Mattis Joins with Trump, Signs Executive Order To Remove Troops from Syria
In one of his final acts in office, Defense Secretary James Mattis signed the order to pull U.S. troops out of Syria.
Mattis, who will be leaving office Jan. 1, signed the order himself, CNN reported. President Donald Trump’s decision to pull all 2,600 U.S. troops from Syria was the catalyst for Mattis to tender his resignation last week.
The order sets in motion the full timetable describing which units leave when. It is expected that the process will begin next month and take several weeks.
Trump indicated in a Sunday tweet that he expected Turkish troops to fill the void left by Americans.
“I just had a long and productive call with President @RT_Erdogan of Turkey. We discussed ISIS, our mutual involvement in Syria, & the slow & highly coordinated pullout of U.S. troops from the area. After many years they are coming home. We also discussed heavily expanded Trade,” Trump tweeted Sunday.
I just had a long and productive call with President @RT_Erdogan of Turkey. We discussed ISIS, our mutual involvement in Syria, & the slow & highly coordinated pullout of U.S. troops from the area. After many years they are coming home. We also discussed heavily expanded Trade.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 23, 2018
Trump followed that up with a tweet Monday.
“President @RT_Erdogan of Turkey has very strongly informed me that he will eradicate whatever is left of ISIS in Syria … and he is a man who can do it plus, Turkey is right ‘next door.’ Our troops are coming home!” Trump tweeted.
President @RT_Erdogan of Turkey has very strongly informed me that he will eradicate whatever is left of ISIS in Syria….and he is a man who can do it plus, Turkey is right “next door.” Our troops are coming home!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 24, 2018
Turkish troops have already begun massing in at least one part of Syria that has been held by U.S. troops, ABC reported.
Although Trump’s sudden announcement of the pullout drew significant criticism, Republican Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky on Sunday said Trump has chosen the right policy.
Trump tweeted some of Paul’s comments.
Thanks @RandPaul “I am very proud of the President. This is exactly what he promised, and I think the people agree with him. We’ve been at war too long and in too many places…spent several trillion dollars on these wars everywhere. He’s different…that’s why he got elected.”
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 23, 2018
“It should not be the job of America to replace regimes around the world. This is what President Trump recognized in Iraq, that it was the biggest foreign policy disaster of the last several decades, and he’s right…The generals still don’t get the mistake.” @RandPaul
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 24, 2018
“This is exactly what he promised and I think the people agree with him. We’ve been at war too long and in too many places … spent several trillion dollars on these wars everywhere. He’s different … that’s why he got elected,” Paul said on CNN’s “State of the Union.”
Paul also suggested that pulling troops of Afghanistan makes sense because the U.S. cannot achieve victory there.
“We’ve been there 17 years. We think now we’re going to take one more village and we’ll get a better-negotiated deal?” Paul said on CBS’s “Face the Nation.”
“The North Vietnamese and Vietcong waited us out and the Taliban are going to wait us out. They know we will eventually leave and leave we must,” Paul said.
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