Former House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Rogers praised President Donald Trump for changing the "rules of engagement" on the ground that sped up the demise of the Islamic State in Raqqa.
"On the ISIS thing, the one thing he did get right today, he did change the rules of engagement that I think did help speed up the plan," Rogers, the former Michigan Republican congressman, told Erin Burnett on CNN.
Rogers was debating retired Army Lt. Gen. Mark Hertling, to whom he said: "General, you're just wrong about that."
Trump on Tuesday took credit for the fall of the ISIS capital in Syria fell to U.S.-backed forces, in a significant defeat for the jihadists since its first acts of terrorism three years ago.
"I totally changed rules of engagement," the president told "The Chris Plante Show" on WMAL-FM. "I totally changed our military.
"I totally changed the attitudes of the military and they have done a fantastic job.
"ISIS is now giving up, they are giving up, there are raising their hands, they are walking off," Trump said. "Nobody has ever seen that before."
Rogers agreed that allowing commanders to make decisions on the ground in Syria marked a turning point in the battle against ISIS.
"This plan to go ahead and move toward Raqqa has been on the books when President [Barack] Obama was in charge," he told Burnett.
"The one thing that frustrated everybody, including military leadership, was the way that decisions got made for certain activities, including by the way, the way our special-capability soldiers were able to engage with the forces on the ground.
"That did change. I do think that that led to an escalation of taking Raqqa.
"So, in that regard," Rogers concluded, "Trump got that piece right.
"But the whole strategy of this has been in place for a couple years."
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