FIELD MARSHAL OBAMA DOES IT AGAIN – AT 10:56 A.M. ET:   We're told how much progress we're making against ISIS.  And then there's the fine print.  From Fox: 

The number of fighters in the Islamic State's army largely "remains the same" as it did a year ago, a U.S. official briefed on the latest intelligence estimate tells Fox News.

Officially, ISIS is estimated to have between 20,000 and 25,000 fighters based on the new intelligence estimate, as first reported by USA Today. A year ago, ISIS was estimated to have between 19,000 and 31,000 fighters.

The new estimate means that despite more than 10,000 U.S.-led coalition airstrikes against ISIS starting in August 2014, ISIS largely has maintained the size of its force – due in part to an emerging practice of “forced conscription” and an influx of new members, including foreign fighters flocking to ISIS’ self-declared caliphate.

Territory, however, has been taken back from the vast terror network in that time.

The U.S. military estimates that 40 percent of its territory in Iraq has been retaken. The progress is not so defined in Syria, where just 5 percent of ISIS-controlled land has been retaken. Previous estimates claiming up to 20 percent of ISIS-controlled Syria had been reclaimed have been revised significantly.

COMMENT:  Meanwhile, ISIS has pulled off spectacular overseas attacks, like the ones in Paris.  And it is actively recruiting in the United States.  They have, it's true, lost some territory in Iraq, but ISIS moves around.  It is remarkably flexible, and much larger in scope than Al Qaeda.

I wonder what General of the Army Bernie Sanders would do about ISIS fighters.  Probably give them health benefits.

February 4, 2016