Early on in the first debate, Donald Trump accused Hillary Clinton of failing to defeat ISIS. His line, specifically, was, “You’ve been fighting ISIS your whole life.”
The organization that would eventually become ISIS came into existence in the bloody aftermath of the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq. Initially called al-Qaeda in Iraq, the terror group was decimated during a sustained American military offensive in 2007-’08, but it was never fully destroyed. The remnants of that group rearmed and reorganized, renaming itself the Islamic State in Iraq and Greater Syria (ISIS) in 2013. They conquered Mosul, one of Iraq’s largest cities, in 2014, putting themselves on the map. Therefore, you could say that fighting ISIS has been a major US government priority since either 2003 or 2013.
Hillary Clinton was born in 1947.
If you want to learn more about the history of ISIS, you can read this short history I’ve written or watch the video below:
Will you support Vox’s explanatory journalism?
Most news outlets make their money through advertising or subscriptions. But when it comes to what we’re trying to do at Vox, there are a couple of big issues with relying on ads and subscriptions to keep the lights on:
First, advertising dollars go up and down with the economy. We often only know a few months out what our advertising revenue will be, which makes it hard to plan ahead.
Second, we’re not in the subscriptions business. Vox is here to help everyone understand the complex issues shaping the world — not just the people who can afford to pay for a subscription. We believe that’s an important part of building a more equal society. And we can’t do that if we have a paywall.
So even though advertising is still our biggest source of revenue, we also seek grants and reader support. (And no matter how our work is funded, we have strict guidelines on editorial independence.)
If you also believe that everyone deserves access to trusted high-quality information, will you make a gift to Vox today? Any amount helps.
Yes, I'll give $5/month
Yes, I'll give $5/month
We accept credit card, Apple Pay, and
Google Pay. You can also contribute via
