Pretty much everyone disagrees with the White House's assessment that ISIS is "defeated."
On Wednesday, reports surfaced that President Trump would immediately withdraw troops from Syria. Trump seemingly confirmed the sentiment with a tweet, and the White House issued a statement declaring "victories over ISIS" shortly after. And just seconds later, criticism started pouring in.
Following Sen. Lindsey Graham's (R-S.C.) rebuke of this decision, fellow GOP Sen. Jim Inhofe (Okla.) affirmed the Senate wasn't consulted before Trump's Wednesday declaration. Also agreeing with Graham, Fox & Friends host Brian Kilmeade tweeted that withdrawing from Syria "is a huge mistake" because "we are leaving allies who have been fighting for us ... ripe for slaughter." And Iraq and Afghanistan veteran Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) had a more blunt response.
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Similarly, Mouaz Moustafa, director of the Syrian Emergency Task Force humanitarian group, emphasized that "we have NOT completely defeated ISIS and pulling out now allows them to make a resurgence." Gayle Tzemach Lemmon, a Council on Foreign Relations fellow who was in Syria last week, tweeted that "if the ISIS fight is over, no one has told ISIS." She then shared a moving photo showing how things in Syria have changed under U.S. intervention. Kathryn Krawczyk
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