Throughout August, one of the most persistent stories has been the claim
that ISIS is making a substantial recovery in Iraq and Syria, a claim
based on a single Pentagon report which implied only that this might
potentially be the case.
The Pentagon clearly wants this to be true, because they are using it to
spin a US military withdrawal from Syria as dangerous. Even though that
withdrawal never happened in the first place, this narrative has
refused to die, and the New York Times is against claiming ISIS is “regaining” strength, in its top story, as though it’s an absolute fact.
What is the story based on? Unsurprisingly, it’s almost entirely that
same Pentagon report again, which is continuing to warn against a US
military drawdown from Syria. The article focuses beyond that on trying
to validate the fears expressed in that report.
Even then, ISIS is not taking over any territory, nor is it expected
that they will even attempt to do so. The big focus seems to be on the
massive detention camp the Syrian Kurds are operating in northeastern
Syria.
The detention camp is full of ISIS and suspected ISIS, and because the
camp has no way of imposing absolute control of what everyone inside
says and does, the Pentagon report speculates that they’re probably
talking, and that it’ll be a hotbed of ISIS ideology.
Even then, the idea that a camp full of suspected ISIS members might
have people supportive of ISIS’ ideology is hardly surprising, and since
they’re already being detained they can’t exactly go do anything.
Pentagon Officials Eager to Present a Recovering ISIS, Facts Don’t Support It
Entire ISIS rebound hinges on hypothetical events in the future
Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.
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