While President Donald Trump thinks and says ISIS does for…
Few believe his wish….
That includes well informed Republican lawmakers….
The top GOP member of the House Armed Services Committee warned that ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi’s death “does not mean ISIS is defeated.”
Rep. Mac Thornberry (R-Texas) applauded the president and the special operations forces who took out al-Baghdadi, saying it was a “big deal” and Trump “deserves a lot of credit for authorizing the raid” on CNN’s “State of the Union.” But he said his death does not eliminate all cause for concern about terrorist attacks.
“That does not mean ISIS is defeated anymore than getting bin Laden that al Qaeda was defeated,” he said. “We’ve taken something valuable away, but you still have these networks. You still have people who will take the place of anybody we remove, and they continue to work to attack America.”
The Texas Republican told Jake Tapper that it was “important” not to remove all troops from Syria to ensure the U.S. can still monitor ISIS.
“Having some presence there gives us a greater ability through intelligence gathering to keep track of these individuals and other ISIS authorizes,” he said.
Thornberry commended the decision to keep troops around the oil fields in northeastern Syria to prevent ISIS or other countries from taking control.
“It also gives us a platform from which to continue to watch and pressure ISIS,” he said.
The president had previously announced that all troops would leave Syria but has since acknowledged he’s considering keeping a few hundred in the area to protect the oil fields….
image..theHill