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You are here: Home / Politics / Trumpery / Dolt 45 / Breaking: The US Is Withdrawing From Syria (According To Trump)

Breaking: The US Is Withdrawing From Syria (According To Trump)

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We (the royal we) are declaring victory.

[I use screenshots of Trump’s tweets for two reasons: not to give him the clicks, and sometimes he deletes them.]

This is something of a surprise to everyone, although he attempted it some months back, only to be stopped by those in the administration who want a war against Iran or maybe Russia.

https://twitter.com/profmusgrave/status/1075398094244712448

I tend to agree with the folks who say it’s the right policy decision, but badly executed. Additionally, it may well be reversed when those desiring a war with Iran or Russia get into the Oval Office for a friendly chat. Developing.

Open thread.

Reader Interactions

66Comments

  6. 6.

    Cheryl Rofer

    Just this one more, which is also what I think will happen.

  8. 8.

    Corner Stone

    @JPL:

    Whatever Putin wants, Putin gets

    Well, if you believe the reporting, Russian mercs have attacked US troops in Syria on more than a few occasions.
    Easier for Trump to pull some policy chaos than have dead US GIs at the hands of Russia.

  9. 9.

    A Ghost To Most

    Anything (and everything) to distract from the Acme 10 ton weight hanging over Wile E. Creosote’s head.

  10. 10.

    Gin & Tonic

    I’m so old I can remember when the power to declare war (and un-declare, I guess) belonged to Congress and not the President.

  12. 12.

    Leto

    @JPL: Trumpov is ensuring that his, and his traitorous spawn (sorry Jared and Tiffany), exit strategy is in place as Mueller continues to tighten the noose. Make sure the boss is happy so the visa application goes through without a hitch.

    “We will ensure force protection is adequately maintained, but as quickly as possible.”

    Mogadishu Mile part two.

  14. 14.

    Ruckus

    So while actually doing absolutely nothing positive we’ve defeated an enemy that has seemingly continued to grow, has money from somewhere (probably supplied by one or more of our “friends”) and master bone spurs has defeated them in 2 yrs after we pretty much made their existence happen and have been fighting them for 15 yrs? Color me astounded, and an unbeliever.

  15. 15.

    low-tech cyclist

    I feel sorry for our soldiers in Syria who thought they were there for a reason.

    I don’t know whether to feel sorry for the people of Syria, because I honestly don’t know whether our presence there is helpful or harmful to them. (Can’t follow everything that goes on in the world. Sorry, Syria.) But if our being there is helpful to them, I feel sorry for them most of all.

  17. 17.

    trollhattan

    Odds they find themselves at the US-Mexico border on the new year?

    Trump is just so profoundly odd, with the attention span of a spatula.

  18. 18.

    Amir Khalid

    @Frankensteinbeck:
    Agreed. As with all FP decisions announced via Twitter, I wonder if at some point the grownups are eventually going to announce that Trump didn’t really mean it.

  19. 19.

    Corner Stone

    Additionally, it may well be reversed when those desiring a war with Iran or Russia get into the Oval Office for a friendly chat.

    If WaPo’s troop numbers are correct, then 2,000 in Syria would not help any kind of offensive into/against Iran.

  21. 21.

    feebog

    I tend to agree with the folks who say it’s the right policy decision, but badly executed.

    And just what would a well executed plan look like with Trumpov in charge? I agree with those that think this is another premature, off the top of his head, pronouncements and it will be walked back by the grownups.

  22. 22.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    Nahal Toosi @ nahaltoosi
    Why suddenly this Syria news?? “One Defense Department official suggested that Mr. Trump also wants to divert attention away from the series of legal challenges confronting him over the recent days…”

    @Amir Khalid: Nanny Mattis will come out in the next couple of days and announce that if people weren’t so stupid they would see that the trumperor’s new clothes were stunning, the fashion choice of a very stable genius, and he never said that thing he said, and we will be tough and strong

  24. 24.

    kindness

    If the US does pull out completely it’s a death sentence for the Kurds in Syria. No one is going to trust the US ever again.

  26. 26.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    Additionally, it may well be reversed when those desiring a war with Iran or Russia get into the Oval Office for a friendly chat.

    such as…

    Lindsey Graham
    Withdrawal of this small American force in Syria would be a huge Obama-like mistake.
    Lindsey Graham
    With all due respect, ISIS is not defeated in Syria, Iraq, and after just returning from visiting there — certainly not Afghanistan.

    I’ll confess I don’t pay as much attention to FP as a I used to. I’m kind of exhausted after almost twenty years of chaos, but…. ISIS in Afghanistan? ISISA?

  28. 28.

    Corner Stone

    @feebog:

    And just what would a well executed plan look like with Trumpov in charge?

    One that ended with Trump hanging upside down, rope around his ankle, over a lion enclosure. Looking like an extra large meatsack pinata.

  30. 30.

    Gelfling 545

    @Cheryl Rofer: That’s what I think too. My first thought was who knows if this is even a policy much less good or bad. Or even if he meant Syria. IF there was any intentionality behind it, it was to deflect from his legal troubles.

  31. 31.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Amir Khalid:

    As with all FP decisions announced via Twitter, I wonder if at some point the grownups are eventually going to announce that Trump didn’t really mean it.

    Who are these “grownups” of whom you speak?

  33. 33.

    Brachiator

    I tend tend to agree with the folks who say it’s the right policy decision, but badly executed.

    I dunno. If it’s the right policy, does it matter if it fails on style points? However, I acknowledge that foreign policy experts may have deeper insights into this.

    But what happens to Syria now? Declaring “mission accomplished” does not make it so.

  34. 34.

    Cheryl Rofer

    I’m wondering how Bolton feels about being jerked around this way.

  35. 35.

    MattF

    Well, Bolton will make a frowny-face. But as for anything else, no one knows. As they say, — prediction is hard, particularly about the future.

  36. 36.

    Brachiator

    @Amir Khalid:

    I wonder if at some point the grownups are eventually going to announce that Trump didn’t really mean it.

    I don’t think that there are many grownups in this administration. More vipers and opportunists.

  37. 37.

    catclub

    @kindness:

    If the US does pull out completely it’s a death sentence for the Kurds in Syria.

    the end result of all US efforts to help the Kurds. There was this guy, GWHBush, who also wanted to help the Kurds – and the Shiites.

  40. 40.

    Cheryl Rofer

    @Brachiator: It’s not just style. An essential part that Trump leaves out is conferring with allies, letting them know about our moves ahead of time. He seems to have decided this on the basis of a conversation with Erdogan, who probably sees it as an opportunity to go after the Kurds. And it might be a good idea to talk to folks in Europe because they get the refugee flows. Also, there’s an issue of pacing the military aspects to minimize dangers to our troops.

    Withdrawing is always difficult, but just waking up one day and deciding this is the day is unlikely to produce the best results.

  41. 41.

    Elizabelle

    Probably a gambit for attention (“I’m in charge, I say, I’m IN CHARGE”) since he’s getting pantsed on His Wall.

    See what the service heads and other better minds have to say.

  42. 42.

    jonas

    …I’ll also add that yes, this will probably be walked back in a series of tweets in which Trump rages that reports that he’s ordering a retreat from Syria is “fake news!!1!” and that we’re staying the course, yada yada yada.

  43. 43.

    gene108

    Why Russia really wants the US out
    Putin’s remarks on Idlib were also an indication that his ultimate goal in Syria is to end all foreign military presence there, including Turkish, French, and particularly the US. In early October, Putin said: “We should pursue a goal that there would be no foreign forces, [the forces] of third states in Syria at all.”

    In fact, Russia was very disturbed by the US plans to maintain a military presence in Syria after the end of the war against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).

    The stated objectives of the US decision to stay in the northeast of the country were articulated in September: to preclude the resurgence of ISIL, contain Iran and prevent it from establishing a land corridor through Iraq and Syria to Lebanon, and use this military presence as a bargaining chip to force a political solution to the Syrian conflict.

    Today the US controls one-third of Syrian territories through its alliance with the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF); Russia (through the Syrian regime) dominates a bit more than half of the country; and the rest is under Turkish supervision (through the Syrian opposition forces it supports).

    The SDF-controlled area contains 90 percent of Syria’s oil and gas reserves, including al-Omar, its largest oil field, as well as most of its water resources, major dams, and power plants. The northeast is also Syria’s breadbasket. As long as this area is out of its control, no government in Damascus can survive independently from foreign aid.

    And the Russians, who are eager to reap the economic benefit of their military intervention in Syria, do not want to and cannot provide financial aid. Hence, the withdrawal of the US forces is essential for the survival of the Syrian regime and for the success of Russia’s Syrian venture.

    Therefore, without a US-Russian agreement, there can be no significant progress made on a political solution in Syria.

    In this sense, the Istanbul summit was doomed to fail because the US was not there. Perhaps it was for this reason that French President Emmanuel Macron announced that on November 11 he will be hosting a US-Russia summit on Syria in Paris.

    https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.aljazeera.com/amp/indepth/opinion/istanbul-summit-failed-181029102112796.html

    Found this an interesting article. More at the link.

  44. 44.

    Elizabelle

    NPR just led its hourly recap with a report that Sarah Sanders says we are leaving because we defeated ISIS.

  48. 48.

    tobie

    The timing of this is strange. Does the case against Flynn’s business partner for lobbying for the Turkish government have anything to do with this decision? Does Flynn’s work for the Erdogan administration exposed yesterday play a role here? I don’t know but the two countries that are happiest about the US withdrawal from Syria are Russia and Turkey, and both know that it’s all quid pro quo with Donnie.

  49. 49.

    mapaghimagsik

    Have we reached the point in the reporting cycle where everything Marmalade Mussolini tweets is prefaced or appended with “But who can trust what a serial liar tweets?”

  53. 53.

    Cheryl Rofer

    @Frankensteinbeck: I suspect all this is Trump thrashing around, desperate for good news. Or, as Tobias Schneider said, someone made the mistake of asking him what’s next in Syria. It’s probably possible to get all the diplomatic personnel out in 24 hours, but if we’re withdrawing the military, a diplomatic presence becomes more important. But Trump probably doesn’t understand that.

  55. 55.

    Mike in NC

    Republican senators not pleased with Fat Bastard’s decision to bug out of Syria as directed by Vlad Putin. Troops will redeploy to Texas, which looks a lot like Syria.

  56. 56.

    patrick II

    Leaving Syria to the Russians was Trump’s announced policy and implied promise to Putin during his campaign. For good or evil, he is doing what he said he was going to do.
    Back with Obama, and now with Trump, Russians were bombing rebel groups and towns, the United States did not retaliate by bombing Syrian troops. From caution, good judgement, or faint heartedness caused by Putin’s threats, under those circumstances our allies were left in a terrible situation.
    Russian mercenaries have also attacked U.S. troops — unsuccessfully it seemed at the time, but since once again we won’t strike back we have put our troops in a terrible position, and Putin’s apparent losses may be success because he has given us one more reason to leave.
    If you don’t confront the Russians as they attack our allies and us — and you and Putin know that Trump won’t — then you might as well leave because eventually there will be no reason to stay and in the meantime you are letting a dead end war with serious casualties to our side continue. Of course it won’t be good for them when we leave either.
    Putin has slowly brought up the military pressure and he is being rewarded for his military aggression, as he has in the Ukraine. This is like Stalin all over again. The new cold war is getting pretty warm with attacks by military and, strangely when thinking of the first cold war terms, kompromat over social media, upon the West. It is full frontal war probing every weak spot we have. I don’t think Donald has the brains to call this a strategic retreat to better confront in more favorable conditions.
    And you know Trump is not going to stand up to any of it. I worry about the Ukraine, and what else will happen in the next two Russian Puppet Trump years, and the damage to our own democracy when the inevitable day comes when we do stand up to Putin.

  57. 57.

    Brachiator

    @Cheryl Rofer:

    It’s not just style. An essential part that Trump leaves out is conferring with allies, letting them know about our moves ahead of time. He seems to have decided this on the basis of a conversation with Erdogan, who probably sees it as an opportunity to go after the Kurds. And it might be a good idea to talk to folks in Europe because they get the refugee flows.

    The thing is, Trump has no allies. At best, there are a few strongman partners he admires, but otherwise, he sees himself as Emperor of America and of the Western World. His vision is limited to what he wants and what makes him look good, and what he thinks will work to his personal advantage.

    He especially doesn’t care about refugee flows, since the only European leaders he cares about are those nationalists who hate refugees and would happily watch them die trying to reach Europe. And of course, Trump doesn’t understand or care that the refugee problem might be caused by Western power meddling in other countries.

    Also, there’s an issue of pacing the military aspects to minimize dangers to our troops.

    Withdrawing is always difficult, but just waking up one day and deciding this is the day is unlikely to produce the best results.

    Yes. I think you are obviously right here.

    Again, the core problem here is that Trump is not a thinking president. He sees cabinet departments and the military as existing to execute his will. Diplomacy and policy don’t really exist for him.

    And he has gone on record as saying that negative consequences that occur after he leaves office are not his problem. And he will simply lie about anything bad that happens during his term.

    This makes things enormously difficult for any who care about foreign policy and its consequences. But this is where we are now as a country, with this president.

  61. 61.

    Srynerson

    @patrick II: The claim the U.S. does “not retaliate by bombing Syrian troops” is categorically false, as can be confirmed within a few seconds by looking at the results of a Google search for “us bombs syrian government.” Mike Pompeo even testified to Congress that the U.S. targeted “pro-government Syrian forces” and “Russian mercenaries,” killing “a couple hundred” people: http://time.com/5237922/mike-pompeo-russia-confirmation/

  63. 63.

    mapaghimagsik

    Oh yay, hiring freeze and surprise town hall at the corporate murderhole. Let the panic begin!

  64. 64.

    Hoodie

    Withdrawal would be fine if we had any confidence that it was just a tactical change to more effectively address Putin’s aggression and protect the Kurds, but we sure don’t have that. This is just Trump’s way of trying to change the subject after Flynn’s flaying in Judge Sullivan’s courtroom. I doubt withdrawal will even happen, wouldn’t be surprised if pentagon ignores him.

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