Last edited Tue Oct 17, 2017, 09:20 AM - Edit history (1)
he could do that Obama could not. In fact, the military has, for the most part, continued the Obama/coalition plan, devised by the same military officers that now work for Trump, and though Trump spoke of getting many countries to join, the coalition is the same 67 or 68 countries pulled together under Obama by Kerry and Biden.
Last January, when asked the estimate was that the second half of Mosul would fall in about 3 months and that Raqqa would likely be retaken by the end of the year. This was said by Obama administration people and by the British and French.
I was surprised this morning on morning Joe when the fall of Raqqa was announced .. and Joe's response was that this all started under Obama, but just wait for Trump to take full credit for it. In fact, it is not outside the norm for a President to do that -- but it is not smart, because people will point out that fact. Instead, the best way to gain points is more Obama like than Trump like -- it would be to announce this as an important moment for the coalition that has painstakingly worked towards this for nearly three years. He could then credit our military, the local fighters - Kurds and Iraqis - who bore the brunt of this fight and mention that there was a big job remaining restoring governance and helping the Iraqis and Kurds deal with their dispute diplomatically. Note that if he did that - HE would get the lion's share of the credit as far as this country is concerned.
However, if he comes out with his typical I, Me, my rhetoric claiming he did this better than Obama -- the response will be that OBAMA built the coalition, Obama worked with Iraq to help them get their troops in order, Obama, Kerry, and his two Defense Secretaries,Chuck Hagel and Ash Carter worked with their coalition and to deconflict with Russia, Syria and Iran To get to the point where ISIS was clearly losing before the end of Obama's Presidency. Not to mention, he needs the same caution that Obama/Carter/Kerry always expressed that as ISIS loses land, it becomes a non state terrorist group - like Al Qaeda -- it does not magically disappear.
I suspect he goes with a grandiose claim - befitting someone who claimed in the election that he knew more than the generals. Note the bushback in Newsweek from when Sara Huckabee Sanders claimed Trump did more -- http://www.newsweek.com/trump-has-done-more-defeat-isis-obama-sarah-huckabee-sanders-681403
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