Internationally, President Trump is declaring victory in Syria and saying it’s time to bring American troops home. Domestically, he is vowing to use the military to build a wall along the border with Mexico. Taken together, those statements mark a key moment for his “America first” view. But neither is as clear-cut as it seems. “We have defeated ISIS in Syria,” Trump tweeted as justification for his order to withdraw America’s roughly 2,000 troops. Yet numerous fellow Republicans and foreign policy experts, including apparently some in his administration, think the decision opens the door for more Islamic extremism and cedes too much power to Iran and, especially, Russia. Some officials were working to slow the withdrawal timeline. As for the wall? American soldiers are unlikely to do much if any construction along the border, given legal and bureaucratic hurdles.
Source: latimes.com – Los Angeles Times