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Trump is both unpredictable AND a strong leader willing to stick to his guns on federal government policy decisions in the face of near-unanimous disagreement among Washington D.C. policy wonks and political figures who are not and probably never will be POTUS. This decision burnishes those credentials. If utter disaster quickly befalls the Kurds in northern Syria, and if the currently-confined ISIS fighters and their “friends and family” numbering in their tens of thousands are freed from custody and melt back into society as a result of the Trump-ordered pullout, current naysayers will feel justified and probably not hesitate to condemn Trump. Time will tell how things play out, but in the meantime Trump benefits by appearing decisive and pointing with pride at his relatively rapid and, from all accounts, total battlefield victory over ISIS while avoiding undue conflit with Putin’s Russia (no mean feats).

Please see the remarks of Lieutenant General Keane, retired former vice Chief of Staff, who observes that with 1000 troops we leveraged 60,000 troops to fight against ISIS, and won. In the course of that struggle, in which we and our European allies, 2000 and all, operated as advisors the Kurds lost 10,000 dead and 20,000 wounded.

By maintaining only 1000 troops in advisory positions, we leveraged 60,000 Syrian troops who suppressed ISIS. General Keane thinks that is a very cheap price to pay for a very positive result.

General Keane notes that the president should have insisted the ongoing diplomatic process which the Turkish leader sought to displace with violence should continue.

The video is available here .