President Trump caught his national security team and all of his allies in Congress by surprise by abruptly ordering the immediate withdrawal of all 2,000 U.S. troops from Syria.
The substance of the decision is defensible. It’s never been completely clear what U.S. troops were doing in Syria to begin with, and without a well defined mission, an orderly withdrawal makes sense. Furthermore, he’s the commander-in-chief and these decisions are his call.
But immediate withdrawal is not orderly withdrawal. And the timing has confused, well, everyone! Just days ago, Brett McGurk, the U.S. envoy to the anti-ISIS coalition, told reporters the deployment would continue for “some time.” “We know that once the physical space is defeated, we can’t just pick up and leave. So we’re prepared to make sure that we do all we can to ensure this is enduring,” he said. And Trump reportedly did not inform the Pentagon in advance that he would order the withdrawal.
Trump justified his decision by claiming, falsely, that he ordered the withdrawal because ISIS has been defeated. As Republican Congressman and Air National Guardsman Adam Kinzinger tweeted, “This is simply not true.” If you don’t believe him, New York Times reporter and ISIS expert Rukmini Callimachi noted that three separate reports, including one by the Pentagon’s Inspector General, estimate that ISIS still has between 20,000 and 30,000 fighters in Iraq and Syria alone.
Trump’s announcement comes just days after Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that Turkey will launch a military operation against Kurdish forces in northern Syria. Kurdish forces have proven to be the most effective fighters against ISIS and are a key U.S. ally in the region. But, as with all things Syria, it’s complicated as the Turks have been fighting against Kurdish separatists in Turkey for a long time.
This is by no means an easy decision, but it’s clear that the process was flawed and nearly everyone involved worries that ISIS will immediately regain strength.
Trump’s top congressional allies are furious.
“If Obama had done this, all of us would be furious,”said Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), who has made a habit of explaining how he and his fellow Republican senators have no principles beyond rank partisanship. “If Obama had done this, we’d be going nuts right now: ‘How weak, how dangerous.’”
In his toughest passive voice, Liddle Marco Rubio (R-FL) chastised an unnamed person for ordering the withdrawal. “The decision to pull out of Syria was made despite overwhelming military advice against it. It is a major blunder. It it isn’t reversed it will haunt this administration & America for years to come.”
From Brian: When any president does a good thing, it’s reassuring to be able to assume it’s the product of a serious deliberative process, and didn’t stem from some corrupt ulterior motive. Trump poisons everything he does with doubt, but hopefully this decision is for the best anyhow.
