Overdoses overwhelming KEEPING THE DREAM ALIVE

No specific timetable mentioned, other than deafeat of Islamic State

Martin Luther King III, second from right, Al Sharpton, center, and others march for labor rights in Memphis, Tenn., on Wednesday, the 50th anniversary of the assassination of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. Police estimated the crowd at 10,000. Events were held across the country.

WASHINGTON» President Donald Trump is dramatically scaling back U.S. goals in Syria as he pushes for a quick military withdrawal, Trump administration officials said Wednesday, abandoning plans to stay longterm to stabilize the country and prevent the Islamic State from re-emerging.

Trump has given no formal order to pull out the 2,000 U.S. troops in Syria, nor offered a public timetable, other than to say the United States will pull out just as soon as the last remaining Islamic State fighters can be vanquished. But Trump has signaled to his advisers that ideally, he wants all troops out within six months, according to three U.S. officials — a finale that would come shortly before the U.S. midterm elections.

And the Tribune News Service reports the president has instructed military leaders to prepare to withdraw U.S. troops from Syria.

In his haste to withdraw, Trump stands alone. The Pentagon, the State Department and CIA are all deeply concerned about the potential ramifications if the U.S. leaves behind a power vacuum in Syria, as are Israel, Arab leaders and other nations in the U.S.-led coalition that has fought the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria since 2014.

The president made clear his patience was running out as he met top national security aides on Tuesday. Yet the meeting concluded with no hard-and-fast deadline handed down, leaving Trump’s team struggling to deduce how fast is fast enough for Trump, according to officials briefed on the meeting who weren’t authorized to discuss it and requested anonymity.

The tense disagreement between Trump and his team has played out in chaotic and increasingly public fashion. On Tuesday, before the Syria meeting, Trump was telling television cameras he wanted to “get out,” just as the U.S. special envoy for fighting the Islamic State insisted “our mission isn’t over.”

And on Wednesday, the White House issued a statement that declared the Islamic State mission is “coming to a rapid end” but avoided specifics altogether.

Urging him to slow down, Trump’s aides have been emphasizing that Islamic State fighters remain active in Syria, evidence that Trump’s own, publicly stated objective — the total defeat of the Islamic State — has yet to be met.

Officials said the U.S. is tracking two pockets where the Islamic State remains viable — one in the Middle Euphrates Valley Region, another along the Iraq-Syria border. And a string of renewed Islamic State attacks in recent weeks has raised fears about a resurgence.