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What they are not telling you is that, for them, the “mission” was never primarily about ISIS; it was about eliminating the Assad regime. The Islamic State was simply a convenient cover to deploy troops into Syria. And now, having taken control of everything east of the Euphrates River with the help of the indigenous Kurdish population, they want to attack Assad. The same foreign-policy geniuses that gave us the endless wars in Iraq and Afghanistan were back, offering the same old tired, unworkable ideas: regime change and nation building.

Overthrowing the Syrian dictator has been their goal since the beginning of that country’s civil war in 2011. Two different aid programs, one run by the Pentagon and the other run by the CIA, were set up to fund and empower the Syrian rebels. Both failed to dislodge the Assad regime, and both were ended by Trump by mid-2017.

Still, establishment types managed to convince the new president to expand the scope of the Syria operation. In mid-January of this year, then-Secretary of State Rex Tillerson announced that the US intended to maintain an open-ended military presence in Syria to not only defeat ISIS but to oust Assad and counter Iran’s influence.

Even as late as this September, the Washington Post, citing unnamed officials in the State Department, claimed that Trump had agreed to implement a new strategy that indefinitely extended the military effort with the goal of “establishing a stable, non-threatening government acceptable to all Syrians and the international community.”

This mission creep was sold to the president as a continuation of the war on ISIS.

But when he learned that the Islamic caliphate was no more, he rightly decided it was time for America’s boys and girls to come home.

The Syrian Civil War is over. Obama failed to give the Democratic forces there the support that they needed at a time when it would have made a difference.

If we stay in Syria very much longer we will wind up fighting not ISIS, but the Syrian government forces, and perhaps the Russians as well.

As Jonathan Turley opined: Trump is transforming Democrats
EXCERPT--The remaking of the Democratic Party was most evident last week with the reaction to Trump’s decision to withdraw troops from Syria. There was a time when a sizable number of Democrats opposed undeclared wars and unending military campaigns. Now, however, Democrats are appalled that Trump would not continue a war in one of the myriad countries with U.S. troops engaged in combat operations. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) called the withdrawal a “Christmas gift to Vladimir Putin,” while Sen.Tim Kaine (D-Va.), Rep. David Cicilline (D-R.I.) and others called it “irresponsible” or “hasty.” Of course, this “hasty” move is occurring after seven years of intervention in the civil war, including personnel on the ground since 2012. Democrats now espouse the same lines that once were denounced during the Bush administration. (FR POSTED)

It’s widely believed that we didn’t enter Syria to fight ISIS but rather armed proto-ISIS “rebels” as we did Libyan “rebels” (Al Qaeda).

My understanding of Benghazi is that’s the purpose of the CIA’s presence as well as Chris Stevens’ meeting with the Turkish rep just before the attack.

Why did Hillary and Obama need to interfere? Still unsure.

“the “mission” was never primarily about ISIS; it was about eliminating the Assad regime.”

More than that, Russia’s mission was to establish their own mission and renew their bases and build new ones. Iran’s mission was to establish their own bases and attack and provoke Israel from Israel’s border with Syria. Turkey’s mission was to establish themselves as the rebirth of the Turkish Ottoman rulers of Syria and the Middle East. The US mission was to stop them all from achieving their objects and to get rid of Assad the butcher and establish their own puppet. Same old story - new chapter. In my opinion. As far as protecting Israel’s interest, that has always been horseshit. Israel will have to protect their own interest. It has always been the case. They can not trust America (or anyone else) to guarantee their security in a hostile world. The price of that guarantee would be too expensive, indeed. We have lost too many fine young men protecting other people’s interest on foreign lands. I applaud the President for having the guts to stand up to his military advisors. The best way that we can help Israel is to give them the green light to do what they have to do to defend themselves against all of their enemies, and resist them in the UN and on the World stage.