As expected, the Israel Lobby and its neocon orbiters have gone to work on President Trump’s withdrawal from Syria, and now it is ‘conditional’ and there is no timetable for the withdrawal:

“The withdrawal of US troops from Syria depends on certain conditions, US National Security Adviser John Bolton says, in a further indication that the process is being slowed down. On a trip to Israel and Turkey, he said he would seek Turkish assurances that Kurds in northern Syria would be safe. The US also wants to ensure that the remnants of the Islamic State (IS) group are defeated, he added. President Donald Trump has faced strong criticism over the planned US pullout. When he first announced the move in the middle of December, he said: “They’re all coming back and they’re coming back now.” US officials said American forces had been given 30 days to leave Syria. Mr Trump also said at the time that IS had been “defeated”. …”

We’re leaving within 30 days has been transformed into maybe we will go after ISIS has been defeated, the security of the Kurds has been guaranteed and Iran is countered in Syria to Israel’s satisfaction. President Trump is also now in “the process of evaluating” the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan. This is just the latest example of Trump attempting to do something to cater to his base that is blocked or walked back by the people surrounding him in his administration.

Note: If you don’t follow these issues on a daily basis like we do, you would have probably only heard about big headlines of troop withdrawals in December.