At Law Enforcement Event In Chicago President Says Figure Is Closer To 70 Percent
A day after announcing the death of Islamic State leader Abu al-Baghdadi, President Donald Trump climbed down from his long-uttered claim that his administration completely wiped out the groups declared caliphate.
The commander in chief has tweeted seven times a version of the claim that, in his words from a tweet posted just two weeks ago, his administration is responsible for defeating 100% of the ISIS Caliphate.
After defeating 100% of the ISIS Caliphate, I largely moved our troops out of Syria. Let Syria and Assad protect the Kurds and fight Turkey for their own land. I said to my Generals, why should we be fighting for Syria.
Donald J. Trump
And on Oct. 10, Trump was even more clear.
We defeated 100% of the ISIS Caliphate and no longer have any troops in the area under attack by Turkey, in Syria. We did our job perfectly! he tweeted. Then-White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders on March 22 used the phrase on Air Force One, telling reporters that the ISIS self-declared caliphate had been 100 percent eliminated.
We defeated 100% of the ISIS Caliphate and no longer have any troops in the area under attack by Turkey, in Syria. We did our job perfectly! Now Turkey is attacking the Kurds, who have been fighting each other for 200 years.
Donald J. Trump
But the president told a different story on Monday during a speech to law enforcement officers in Chicago ahead of two fundraising events at a hotel he owns in the Windy City.
Trump Claims ‘100 Percent’ Of Isis Caliphate Defeated In Syria
Citing U.S. success, Trump has ordered most American troops in Syria withdrawn.
President Donald Trump claimed on Thursday that “100 percent” of the Islamic State caliphate — the self-proclaimed Islamic state in Syria — has been defeated.
Beginning back in December, citing U.S. success in Syria, Trump has ordered most American troops in Syria to withdraw.
Trump Takes Too Much Credit On Isis
President Donald Trump said nearly all of the land once controlled by ISIS in Syria and Iraq has been retaken and it all took place since our election. But even the State Departments senior envoy to the anti-Islamic State coalition said in December that half of the ISIS caliphate was recaptured under Trumps leadership.
In remarks before the National Republican Congressional Committee on March 20, Trump said he would be campaigning against Democratic candidates who are weak on terrorism, and weak on national defense.
Trump: And on terrorism, in Iraq and Syria, weve taken back almost 100 percent, in a very short period of time, of the land that they took. And it all took place since our election. Weve taken back close to 100 percent.
Trump is correct that coalition forces have recaptured nearly all of the territory once held by ISIS. The U.S-led coalition reported in January that 98 percent of the territory once held by ISIS had been reclaimed. But he is wrong to say it all took place since our election.
In a briefing on Dec. 21, 2017, Brett McGurk, special presidential envoy for the global coalition to counter ISIS, said that about 98 percent of the land comprising the ISIS caliphate had been recovered by coalition forces.
So clearly not all of the land was taken back under Trump, as he claimed.
The recapture of Rawa prompted this tweet from McGurk:
Don’t Miss: Tally Of Trump Lies
Trump Says Seizure Of 100 Percent Of Isis Territory Should Be Announced Soon
President Trump told ministers with the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS Wednesday he anticipates an announcement “probably” next week that “100 percent” of ISIS’ territory has been captured. But the president, speaking at the State Department, added he doesn’t want to announce that now because he wants to wait for the official word.
“It should be formally announced sometime probably next week that we will have 100 percent of the caliphate,” Mr. Trump told his audience of international leaders in brief remarks. “But I want to wait for the official word. I don’t want to say it too early.”
But the president also said there will always be “sick” and “demented” people in the region, “no matter how well we do militarily.”
“I just want to thank everybody in this room,” the president said as he concluded. “This is a special group of brilliant people and it’s been an honor to work with you and we will continue to work with you because unfortunately, this is not going to be something that, as brilliant as our military is, knocking out the big big sections, they’ll still have tiny sections can be so dangerous.”
Mr. Trump told CBS News’ Margaret Brennan last week that the U.S. military could always come back, if it needed to do so.
President Donald Trump Showing A Map Declares Isis Will Be ‘gone By Tonight’
It was the third time in recent months that Trump announced victory over ISIS.
President Donald Trump announced to reporters at the White House that the Islamic State in Syria would be “gone by tonight.”
He made the announcement with some fanfare, unfurling a big piece of paper that he had carried out with him to Marine One. He then guided the press through two maps of Syria and Iraq showing the progress of the Islamic States defeat.
“I brought this out for you — this is a map of everything in the red, this was on election night, in 2016, everything red is ISIS. When I took it over it was a mess now on the bottom it’s the exact same. There is no red,” Trump said, pointing his finger at the different parts of the map.
“In fact there is a tiny spot which will be gone by tonight,” Trump said.
It was the third time in recent months that the president announced victory — or near victory — over the Islamic State. In February, the president said ISIS would be 100 percent defeated “very soon,” and in December he declared “we have won against ISIS.” Currently, only a small holdout of ISIS territory remains in eastern Syria, but there are no indications the Syrian Democratic Forces plan to declare the region is liberated of the terrorist group.
“This just came out 20 minutes ago,” Trump said of the map.
Also Check: How Much Does A Night At The Trump Hotel Cost
Ii Starting Point Of Isis:
Image: Camp Bucca: The US prison that became the birthplace of Isis. Availabel at:
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/camp-bucca-the-us-prison-that-became-the-birthplace-of-isis-9838905.html .
This image was removed by the editing department for copyright reasons.
The above photo shows Camp Bucca Prison, which was a US-established detention camp near Umm Qasr, during Iraqs war. The detainees were Jihadists, Ex-soldiers of Saddam and ordinary Iraqis . A lot of them became later members of ISIS. Furthermore, the camp Bucca gave these Jihadists the opportunity to meet and build their networks and to create their Ideology in the shadow of the U.S. military. The relationships between AQI and ex-Baathist members of Saddam Hussein became strong by gathering themselves together in camp Buccas prison . To add, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of ISIS was in that Camp. Baghdadi was picked up by U.S. military forces on suspicions of supporting Al- Qaeda in early 2004 yet was released in 2009. According to one former ISIS soldier who spoke to the Guardian, If there was no American prison in Iraq, there would be no IS now. Bucca was a factory. It made us all. It built our ideology. . He also added, We had so much time to sit and plan .
Trump’s Tensions With Iran Are Distracting From Isis
Meanwhile, Trump’s ongoing conflict with Iran has taken attention away from ISIS. In early January, Trump ordered a drone strike that killed Iran’s top military leader, Qassem Soleimani, pushing Washington and Tehran to the brink of war.
Tensions were already high at the time of the strike, with a series of skirmishes in the Persian Gulf region last summer, among other incidents.
The Soleimani strike led to an Iranian missile attack on US forces in Iraq, leaving over 100 US service members with mild traumatic brain injuries, which Trump has downplayed. Though the US and Iran moved away from a broader conflict last month, tensions persist.
The US briefly suspended anti-ISIS operations in the region after the Soleimani strike, which also led Iraq’s parliament to vote to expel all US forces from the country. Subsequently, there was a mass protest in Baghdad against the US military’s ongoing presence in Iraq.
“This confrontation definitely will have a negative effect on the fight against terrorism and ISIS, which should be the priority for all of us,” Barzani told the Atlantic of Trump’s conflict with Iran.
Read Also: John Lambert Students For Trump
Donald Trump’s Plan To Defeat Isis Is To ‘do Something Extremely Tough’
Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump on Monday said the United States needs to accelerate the fight against the so-called Islamic State, citing the bombings in New York and New Jersey over the weekend as yet another reason the nation ought to be concerned about terrorism.
But when asked by Fox News host Steve Doocy exactly how he would change the playbook against the militant group known as ISIS if elected, the New York real estate mogul offered little more than feel-good bromides and chest-pounding machismo like we have to get tough.
Doocy: Okay. Change the playbook. How?
Trump: Were going to have to do something extremely tough over there.
Doocy: Like what?
Trump: Like knock the hell out of them. We have to get everybody together and and we have to lead for a change. Because were not knocking them. Were hitting them every once in a while. Were hitting them in certain places. Were being very gentle about it. We have to be very tough and you have other countries who are getting devastated far more than we are and you have to get them together. Its called leadership. They have to fight. They have to fight the battle. The battle is over there. And we have to fight the battle and we cant let any more people come into this country and when we have bad ones we have people going over fighting for ISIS and coming back and we know they are fighting for ISIS and we take them. Once you leave this country, you fight for ISIS, you never come back.
Is President Trump Really Responsible For The Defeat Of Isis In Raqqa Fact
Conor Gaffey U.S.RaqqaISISJim Mattis
Tuesday marked a historic day in the battle against the Islamic State militant group , as U.S.-backed Kurdish and Arab fighters claimed to have liberated the Syrian city of Raqqa, the group’s headquarters since 2014.
And President Donald Trump wanted in on the action, claiming that the fact ISIS was on the run could be largely attributed to one factor: His presidency.
“It had to do with the people I put in and it had to do with rules of engagement,” said Trump in a Tuesday interview on The Chris Plante Show, when asked why ISIS was in retreat. “We weren’t fighting to win , we were fighting to be politically correct.”
Trump said that he had changed the rules of engagement and devolved more power to his generals, resulting in a more effective and efficient military strategy.
“The White House used to get calls, ‘Can we do this? Can we do that?’ to places and in places that they’d never even heard of. And by the time they’d got back a week and two and three weeks later, there was no fight left, OK. It was ridiculous.
“So I totally changed the rules of engagement, I totally changed our military, I totally changed the attitudes of the military and they have done a fantastic job,” said Trump. “ISIS is now giving up, they’re giving up, they’re raising their hands, they’re walking offnobody’s ever seen that before.”
And why didn’t ISIS surrender before? “Because you didn’t have Trump as your president,” he concluded.
You May Like: Trump Tower Hotel Cost
How Many Isis Fighters Remain In Syria And Iraq
The most recent UN estimates put the number of ISIS militants in Syria and Iraq today at between 20,000 and 30,000, with most dispersed over territory the group no longer fully controls. Thats not many fewer than the 33,000 fighters U.S. intelligence officials estimated the group had at its 2015 peak, according to VOA.
Yet in terms of territory the Islamic State is much diminished. In late-2014the year ISIS leader Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi declared himself caliphthe jihadi network controlled territory in Syria and Iraq the size of Great Britain. Depicted on maps, it sprawled across the Euphrates and Tigris. But the groups stronghold cities of Mosul in Iraq and Raqqa in Syria fell in 2017.
And after the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces rout of the militants from their last urban base in Hajin in December, the New York Timesreported, ISIS physical footprint was reduced to a river valley south of the town, held by about 2,000 fighters.
A spokesperson for Britains Foreign and Commonwealth Office tells TIME the global coalition against Daesh, an Arabic term for the militant network, has made huge progress since military operations began, noting the recent advances in the last area of eastern Syria it occupies. But much remains to be done and we must not lose sight of the threat they pose, the FCO says, Even without territory, Daesh will remain a threat.
What The Hell Is Happening
Meanwhile, the president continued what is expected to be a reelection campaign theme by describing Chicago as something of a war zone. He also has used homelessness and issues in other major urban areas like San Francisco and Los Angeles as he courts rural and suburban voters in the Rust Belt and a few other swing states.
What the hell is happening in Chicago? he said, arms out wide for emphasis.
The first weekend of August, 27 people were murdered , and 52 were shot, he said, noting that one recent weekend featured 78 shootings that left three people dead.
All over the world theyre talking about Chicago, he said before making the claim that Afghanistan is a safe place by comparison.
The president called out Chicago Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson, saying he lacks the fortitude to take the proper steps to tackle crime there. But he did not lay out a plan under which his administration might change the violent crime rate there.
I want Eddie Johnson to change his values, Trump said, and change them fast.
Following his remarks, Trump signed an executive order to set up a new commission he said would craft concrete recommendations to address systemic challenges that face law enforcement. He added it will study best practices on training, hiring and taking care of our law enforcement officers.
Read Also: Trump Tower Chicago Cost Per Night
