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‘We Just Capitulated’

The Pentagon’s recently departed Middle East policy chief addresses the administration’s handling of Turkey’s Syria invasion and response to Iranian attacks.

U.S. soldiers near the Syrian-Turkish border
U.S. soldiers near the Syrian-Turkish border
U.S. soldiers sit atop a military vehicle, part of a joint convoy with the Kurdish People's Protection Units, patrolling near the town of Muabbadah, Syria, near the Turkish border on Nov. 9. DELIL SOULEIMAN/AFP via Getty Images

Michael Mulroy could not have left his position as the U.S. Department of Defense’s Middle East policy chief at a more tumultuous time. Mulroy, a former CIA paramilitary officer, presided over the Trump administration’s Middle East defense policy from October 2017 until Dec. 1, overseeing the withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal and a spike in tensions with Tehran, the defeat of the Islamic State caliphate, and two announcements—and reversals—of a U.S. drawdown in Syria. 

Lara Seligman is a staff writer at Foreign Policy. Twitter: @laraseligman

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