With the surprise announcement by US President Donald Trump that American troops would be pulling back, refusing to defend the Kurdish forces it has supported from Turk attack, and refusing to support the Turkish forces now invading, almost as many questions are being raised about the future of the US presence in Syria than existed 24 hours before.

With the surprise announcement by US President Donald Trump that American troops would be pulling back, refusing to defend the Kurdish forces it has supported from Turk attack, and refusing to support the Turkish forces now invading, almost as many questions are being raised about the future of the US presence in Syria than existed 24 hours before.

While the announcement is most certainly a welcome development, particularly for those who oppose American military involvement in Syria, it also raises the question of whether or not the US will be pulling out of Syria entirely or simply pulling back troops from the Turkey/Syria border. Will the US leave its encampment at Tanf? Will European forces take America's place? Will America simply reposition itself as Turkish forces move in? What is Turkey's real motivation? How will the Kurds react? How will Syria react? Perhaps even more pressing, how will the Military Industrial Complex, American War Machine, and Deep State react at home?

All of these questions remain without answers at this moment but will undoubtedly become answered within the coming days.

Is The US Pulling Out Or Pulling Back?

According to a flurry of MSM reports as well as a statement from the White House, the United States is pulling back from the area where Turkey is now planning to invade. "Turkey will soon be moving forward with its long-planned operation into Northern Syria," the White House said in a statement released just before 11 p.m. in Washington. "The United States Armed Forces will not support or be involved in the operation, and United States forces, having defeated the ISIS territorial 'Caliphate,' will no longer be in the immediate area."

This "immediate area" phrase is an indication that the US troop withdrawal is only for the Northeast of Syria, possibly only specific areas of the Northeast and not the Northeast entirely. It says nothing about the US presence at its base in the Eastern border region at Tanf. Thus, there is a strong indication that Trump's withdrawal 2.0 is not a withdrawal after all, but a repositioning.

Donald Trump's tweets, however, have a much bigger, bolder tone.