President Trump gives the military four months to pull out of Syria.

US Special Forces in Syria. New York Times. 

President Donald Trump has given the military four months to pull out of Syria, reversing an earlier 30 day timetable. New York Times. President Trump said on twitter that the troops would be withdrawn slowly. The 2000 troops in Syria will continue to fight ISIS. The move will calm President Trump's critics on the right, like Senator Lindsay Graham. Graham had criticized the president on the move calling it an "Obama like mistake" but now says he is much more comfortable with the timetable. Trump said he was keeping a campaign promise by pulling out of the Syria conflict. He also pointed out that despite withdrawing from Syria, the fight against ISIS could continue from bases in the region, including Iraq. 

My Comment:

I've got mixed feelings on this. On one hand I do wish that we would just wash our hands of Syria. ISIS is pretty much done and there is little reason for our troops to stay. Pulling out is the right thing to do as we have no reason to fight the Syrian's and Russian's battles for them. Doing so as soon as possible would be beneficial. 

Of course the counterargument has some merit as well. A quick, disorderly withdrawal can cause all kinds of problems. Not the least of these is potentially putting soldiers at risk. And given the political situation between the Kurds and Turkey a slower withdrawal may keep our allies safe. 

There is also a very good chance that ISIS could be completely defeated in four months. It's no guarantee but with ISIS almost completely out of territory it's not impossible. The troops on the ground should quicken that process. 

For the president, this will shore up his support among the right and in the military. Lindsay Graham, who seems to flip flop on President Trump daily, is now back on his side. And it should quell some of the criticism from former generals, though that seems less likely given that many of them are Obama holdovers. 

I do wonder if the people that voted for Trump to pull out of places like Syria will support this move. I personally am fine either way as long as we pull out, but others may feel this is an example of backtracking. People are sick of the stupid wars and want to end them as soon as possible. Time will tell if President Trump pays any kind of political price for this. 

The biggest loser from this seems to be General Mattis. Mattis very foolishly resigned from his post over the Syria withdrawal plan but it seems clear that had he waited he would have gotten a more reasonable timetable, which is at least some of what he wanted. Instead Mattis is out of a job and can no longer influence the President at all.  

A lot can happen in four months though, so it's possible that this timetable might change. If ISIS collapses even sooner it's possible we might withdraw sooner. And if ISIS somehow makes a comeback, extremely unlikely at this point, we might end up staying later. Plus, President Trump could always change his mind again. But we should also think about the idea that a "black swan" event, that no one saw coming, could change things drastically either way...