Syria and Trump’s Pull-Out Method

In a move guaranteed to get precisely none of the due applaud from respectable opinion molders, President Trump has ordered the full removal of all US troops from Syria within 30 days.

In an age when victory in war can simply be asserted on Twitter by nation’s presidents and no metrics for actually winning could ever possibly exist, Trump announced that ISIS was defeated and the war was over.I like to imagine a Pentagon junior aid at the Presidential Twitter Monitoring desk call out, “sir!”. Jim Mattis walks over , a green glow rising onto his face as he sees the screen for the first time, “mother of God..”

The pentagon did, of course, push back on the decision, warning that leaving now would leave the Kurdish alone to face opposition forces. This, of course citizen, is the concern of ours and requires a blood sacrifice of our young men until democracy is fully established and Islam forever pacified.

What’s most interesting, I think, is how at odd’s with his base this move is, and how easily he could have remained there in perpetuity at the recommendations of the state department and pentagon. Not only is the a vastly less rewarding avenue for any president, it will likely be a black eye on his ‘formal’ legacy as was the Iraq drawn down for W. Bush.

Trump seems to be sticking to his guns on this though, as well as to a seeming instinct to reject the pressures for US global military hegemony from within the military itself. At least in Syria.

My hope now is that this remains a war of historical record, not the justification for future wars because of the Kurdish plight or because of who the dictator is. I wish the media cared at all for peace, and lauded an objectively good move by Trump; though two years too late.

Ultimately, I think we see a president less interested in learning about any particular issue and more interested in optics; as we’re seeing in Syria. Trump has abruptly decided to rebuke popular and ‘expert’ opinion on war making for the route of peace. Moreover, he’s rejected the plan to remake the Middle East in our image and combat ‘Iranian influence’ at every turn. But the tangible effect is a, so, I’ll take it.