Operation that got al-Baghdadi praised, but Syria criticisms persist

Despite broad praise for the operation that ended with the death of Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, President Trump’s overall Syria policy drew continued criticism by local Democrats Sunday.

“We killed one important ISIS figurehead, but it’s a very decentralized organization with plenty more fighters on the ground in Syria, in Iraq and in the pipeline,” U.S. Rep. Seth Moulton said. “Make no mistake, it’s a good thing he’s killed, but our fight is in a far worse position against ISIS.”

U.S. Rep. Stephen Lynch called the death of al-Baghdadi “a major development in the fight against ISIS.”

He noted that it’s important for U.S. forces to complete their mission against ISIS, which “remains a dangerous threat with thousands of fighters across the region.”

“The President’s erratic intervention has disrupted a coherent strategic plan in Syria which threatens to allow an ISIS resurgence and empower our adversaries, including the Assad regime, Russia, and Iran, at the expense of U.S. national security interests,” Lynch said in a statement.

Moulton pointed out that the U.S. now must be “on alert” for retaliatory attacks from ISIS.

“This goes with the territory when you have successful operations,” Moulton said.

Trump’s recent pullback of U.S. troops from northeastern Syria raised a storm of bipartisan criticism in Washington that the militant group could regain strength after it had lost vast stretches of territory it had once controlled.

On Sunday, Trump said the troop pullout “had nothing to do with this.”

Katherine Zimmerman of the American Enterprise Institute said the strength and staying power of extremists lies in the support they have locally among the disenfranchised and economically deprived populations.

“Counterterrorism must be part of the strategy,” she said “but reducing the strategy to just special operations raids and drone targeting, as this administration seems to want to, guarantees a forever war.”

Moulton cited Afghanistan as an example where there needs to be a clear commitment to a counter-terrorism mission and developing government authority.

“A commitment to ensure the resources for that mission are in place for as long as it takes, and a renewed commitment to the Afghanistan government on the political side so that the government can take better control of its own future,” he added. “We can do this by withdrawing some troops but not all troops.”