Trump touts plan he ordered on ISIS

In his successful run for the presidency, Donald Trump often focused on ISIS, an acronym for the brutal Islamic fundamentalist group that seized control of territory in Syria and Iraq. One time, Trump said he would "bomb the hell" out of them. He claimed to have a plan to defeat them, but he refused to describe it, saying he didn't want to tip off extremists.

In a major foreign policy speech Aug. 15, then-candidate Trump said his administration would "aggressively pursue joint and coalition military operations to crush and destroy ISIS." A few weeks later at a campaign rally, he promised to take the preliminary step of crafting a winning strategy.

"We are going to convene my top generals and give them a simple instruction," Trump said on Sept. 6, "They will have 30 days to submit to the Oval Office a plan for soundly and quickly defeating ISIS."

On Jan. 28, 2017, Trump made good with a presidential memorandum. The key line was,"within 30 days, a preliminary draft of the Plan to defeat ISIS shall be submitted to the president by the secretary of defense."

The Pentagon sent Trump a preliminary framework Feb. 27. Defense Secretary James Mattis and other military planners met with the president the same day to discuss options to move decisively against ISIS.

Tump discussed the plan during an address to Congress on Feb. 28:

"As promised, I directed the Department of Defense to develop a plan to demolish and destroy ISIS, a network of lawless savages that have slaughtered Muslims and Christians and men, and women and children of all faiths and all beliefs. We will work with our allies, including our friends and allies in the Muslim world, to extinguish this vile enemy from our planet."

So Trump said he would ask for a plan, and he did. He said the plan would be one for "soundly and quickly defeating ISIS." Whether the plan actually leads to the defeat of ISIS is another matter. For now, we rate this promise In the Works.