The bombshell for 2018 was that Trump announced the withdrawal of US troops from the battleground in Syria….and as one would expect there were few major pundits that thought this was a good idea and the prediction of doom and gloom swirled…the media is not down with the withdrawal either….they went out of their way to trash talk the decision….

https://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/washington-melts-down-over-trumps-syria-withdrawal/

I originally said that I thought that Trump would do what he always does….waffles and lies……and so he did….

Seems Sen. Lindsey Graham had a productive lunch with the president. Emerging from a White House meal Sunday, he said President Trump is putting the brakes on US troop withdrawal from Syria: “I think we’re slowing things down in a smart way,” he said, per CNN. “I think we’re in a pause situation where we are reevaluating what’s the best way to achieve the President’s objective of having people pay more and do more.” He apparently buttered up Trump a little (“I assured him that nobody has done more to defeat ISIS than he has”) but didn’t portray him too well afterward, saying it was “eye-opening” for Trump to learn on his Iraq trip that ISIS wasn’t “completely destroyed.”

“I’m going to ask him to sit down with his generals and reconsider how to do this,” said Graham, per the Wall Street Journal. Apropos, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Joseph Dunford was also at today’s lunch. The Journal looks at Syria news since Trump’s withdrawal announcement, with Turkey vowing lead the ISIS fight, experts wondering whether Turkey can do it, experts suggesting Turkish President Erdogan would rather attack the Kurds, and America’s Kurdish allies saying they might stop fighting ISIS and make friends with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad—no friend of the US. (Graham turned heads today by uttering something we won’t print.)

More of what Graham got from his lunch with Trump…..and a walk back…..

https://www.axios.com/lindsey-graham-trump-syria-isis-f98c28df-bd57-48d8-892e-e20532623c1a.html

I told all the naysayers to stop whining and wait…..it will change….and so it did…..good to know I have not lost my touch.

The media and pundits keep drumming the news that this withdrawal of US troops will hand a victory to Iran…..every day every hour the MSM is passing on this propaganda…..but what will a victory for Iran mean?

President Trump has decided to pull all U.S. troops from Syria despite Pentagon objections. If these reports turn out to be accurate, the academic, public, and political debate over who ‘lost’ Syria will rage for days or weeks. Opponents of this decision will claim that a U.S. withdrawal hands both Russia and Iran a significant ‘victory’ in the contest for regional influence in the Middle East. However, these criticisms are overblown.  Russia and Iran were positioned from the beginning to be the dominant influencers in the course of Syria’s civil war.  Moreover, what passes for a short-term win for Moscow and Tehran will likely prove to be a rather hollow and Pyrrhic victory.

https://www.fpri.org/article/2018/12/russian-and-iranian-victory-in-syria-does-it-matter/

The new year and we will see just how serious Trump is about bringing our troops home…..

I for one am glad to hear the news… but as usual I felt it was too good to be true…..2019 will tell if my concerns are warranted.