Amid Chaos Over Trump's Foreign Policy, Pompeo Heads to Middle East with Some Explaining to Do by Tracy Wilkinson – Los Angeles Times
For America’s top diplomat, it will be a mission like no other: seeking to build a coalition among U.S. allies against Iran, while also defending a potentially historic disengagement of Washington from the Middle East.
Secretary of State Michael R. Pompeo, starting this week, will swing through at least eight countries in eight days, including Egypt, Saudi Arabia and most of the Persian Gulf, in a bid to portray “America as a force for good in the region,” a senior State Department official said.
His is one of two high-level U.S. officials’ trips to the region since President Trump abruptly announced the withdrawal of American troops from Syria on Dec. 19. As Pompeo heads to Arab capitals, a parallel mission has Trump’s national security advisor, John Bolton, traveling to Israel and Turkey. Trump himself spent about 3½ hours on a U.S. airbase near Baghdad visiting U.S. troops the day after Christmas.
The withdrawal from Syria, which Trump ordered against the advice of aides and without warning allies, alarmed both Israel and the United States’ Persian Gulf allies who, under U.S. urging, have taken steps to unite in a “maximum pressure” campaign against Iran.
The removal of U.S. forces is likely to improve Iran’s position and ease the way for the Islamic Republic to expand the influence of the militia groups it backs to within striking distance of Israel’s border, U.S. and foreign experts agree. Other likely beneficiaries of a U.S. withdrawal are Russia and Syrian President Bashar Assad, whose removal from power was a principal goal of Western involvement in Syria’s eight-year civil war…