{"id":389827,"date":"2018-12-20T04:35:36","date_gmt":"2018-12-20T03:35:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/newswire\/dont-hold-your-breath-on-us-troop-withdrawal-from-syria-consortiumnews\/"},"modified":"2018-12-20T04:35:36","modified_gmt":"2018-12-20T03:35:36","slug":"dont-hold-your-breath-on-us-troop-withdrawal-from-syria-consortiumnews","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/newswire\/dont-hold-your-breath-on-us-troop-withdrawal-from-syria-consortiumnews\/","title":{"rendered":"Don\u2019t Hold Your Breath on US Troop Withdrawal from Syria \u2013 Consortiumnews"},"content":{"rendered":"
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It would be nice to think the president has final say on foreign policy, given the U.S. constitution. But the misleading troop withdrawal announcement, followed by Trump\u2019s boastful tweet, suggests the exact opposite, says Patrick Lawrence.<\/span><\/span>
<\/span><\/p>\n

By Patrick Lawrence<\/a><\/span>
<\/b><\/span><\/span>Special to Consortium News<\/i><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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Don\u2019t get your hopes up. Just about everything in these initial reports is either wrong or misleading. One, the U.S. did not defeat the Islamic State: The Syrian Arab Army, aided by Russia, Iran, and Hezbollah militias did. Two, hardly was ISIS the only reason the U.S. has maintained a presence in Syria. The intent for years was to support a coup against the Assad government in Damascus\u2014in part by training and equipping jihadists often allied with ISIS. For at least the past six months, the U.S. military\u2019s intent in Syria has been to counter Iranian influence. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Last and hardly least, the U.S. is not closing down its military presence in Syria. It is digging in for an indefinite period, making Raqqa the equivalent of the Green Zone in Baghdad. By the official count, there are 503 U.S. troops stationed in the Islamic State\u2019s former capital. Unofficially, <\/span><\/span>according to The Washington Post<\/em><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span> and other press reports, the figure is closer to 4,000\u2014twice the number that is supposed to represent a \u201cfull withdrawal\u201d from Syrian soil. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

It would be nice to think Washington has at last accepted defeat in Syria, given it is preposterous to pretend otherwise any longer. Damascus is now well into its consolidation phase. Russia, Iran, and Turkey are currently working with Staffan de Mistura, the UN\u2019s special envoy for Syria, to form a committee in January to begin <\/span><\/span>drafting a new Syrian constitution<\/a>.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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