>>4425242 (lb)

"Just last week, the U.S. special envoy to the anti-ISIS coalition, Brett McGurk, said U.S. troops would remain in Syria even after the Islamic State was driven from its strongholds.

"I think it's fair to say Americans will remain on the ground after the physical defeat of the caliphate, until we have the pieces in place to ensure that that defeat is enduring," McGurk told reporters on Dec. 11. "Nobody is declaring a mission accomplished. Defeating a physical caliphate is one phase of a much longer-term campaign.""

http://www.fultonsun.com/news/local/story/2018/dec/20/us-to-withdraw-all-american-troops-in-syria-official-says/757529/

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"Only last week, Brett McGurk, the US envoy to the coalition fighting ISIS, said US troops needed to stay in Syria longer to help train Syrian fighters to ensure the permanent defeat of ISIS.

“The military mission is the ­enduring defeat of ISIS,” Mr McGurk said. “We have obviously learned a lot of lessons in the past, so we know that once the physical space is defeated, we can’t just pick up and leave. So we’re prepared to make sure that we do all we can to ensure this is enduring.”

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/world/stunned-trump-advisers-say-job-is-not-done-in-syria/news-story/67fc07b0a20844df967f2143f610d819

>>4425424

=Notable=

1 hour ago:

"The advisers around the president who were once seen as steadying influences have melted away one by one. Trump never got on with Rex Tillerson, his first secretary of state. Since leaving, the former Exxon chief executive has shown that he holds the president in low regard. Relations were often tense between Trump and his second national security adviser, retired Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster. White House Chief of Staff John F. Kelly, also a retired general, departs at the end of the year, leaving on bad terms with the commander in chief."

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/mattiss-blunt-resignation-letter-puts-republicans-on-notice/2018/12/22/c3764ec2-055b-11e9-b6a9-0aa5c2fcc9e4_story.html