The lies continue.
“We’ve done more against ISIS in nine months than the previous administration has done during its whole administration — by far, by far.”
— President Trump, in remarks before the Value Voters Summit, Oct. 13, 2017
WaPo points out that Isis morphed from al-Qaeda in Iraq, which was formed in the chaos that followed W’s invasion of Iraq, that drump, though he denies it now, supported. Bush and Petraeus partially pacified al-Qaeda in Iraq, enough to claim some success anyway, by throwing money at it during the Surge, but in 2011 it reconstituted in Syria in the wake of the Syrian civil war. Dissatisfaction at the treatment of Iraqi Sunnis by the Shiite government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki led to its strengthening in Iraq after Obama removed our troops in the same year. drumpf had urged an even faster withdrawl from Iraq at that time though he, typically, lies about that now.
This map from the WaPo article tells that history:
The colored areas in the map (except the dark sienna dot in the extreme lower right and some smaller areas) show Isis at it’s height of territorial control since 2014. The light green areas are territory recovered under the Obama administration, darker green under drumpf.
As WaPo states:
(parans mine)
“Indeed, the plan that resulted in the liberation of Mosul and Raqqa was launched under Obama, and there wasn’t much change other than looser rules of engagement with regard to striking targets of opportunity, resulting in an increased tempo. The assault on Raqqa began in November — two months before Trump took office, using the same coalition that ultimately captured the city.
Morell added that there is a “compelling argument” that some tactical changes made by Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, such as more Special Forces on the ground and putting them closer to the fight, resulted in an acceleration of the coalition meeting its objectives. Trump also allowed commanders on the ground to make some battlefield decisions, avoiding micromanagement from Washington. Another tactical shift was a “campaign of annihilation”— surrounding cities held by militants — that has ensured that no militants will escape from cities. Obama’s defense secretary, Ash Carter, had left an escape route for militants to minimize destruction to cities and deaths of civilians.
Human rights groups have protested the change in tactics, saying more civilians have been killed under Trump than under Obama. Statistics from U.S. Central Command suggest that the number of civilians killed has more than tripled under Trump, from 199 between 2014 and 2016 to 735 as of Sept. 29, with 350 more cases still under investigation.
“Obama set up virtually all the structure that did the key fighting under Trump,” (Anthony) Cordesman (of the Center for Strategic and International Studies) said. He attributed Trump’s claims of dramatic success as akin to “saying nothing happened in Europe until the allies in the West crossed the Rhine and entered Germany on March 7, 1945.””
So, the only “victory” drumpf can crow about is a tripling of civilian deaths for, perhaps, a nominal increase in the tempo of the war.
As with the stock market, the economy and jobs, the success drumpf has enjoyed thus far in his term has occurred when he continued the policies of his much better predecessor.