Turns out that the US General in charge of US Central Command said he was not consulted before Trump made his decision to withdraw our troops from Syria:
THE HILL – The top U.S. general in charge of military operations in the Middle East on Tuesday said he was not consulted prior to President Trump’s announcement that he would withdraw all 2,000 U.S. troops from Syria.
“I was not aware of the specific announcement,” U.S. Central Command (Centcom) commander Gen. Joseph Votel said while appearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee. “Certainly we are aware that he has expressed a desire and an intent in the past to depart Syria.”
Pressed further by Sen. Angus King (I-Maine) on whether he was not consulted ahead of Trump’s December announcement, Votel replied, “I was not consulted.”
Here’s the video, which includes a bigger discussion on ISIS as well:
Note that in the video General Votel affirms that they believe there are still 20-30,000 ISIS fighters spread out in Syria. Asked about the possible ISIS strategy of waiting out the US withdrawal and then rebuilding, Votel says they are working with international partners on a strategy to prevent ISIS from resurging in Syria once they leave. I’m sure this has a lot to do with Turkey since they are a huge presence in Northern Syria.
So it does sound like we are still pulling out of Syria, as soon as they get this new strategy in place.