Under Trump, gains against ISIS have ‘dramatically accelerated’- Washington Post

[TomSea]

Under Trump, gains against ISIS have ‘dramatically accelerated’ 8 / 20
Washington Post - Washington Post
The Washington Post
Karen DeYoung

Nearly a third of territory reclaimed from the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria since 2014 has been won in the past six months, due to new policies adopted by the Trump administration, a senior State Department official said Friday.

Brett McGurk, the State Department’s senior envoy to the anti-Islamic State coalition, said that steps President Trump has taken, including delegating decision-making authority down from the White House to commanders in the field, have “dramatically accelerated” gains against the militants.

Combined Islamic State losses in both countries since the group’s peak control in early 2015 total about 27,000 square miles of territory — 78 percent of militant holdings in Iraq and 58 percent in Syria. About 8,000 square miles have been reclaimed under Trump, McGurk said in a briefing for reporters.

More: http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/under-trump-gains-against-isis-have-%e2%80%98dramatically-accelerated%e2%80%99/ar-AAprjg2?li=BBnb7Kz

[EC]

Trump certainly gets partial credit for this (I'd give him credit for about 2/3 of it) - he got out of the way and let us do our job, which is always nice of pols.

The other third - it's just the way things go when you have a well dug in opposition. Nothing seems to happen for ages, then huge advances get made quickly.

[TomSea]

Trump certainly gets partial credit for this (I'd give him credit for about 2/3 of it) - he got out of the way and let us do our job, which is always nice of pols.

The other third - it's just the way things go when you have a well dug in opposition. Nothing seems to happen for ages, then huge advances get made quickly.

That also means one is taking responsibility when things go awry,  civilians bombed, etc.

I agree with what you say some but at the same time, Trump is showing himself to be a military genius.

Obama's plan was meek, he was not a great risk-taker per this war.

And the US has been accused of war crimes in this battle, at least in Mosul. So, there you have it.

[TomSea]

Syrian Democratic Forces are doing well.

Obama likely did aid their formation.

These are the guys with coalition support who are "winning" (I mean it's a horrible war at that to say one side is winning).

Putin and Assad seem to be doing very very little vs. ISIS.

[TomSea]

@EC

And we who voted for him, let Trump do his job! 

[EC]

I'll give you this one - no arguing. 

[Cripplecreek]

Trump certainly gets partial credit for this (I'd give him credit for about 2/3 of it) - he got out of the way and let us do our job, which is always nice of pols.

The other third - it's just the way things go when you have a well dug in opposition. Nothing seems to happen for ages, then huge advances get made quickly.

A lot of credit goes to ISIS for being idiots who can only gain converts through fear while creating even more enemies. Even those who really joined in hopes of waging jihad found themselves in the company of Anarchists. A few months back I read an account of a disaffected Jihadi complaining that half of his ISIS comrades didn't even pray toward Mecca, they prayed toward the next town where there were women and girls, cars and wealth. (Sand pirates)

While we cheer the fall of ISIS, they aren't converting to Christianity and calling for Jeffersonian representative republic. They're hunting up their old Al Qeada buddies, their old Hezbolla Pals, and their old Muslim Brotherhood brothers.

We don't hear the words Al Qeada much anymore but that doesn't mean Obama deserves credit for destroying them because they aren't destroyed. They're just adrift till the next jihadi fad pops up.

[Sanguine]

WaPo?  Wait, is this real news or fake news?  It's so confusing.

[GtHawk]

That also means one is taking responsibility when things go awry,  civilians bombed, etc.

I agree with what you say some but at the same time, Trump is showing himself to be a military genius.

Obama's plan was meek, he was not a great risk-taker per this war.

And the US has been accused of war crimes in this battle, at least in Mosul. So, there you have it.

If by military genius you mean getting the hell out of the way of the generals and letting them do their job, absolutely! I give Trump two thumbs up on this, it's only fair to give him a pat on the back when it's good, but doesn't mean I won't criticize when he screws up.

[dfwgator]

If by military genius you mean getting the hell out of the way of the generals and letting them do their job, absolutely! I give Trump two thumbs up on this, it's only fair to give him a pat on the back when it's good, but doesn't mean I won't criticize when he screws up.

Fair enough.   He still beats the alternative.

[TomSea]

If by military genius you mean getting the hell out of the way of the generals and letting them do their job, absolutely! I give Trump two thumbs up on this, it's only fair to give him a pat on the back when it's good, but doesn't mean I won't criticize when he screws up.

Genius to get in there and fight an evil that is about as great as Nazism.

This thing was festering.  And it will continue, terrorists will do whatever they can, drive a car into a crowd, suicide bombing, etc.

Saying he is getting out of the way of Generals is just a lame-ass excuse by those who don't support him and don't want to give him any credit.

[Oceander]

Genius to get in there and fight an evil that is about as great as Nazism.

This thing was festering.  And it will continue, terrorists will do whatever they can, drive a car into a crowd, suicide bombing, etc.

Saying he is getting out of the way of Generals is just a lame-ass excuse by those who don't support him and don't want to give him any credit.

Give him credit for what?  Are you seriously implying that he thought this strategy up in detail himself?

[TomSea]

Trump said he was going to be aggressive against ISIS,  that's what we have.

Saying he's stepping back and letting the Generals take care of things is speculation.

At the least, this evil on par with Nazism is enough for his supporters to take some pride in.

Versus what others said, I think Obama did work on fighting ISIS some but may have been a bit on the mild side.

This is the Atlantic, so definitely a biased view per Obama but there may be a grain of truth in what they say.

Donald Trump Will Defeat ISIS

And it will be mostly due to the work of his predecessor.

    Andrew Exum Feb 17, 2017 Global

The dysfunction at the highest levels of the American government right now obscures a dramatic reality: Donald Trump is going to defeat the Islamic State, and Americans need to be fine with that.

Like most of the people reading this, I have been so completely absorbed by the drama at the White House over the past week that its been easy to lose track of what’s taking place on the ground in the Middle East, where U.S. troops, diplomats, and intelligence professionals continue to work by, with, and through local forces to destroy the Islamic State.
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When President Obama turned the affairs of state over to President Trump on January 20th, the Islamic State was in full retreat across Iraq and Syria. This was no accident: In the fall of 2015, while I was serving as the head of the Pentagon’s Middle East policy shop, the Obama administration ramped up its campaign against the group—and began to see the effects of that escalation when Iraqi forces retook Ramadi in December of 2015.

Continued: https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2017/02/donald-trump-will-defeat-isis/517062/

Some truth, not all truth.

[TomSea]

Let's not forget,

President Donald Johnathan Trump said he had a secret plan to defeat ISIS.....

But look at Obama, now we find out that we have a number of bases in Syria, these did not all spring up since Trump became president.

I think Obama is the one who got out of the way of his generals or the Pentagon with some restrictions, when it became apparent, everything went to hell because of Obama's policy decisions.