The president’s Syria decision will have long-term consequences

Three things happened in recent days that set President Donald Trump’s Middle Eastern foreign policy on a drastically different path that will reverberate in our national life and international alliances for years.

1) On Dec. 14, as he’s done about a dozen times since taking office, Trump phoned Turkey’s strongman president, Recep Erdogan. In the bland official description, the two NATO allies were said to discuss matters of mutual concern.

2) Four days later, Trump abruptly announced the U.S. would immediately withdraw its 2,000 special operators training Syrians and Kurds fighting ISIS in northeastern Syria.

3) On Dec. 19, Secretary of Defense James Mattis resigned. Because Mattis is globally respected for his wisdom, steadiness and career in the Marines, and because Trump has become accurately infamous for sudden firings, the president carefully called it “retiring with distinction.”