Secretary of State Mike Pompeo gave a speech in Cairo just a few minutes ago in which he said that Trump had made the decision to bring our troops home from Syria and that now is the time.
Here’s the clip:
The US will bring its troops home from Syria, but remains committed to the “complete dismantling of ISIS [Daesh]" – US Secretary of State Pompeo pic.twitter.com/Eo0SIJbiIN
— TRT World (@trtworld) January 10, 2019
This isn’t a full transcript, but it’s the significant portion:
Let me be clear. America will not retreat until the terror fight is over. We will labor tirelessly alongside you to defeat ISIS, Al Qaida, and other jihadists that threaten our security and yours. President Trump has made the decision to bring our troops home from Syria. We always do and now is the time. But this isn’t a change of mission. We remain committed to the complete dismantling of ISIS, the ISIS threat, and the ongoing fight against radical Islamism in all of it’s forms. But as President Trump has said, we’re looking for our partners to do more. And in this effort, we will do so going forward together.
For our part, airstrikes in the region will continue as targets arise. We will keep working with our partners in the coalition to defeat ISIS. We will continue to hunt down terrorists who seek safe havens in Libya and in Yemen. We strongly support Egypt’s efforts to destroy ISIS in the Sinai. We strongly support Israel’s efforts to stop Tehran from turning Syria into the next Lebanon.
He also added this with regard to Iran in Syria…
US Secretary of State Pompeo says the US will work with partners to expel “every last Iranian boot” from Syria pic.twitter.com/hSHpneoEo9
— TRT World (@trtworld) January 10, 2019
So I guess we’re back to removing our troops from Syria?
As you know, Bolton had said earlier this week that we’re not removing out troops from Northern Syria until we get guarantees from Erdogan that he won’t attack our kurdish allies. And he took that message to Turkey himself.
But now it sounds like, according to Pompeo, that we are definitely removing our troops. He says Trump has made the decision and that now is the time. And he emphasized working with our ‘partners’ to keep up the fight against ISIS and others. He did say that we will continue airstrikes in the region, but that can be done from a ship or some other location.