Fact Checker: Have Iraq and Syria been ‘liberated’ from ISIS, as President Trump says?
By Meg Kelly Meg Kelly Video editor for The Fact Checker Email Bio Follow March 13 at 3:00 AM “We have defeated ISIS in Syria, my only reason for being there during the Trump Presidency.” “I've been President for almost two years, and we've really stepped it up, and we have won against ISIS. We've beaten them, and we've beaten them badly. We've taken back the land, and now it's time for our troops to come back home.” “When I took over Syria it was infested with ISIS.
“The president has been, I think, as clear as can be, when he talks about the defeat of the ISIS territorial caliphate,” Bolton said. “He has never said that the elimination of the territorial caliphate means the end of ISIS in total. We know that’s not the case.” When U.S. forces began to withdraw from Iraq in 2010, al-Qaeda in Iraq was a shadow of its former self because its leadership had largely been destroyed. Former CIA director John Brennan described the organization as “pretty much decimated,” with “maybe 700-or-so adherents left” when U.S. forces left Iraq. It certainly did not control any territory.
At its height, in late 2014, the Islamic State controlled 34,000 square miles of territory across Iraq and Syria. By the time Trump took office, the U.S.-backed international coalition had reduced Islamic State territory by about half and had retaken all Iraqi cities, except for western Mosul, and the northeastern section of Syria. As of June 2018, the Islamic State controlled 14,000 square miles.
ISIS has suffered “significant leadership losses,” Haspel testified, just as it had in 2010. But that’s not to suggest that there is no organization. A threat assessment from the U.S. intelligence community outlined that the group still has “eight branches, more than a dozen networks, and thousands of dispersed supporters around the world,” none of which existed when the United States last withdrew forces.
But the president’s language has become murkier. More recently, he has said that the United States has liberated “virtually 100 percent of ISIS in Iraq and Syria” and that the caliphate is “almost knocked out.” These assertions are closer to reality. ISIS can no longer claim it has a territorial caliphate in Iraq and Syria. It no longer controls land or operates a government.
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