U.S. Says it Won’t Cede Leadership of ISIS Fight Despite Syria Withdrawal by Matthew Lee – AP
America will not cede leadership of the fight against the Islamic State group, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Wednesday, as he tried to allay fears that President Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw forces from Syria could imperil gains against the militants there and in neighboring Iraq.
Trump’s announcement in December shocked U.S. allies and led to the resignations of Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and the top U.S. envoy to the anti-ISIS coalition, Brett McGurk.
While the withdrawal would fulfill a Trump goal, U.S. military leaders have pushed back for months, arguing ISIS remains a threat and could regroup. U.S. policy had been to keep troops in place until the extremists are completely eradicated. Fears that ISIS fighters are making a strategic maneuver to lay low ahead of the U.S. pullout has fueled criticism that Trump telegraphed his military plans — the same thing he accused President Barack Obama of doing in Afghanistan…
Pentagon Officials: Syria Withdrawal Heightens ISIS Risks by Joe Gould – Defense News
A day after President Donald Trump defended plans to pull troops from Syria in his State of the Union address, a top Pentagon official said a withdrawal would make the military less effective against the Islamic State group and that he didn’t understand the strategic thinking behind it.
Owen West, the assistant defense secretary for special operations/low-intensity conflict, and Air Force Maj. Gen. Jim Hecker, the Joint Staff’s vice director for operations, detailed the tightrope Pentagon planners are walking as they work to defeat ISIS, safely withdraw U.S. troops, keep pressure on the militant group to prevent a resurgence and protect Kurdish allies from Turkey.
Rep. Seth Moulton, D-Mass., asked West if former Defense Secretary Jim Mattis — who resigned over a disagreement with Trump’s plan for the Syria withdrawal — was wrong. West said only: “No, sir.”
Mattis' resignation letter in December took aim at Trump’s past criticism of foreign allies and his decision to withdraw U.S. troops from Syria in the months ahead. Senior officials in the Defense Department, which has about 2,000 troops stationed in and around Syria, have claimed progress against ISIS but repeatedly warned in congressional testimony that too rapid a withdrawal could lead to regional instability…