Bush-Era Warning For Trump's Syria Strategy?

President Trump made a surprise decision to withdraw U.S. troops from Syria on Wednesday when he announced that the Islamic State group has been defeated. Major U.S. allies and politicians have criticized the move and questioned his assertion that the deadly terrorist group is no longer a threat. The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), an alliance of Syrian Kurdish and Arab fighters, said that the withdrawal would leave it trapped between "hostile parties". The group has played a major role in ousting the Islamic State from large swathes of Syria and it added that the withdrawal would allow the the Islamic State to "revive itself again".

Around 2,000 U.S. troops, including special forces, have been based in Kurdish parts of northern Syria and U.S. officials have said that the pullout will also end air strikes against the Islamic State in the country. Those criticizing Trump's decision might feel haunted by President Bush's now infamous "Mission Accomplished" speech onboard the USS Abraham Lincoln after the invasion of Iraq in 2003. 172 coalition soldiers died in the conflict before the speech and afterwards, a further 4,714 lost their lives. Even though the troop presence in Syria certainly pales in comparison with the early days of the Iraq conflict, America's allies are certainly taking nothing for granted.