsurprising, however, as President Trump has often made off-the-cuff statements of policy without giving other officials a head’s up. Trump’s position on a pullout is in keeping with his own view of Syria as a very narrow anti-ISIS war, but a lot of other officials have staked out their own positions, essentially mirroring the US plan for permanent deployment in Iraq.
Iraq and Syria were both parts of the same ISIS war, after all, but has a serious distinction. Iraq has welcomed US troops in their country, at least for now, while Syria never authorized a US deployment. Syria continues to declare US forces in their country unwelcome, and it would be very difficult for the US to maintain an open-ended military presence there.
While US troops in Syria are not currently involved in a lot of combat, their withdrawal would extricate them from a tense situation with Turkey. Turkey intends to invade certain Kurdish regions where US troops are embedded, and seems set to do so whether the US remains or not. The suggestion of a pullout may encourage Turkey to be patient for a time on the matter.
“State Dept denies any plans for troop withdrawal”
Perhaps the state department is disconnected from both Trump and reality. They’re losing their Secretary soon.
I thought that the troops were run out of the Pentagon not the state department?
State Dept is the new War Dept.
This is clearly a Trump red herring.
Trump has been strident on the idea probably gleaned from the Israeli’s i.e. fool the enemy. In Trumps eyes the enemy is Iran, his appointments, actions, statements whether open or covert all have one end in mind. “Destroy Iran”.
Mo’s statement is pure prejudice – no argument, no facts that this is a red herring.
The Deep State is moving into high gear to put an end to this long stated policy of Trump to get out of Syria.
C’mon A-M,
Trump has got together through firings the most extremist anti Iran war cabinet possible. Troops being handy in Syria is needed to take advantage of a future pretext.
He is hardly going to make redundant his Pompeo/Bolton team by leaving Syria just like that.
You’re wrong, my friend. It’s the Pentagon who is campaigning to maintain a presence in the region, not Mr. Trump. I will draw your attention to the following quotes.
“This is clearly a Trump red herring.”
He is not that clued in, and not that calculating about such things anyway.
His calculation is more about short term media manipulation, in which 48 hours would be long term.
Leaving Suria soon over MIC dead contractors bodies.
It’s good news, because since he’s repeating what he said before his election, he’ll lose a lot of face if he doesn’t follow through. If there is one thing Trump doesn’t like, it’s losing face.
All he does is lose face daily. He says one thing and acts the opposite.
And yet he’s still president
I am not a crook!…Nixon
you can keep your doctor……BHO
read my lips NO new taxes……GHWB
I did not have sexual relations with that woman…Bill Clinton
We should be used to presidents saying one thing and doing another by now? This president could walk on water and the headlines would read “Trump cant swim!” If he does bring home troops for any reason he will get paddled by the MSM.
They are running away in terror of the Judean People’s Popular Front.
This said while they’re building military bases in Syria’s oil rich region…
Which sphincter shaped orifice did this proclamation come out of?
Even “Syria’s oil rich region” has very little oil. Anyone acting for that reason simply doesn’t know where the oil is. Yeah, that could be Trump, but he is on the other side about staying, now anyway. Those who want to stay have other motives, not oil. At most, that small amount of oil is a way to partly finance a Kurdish statelet in Syria, which of course Turkey won’t allow so it won’t happen.
Hey guys, maybe he’s serious and this is actually going to happen, and if he balks we can use his words in the campaign and now to possibly hold him to it. It is after all a common sense smart move that would remove many serious dangers that the US has imposed on itself for far too long.
Of course, “very soon” is a relative term. But in the meantime, we should watch the other hand.
The US role in Syria grew directly out of the Iraq invasion, in more ways than just ISIS and al Qaeda.
First, the US pursued people across the border into Syria, some of them people now our “friends” still paid for by Gulf oil money. Some was open, more was clandestine.
Second, the US made a deal with Gulf oil money states to get out of Iraq, by giving them instead Syria as their own sand-box in which to establish their Wahhabi Sunni dream state.
Third, the destruction of Syria has a major underlying motive of destroying another enemy of Israel, and was pushed by the Israeli government in the same way and for the same reasons as it pushed the US to invade Iraq (and yes it did, very publicly, although it lies about that now).
Fourth, the concept of fragmenting Syria comes from the same people who wanted to fragment Iraq, as a way to keep it permanently unable to act against Israel as a state.
Fifth, it is a front against Iran, and now Russia too. It isn’t about Syria at all as to this point, it is about Iran and Russia. That rise in their power now being fought came from the ill advised Iraq adventure gone wrong.
The rantings of an increasingly unhinged lunatic. Did the Deep State even bother telling him that CIA/Mossad has been actively supporting ISIS all along, arming them with American and Israeli weapons, providing medical assistance, and whisking them away from defeat in US helicopters when the Syrians and Russians were closing in on them? I don’t think so.
Sadly, the Deep War State and their warmongers would consider any withdrawal of US troops anywhere as lunacy.
Later in the news report I heard something like “maybe in six months”. You can’t believe anything Lying Trump says, and what he says changes from day to day.
“let the other people take care of it now” – contractors. In other words, the bases will be filled with contractors, possibly Kurds, and whatever groups the CIA supports. This is not withdrawal, it is privatization! Just like Trump wants to privatize the VA.. and infrastructure.. and everything … definition of fascism is a marriage of corporations with the government. Meanwhile, Trump supporters who never follow the real news will all think he “took us out of Syria” because it won’t be mentioned on Fox News or Breitbart.
Okay, you’ve said we’re leaving. Now which brave young lad over there wants to be the last to be killed or injured for a place we’re quitting? How about leaving NOW.
what a joke. “Trump said that the US is LIKELY to pull troops out of Syria VERY SOON” Don”t believe it one single bit. Remember ISIS is the U S. Where do they get TO Missiles. Where do they get their AMMO? Trucks, Parts ALL SUPPLIES that would be needed for a 7 yr campaign. Who flies top ISIS leaders out. Who gives air support to ISIS when Syrian forces move in. Who is staying in a country WITHOUT the permission of the Syrian Government?
Not with John Bolton in charge……….