Quote:
Originally Posted by Pete F.
Lie #10
“Three years ago, the barbarians of ISIS held over 20,000 square miles of territory in Iraq and Syria. Today, the ISIS territorial caliphate has been 100 percent destroyed, and the founder and leader of ISIS — the bloodthirsty killer known as Al‑Baghdadi — is dead!”
The U.S. military warned, in a report issued the day Trump spoke, that ISIS remained a dangerous threat and the killing of Baghdadi did not degrade the group’s capabilities. “USCENTCOM told the DoD OIG [Office of the Inspector General] that following the death of ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the group’s capabilities in Syria remained the same,” the report said. “USCENTCOM said that ISIS remained cohesive, with an intact command and control structure, urban clandestine networks, and an insurgent presence in much of rural Syria.”
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He didn't say ISIS was totally destroyed. He said that its territorial caliphate was 100% destroyed. That could mean various things regarding its geographic ability to project power. Mostly his opinion, with his usual ability to exaggerate. But it is certain that ISIS was very SEVERELY damaged and its momentum reversed--much more so than was happening before.