President Trump is still very clear he wants US troops out of Syria, and has even ordered commanders to quickly wrap up military operations in the country. It doesn’t seem to be happening, however, as White House officials have been feverishly backpedaling from the president’s comments.
President Trump was said to have been pushing for a withdrawal for months behind the scenes, and comments over the past week seemingly made that formal policy. Though Trump advisers are said to have drawn up plans for a pullout, they proposed an alternative plan to Trump, where they don’t leave at all.
White House indications are that Trump isn’t getting his way, and that instead the US is going to just stay in Syria to “eliminate the small ISIS presence” that yet remains. Since the US hasn’t been fighting ISIS on the ground in quite some time, there’s no timetable for that.
Administration officials seem to be eager to present this as something short of overruling Trump, which legally they couldn’t actually do. Still, without the timetable it’s a distinction without much of a difference, and the troops are just stuck in Syria.
It could be for quite some time, too, as the idea of totally eliminating ISIS isn’t particularly realistic on any time scale. The group’s fighters have mostly fled into the desert and spread out since the loss of their territory, and there will likely always be a case to be made that some of the fighters are left.
That means that, while presenting this as a minor hitch in Trump’s pullout, it could effectively be presented as defaulting back to the old position of the Pentagon, that the troops in Syria are there in an open-ended way.
Unconfirmed reports say that the Syrian army captured a number of Western military people in eastern Ghouta. Additional reports say the SAA found 40 tons of chemical weapons in Ghouta. A tunnel several miles long was constructed using the slave labor of Ghouta citizens
If these reports are true, then Syrian intelligence is likely questioning rebels and the captured Westerners. If the rebels implicate the captured Westerners in the use of chemical weapons, or any other war crimes, it could bring down some NATO governments.
To avoid this, there is likely some tense negotiating going on behind closed doors. If US troops don’t leave Syria, they will certainly have to refrain from attacking Syrian or Russian troops operating against Kurds and other SDF.
The pictures of chemical
Weapons containers are out. I have heard of advisirs. THey were in aleppo as well. TURNED IVER to UN
The US has and does and will continue to commit war crimes. It will not stop until we are put down by the rest of the world. We have been committing crimes against humanity for as long as we have been in existence.
I heard Trump’s remarks yesterday and there is a major point being missed in reporting and it is stunning. Trump said he can’t wait to get out of Syria but in the same sentence said the Saudis were very interested in US plans to do so, he then added: “If the Saudis want us to stay in Syria, they’re gonna have to pay for it…”
How is anyone in the world (or our country) suppose to trust anything ‘we’ say, when ‘we’ continually reverse ourselves??? It is political schizophrenia.
Reginald Johnston “R.J.”, speaking to the Last Emperor of China: Words are important. If you cannot say what you mean, Your Majesty, you will never mean what you say; and, a gentleman should always mean what he says.- The Last Emperor
We now have a ‘mafia don’ in the white house who is willing to sell the US to the highest bidder for profit and gain.
trump covers both sides of every issue, so that after “we’ll see what happens”, he can claim being smart. He leaves the details to his sycophants and worshipers to fill in. He provides the adjectives and leaves the nouns and verbs for his whisperers.
All will be remembered come election time Donald. You’ve done nothing except talk and raise my taxes to pay for your war and corruption machine.
Trump is being schooled on who actually controls the American military in the Mideast.
Nonsense, as CIC he orders them out, removing any generals who don’t follow his orders, it’s just plain that simple.
If President Trump can order soldiers to be deployed at the US-Mexican border he can order the US armed forces to leave Syria. The statement that a mysterious “White House” has contravened President Trump is nonsense. President Trump is the White House. He has told us over and over again that nobody but he matters.
When the Russians enter or stay in a bordering area, even by invitation, why it’s NAKED AGGRESSION.
Wasn’t it pretty much yesterday that Trump was bluntly telling the Saudis something like “pay up or we’re out”? I wonder how much the US military was pimped out for.
Well, that turnaround didn’t take long.
Fear not, the President will ultimately settle the matter.. President Putin, that is.
I hope you are right.
Yes, I think so. I think Mr. Trump should be big enough to hand it over to Russia, Syria, and Iran. to put it another way, ISIS will be soundly defeated within a month.
It’s pretty clear as to who calls the shots at the White House. Listening to retired Gen. Jack Keane on FOX you’d think it was the U.S. that routed ISIS in Syria instead of the Russians. Keane is opposed to the U.S. pulling out of Syria giving all kinds of fake reasons as to why we need to stay there. The guy is such a liar! He works for the Kagans’ Institute for the Study of War. And more wars is what they want.
We are watching the return to the pre World war world of France England & the United states dividing up the Arab oil wealth. Europe is now a refugee invasion zone and it will get much worse with this new action of clear Colonialism. France lost 154,000 in Indo China in its last attempt to be a colonial empire. England lost all its kids fighting wars to keep the empire. Patel is not the most name in England outside the grave yard BTW when Trump sent very heavy Military equipment it was clear he had no intention of giving up USA as lead Colonial power.
Trump channels the internal psychological mercurius.
Up, Down, Left, Right, again and again.
Pointless to listen to him at all.
Only important to watch what they do.
The USA has not the slightest right to be there, is certainly not doing anything good, but that is par for the course as usual.
Is this not another confirmation that Trump is in combat with the “deep state”?
Is it not well established that WW I and WW II were each started by false flag operations by Wall Street ? Is it not confirmed by Steve Kinzer and David Talbot that Allen Dulles and his cronies on Wall Street created the CIA to exploit foreign nations ? Hasn’t John Perkins and William Blum each have established the MO has been used for decades ? Isn’t Greece an obvious example of Wall Street’s exploitation ? Hasn’t Greg Palast and Douglas Valentine identified the ultimate goal of WS is to reduce the U.S. to a destitute colony ?
An yet if I offer a link of how Wall Street embezzles from the government using the FRBNY the comment is deleted ?? Ref. http://www.ncc-1776.org/tle2018/tle959-20180204-07.html