From New York Times on Michael Barbar, this is the day.

Today, President Trump's decision to withdraw US troops from Syria

surprised everyone involved from US allies to enemies

and has prompted his own aid to publicly disagree with them.

But the debate it kicked off about the role of the US military

may be long overdue.

It's Monday, January 7.

On the morning of December 19, as Washington was getting ready for a government shutdown

millions of Americans were getting ready for the holidays,

we started getting word in the Washington Bureau of a major announcement on foreign policy.

The President Trump was going to abruptly withdraw all 2,000 American troops

currently deployed in Syria to fight against the Islamic State.

Mark Landler covers the White House for the times.

We heard about it initially just through sources,

although a couple hours later,

Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the press secretary, confirmed it in a very skeletal 2 cent statement.

We have started returning United States troops home as we transition to the next phase of this campaign.

And it wasn't until 630 in the evening that the President himself actually weighed in.

We've been fighting for a long time in Syria.

I've been President for almost 2 years and we've really stepped it up.

President Trump posted a video filmed outside the White House in which he said,

and we have won against ISIS. We've beaten them and we've beaten them badly.

...