US military back to square one in Syria

If it wasn't so serious it would be laughable. Watching the US administration troops-in-Syria policy is like witnessing a tug of war between the White House and the Pentagon. One moment the White House tuggers are winning easily and pulling all the troops with them, the next the Pentagon big boys have dug their heels in and have started to pull back the rope, with the White House tuggers gasping for breath. Right now the Pentagon team is winning. There used to be roughly 1,000 US troops in Syria, most of them in the northeast and some further south at al-Tanf. Then a mighty rope-pull from Trump virtually defeated the Pentagon team when he announced that all US troops were to come home. Syria, he said, was over. Since then the Pentagon has been fighting its corner and winning a lot of points. In the intervening time, 300 or so American troops crossed the border into western Iraq where they found they were unwelcome and after a bit of toing and froing between the Pentagon and the White House, they were ordered back into Syria. How many were then still on Syria territory was a little unclear. Then came the new policy which was to have several hundred troops guarding the Syrian oil wells in the northeast. Now, the numbers game has become a little clearer, possibly. General Mark Milley, stalwart chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, has declared that around 500-600 US soldiers will stay in Syria indefinitely, guarding those oil wells. He didn't say whether that figure includes the 200 or so US soldiers believed to be at al-Tanf, a garrison in the south. I suspect he wasn't. So that would mean there are going to be around 800 American troops staying in Syria, guarding the oil wells and training with the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) at al-Tanf. We are almost back to square one, just 200 short of the 1,000 who were in Syria some months ago and on Trump's bring-home hit list. It's an extraordinary about-turn by Trump and a brilliant coup for the Pentagon, particularly for General Milley. But it means that during his reelection campaign Trump can no longer boast that he is bringing US troops home from wars he believes others should be fighting. With so much emphasis this week on the impeachment inquiry hearings going public, this bizarre Syria troop policy is not getting the coverage it deserves.