"I totally changed the attitudes of the military and they have done a fantastic job,” President Donald Trump said. | Evan Vucci/AP Trump takes credit for ISIS 'giving up'

President Donald Trump claimed credit Tuesday morning for successes in the ongoing campaign against Islamic State militants in Iraq, telling a radio host that he had “totally changed the attitudes of the military.”

"It had to do with the people I put in and it had to do with rules of engagement. We weren't fighting to win. We were fighting to be politically correct," Trump told radio host Chris Plante, a seeming dig at the Obama administration. The president’s remark came on the same day that U.S. allies in Syria claimed that they had pushed Islamic State militants from Raqqa, the capital of their self-described caliphate — although the Pentagon separately cautioned that it doesn’t yet consider the city to have been fully liberated.


The U.S.-led command in Iraq and Syria is “aware of the reports that ISIS has been defeated in Raqqa,” said Col. Ryan Dillon, spokesman for Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve. “However, clearing operations continue,” he added, saying that “we still expect there to be remnants of ISIS in the city” — about 100 of them.

Still, Iraqi forces, backed by U.S. military advisers and airstrikes, have made significant gains against the Islamic State in recent months, forcing it from the city of Mosul, Iraq’s second largest city. ISIS fighters have begun surrendering en masse, and Dillon said 87 percent of the total territory in Iraq and Syria that ISIS once held has been liberated.

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Trump made combating the Islamic State a key component of his 2016 presidential campaign, arguing that former President Barack Obama had been too soft in going after the militant group and that Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton would have done the same. As president, Trump has delegated some battlefield autonomy to military officials on the ground, a step he said has improved efficiency. In other areas, his administration's strategy has remained largely similar to that of Obama's.

“I totally changed rules of engagement. I totally changed our military. I totally changed the attitudes of the military and they have done a fantastic job,” Trump said. “Yeah, ISIS is now giving up. They’re giving up, they’re raising their hands, they’re walking off. Nobody’s ever seen that before.”

“Why did that happen?” Plante asked Trump.

“Because you didn’t have Trump as your president. I mean, it was a big difference. I mean, there’s a big, big difference if you look at the military now,” the president replied.

The remarks were encouraging for Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), whose icy relationship with the president has returned to the spotlight once again this week. Nonetheless, the Senate Armed Services Committee chairman said he was "glad to hear" Trump's remarks on the Islamic State.

"That's illuminating to me. I was involved in it throughout. Do I believe the last eight years were failed? Absolutely. Absolutely. There was no rules of engagement. And there was no success. There was no strategy," McCain said. "So I certainly agree that the last eight years were a dismal failure of our policies and strategy in Iraq and Afghanistan. That's why it's been 15 years."

Wesley Morgan contributed to this report.

