The Political Page, T+340 -- December 27, 2017

For background to the [ISIS] caliphate, see this post. Now, this incredibly good reporting at Fox News and The Wall Street Journal. I have not checked, but I can bet this story is not being published at The Los Angeles Times.

From The Wall Street Journal, how Islamic State's caliphate crumbled.

In 2014, a terror group once affiliated with al Qaeda blitzed across Iraq and Syria—and into global headlines—in a military campaign aimed at establishing a new caliphate. At the height of its power, Islamic State is estimated to have controlled a third of Iraq and about half of Syria.

An array of local forces, many of them backed by a U.S.-led coalition, fought back over the years that followed. A series of battles led to the recapture of cities held by the extremists, and the self-proclaimed caliphate began to shrink. Last month, Islamic State was pushed out of its last urban stronghold in the two countries. These maps tell the story of the terror group’s rise and fall. 

Fox News was a bit more succinct: the terror group lost 98 percent of caliphate after Trump scraps 'onerous' Obame rules of engagement. 

The history books, if fair and balanced, are going to be very, very hard on the Obama administration.