He is negotiating with the Sauds...
Well being it's a military site reporting I will take their report on it first.
Oh, he said it, but what is really happening is his form of negotiation.
Yeah guess we shall see, there's always the blackmailing happening in the background that might force him to keep them there. So yeah .
And now, by ordering the small American force of 2,000 troops to leave Syria, Mr. Trump is about to turn his theory into practice. He is doing so to the quiet horror of many of his senior aides, who have long argued that to pull out of Syria (or Afghanistan, another conflict in which Mr. Trump has said America has no legitimate long-term role) is to ignore the lessons of the past two decades.
But even Mr. Trump’s biggest critics, the Democrats, will have a hard time going after him on this decision.
Mr. Trump’s view that American forces cannot alter the strategic balance in the Middle East, and should not be there, was fundamentally shared by his immediate predecessor, Barack Obama. It was Mr. Obama who, at almost the exact same moment in his presidency, announced the removal of America’s last troops in Iraq — fulfilling a campaign promise.
Mr. Obama’s strategy — rely on local partners on the ground, use American air power when necessary to defend American interests and
celebrate a return of American troops for the holidays — sounds a lot like discussions inside Mr. Trump’s White House over the past several days. Which is exactly what grates on some of the more hawkish Republicans in Congress.
Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina, said that if Mr.
Obama “had done this, we’d be going nuts right now.” And Senator Ben Sasse, Republican of Nebraska, said top military leaders “have no idea where this weak decision came from.”
