Since U.S. President Trump took office in January 2017, Syria – and the Middle East in general – have not been a top priority for him. Syria was mainly a place the U.S. needed to be in order to confront Islamic State and hold Russia in check.
Fully motivated for his supreme goal of restoring American deterrence, it was natural that Trump would take on James Mattis as a guide. Mattis, who had been fired by former President Barack Obama from the command of the U.S. Central Command because he wanted the U.S. to attack Iran, saw his vision of America taking its rightful place as a superpower materializing. Mattis was a successful defense secretary: North Korean leader Kim Jong Un was the first to blink when Mattis sent nuclear bombers to the Korean Peninsula and Iranian vessels stopped harassing American ships, as they had grown used to doing constantly under Obama. In Syria, too, Mattis and Trump deployed cruise missiles when necessary, unafraid to exercise direct force against Russia's mercenaries.
Mattis is leaving not because of anything Trump did – the withdrawal of American troops is ultimately a desirable development – but because of the way Trump did it. Mattis, if he indeed resigned and wasn't fired, thinks that the step should be taken sensitively, and in consultation with a variety of officials. Words like these anger Trump, particularly when they pertain to a region in which he has no interest. Mattis came through militarily, and now that he is raising diplomatic reservations about an unrelated subject, Trump is showing him the door.
The Washington establishment was thrown into a panic this weekend at the loss of the "responsible adult" in the administration. But cries like these were already heard when former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson left and turned out to be wrong – Tillerson's successor Mike Pompeo has been a pleasant surprise. Ironically, the same Washington establishment that warned prior to Mattis' appointment that he was a warmonger (partly because of his stance on Iran) is now weeping over his departure. Mattis fulfilled his assignment: to restore America's honor. Now Trump has no more need of such a high-profile general.
Unlike Mattis, Trump believes that withdrawing American troops will give the U.S. more room to maneuver because ground forces are an ideal target for Islamic State operatives and Iran. And if, along the way, he can force Europe to increase its investment in defense, even better. If that doesn't pan out, Trump will return to the battlefield full-force, and whoever is serving defense secretary will know what to do.
As far as Trump is concerned, to make America great again, America must first come home, even if that entails risk. He thinks that nothing good will come out of Syria or Afghanistan, anyway.
Mattis is interested in stability, whereas Trump wants a change that will put his name in history books. Mattis apparently hoped that a decision about troop withdrawal would be made only after the political process in Syria progressed. But for Trump, now is the perfect time – just before Christmas and less than a year before the media will be busy covering a turbulent election. In his inaugural address, Trump said, "This American carnage stops right here and stops right now." He might have been talking about the decline of the American middle class, but right now he is demonstrating that he is determined to end the American carnage in the Middle East.
