AP fact check: Trump wrongly calls Obama 'founder' of IS

WASHINGTON -- Donald Trump says President Barack Obama is the "founder" of the Islamic State group. He's not, of course.

According to the GOP presidential nominee, Obama's decision to pull U.S. forces from Iraq in 2011 destabilized the Middle East and created a situation in which Islamic State militants could thrive. That's debatable, at least.

But to state "Barack Hussein Obama" -- as Trump put it to highlight the president's middle name given to him by his Kenyan-born father -- actively worked to create the terrorist group simply is not accurate.

In fact, the United States is leading a coalition of some three dozen Western and Arab countries on a mission to destroy IS. Republicans argue his response has been tepid and incremental.

Trump made his allegation at a rally in Florida and repeated it Thursday. A look at his statements:

TRUMP: "He is the founder of ISIS," he said Wednesday night, using one acronym for Islamic State. On Thursday, he told CNBC: "He was the founder of ISIS, absolutely. The way he removed our troops. ... He shouldn't have got out the way he got out. It was a disaster what he did. "

Asked by conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt whether he meant Obama's decision to remove U.S. troops from Iraq left a vacuum for IS to grow, Trump replied:

"No, I meant that he's the founder of ISIS, I do."

THE FACTS: The founder of the group was Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the head of al-Qaida in Iraq who was killed in a U.S. airstrike in 2006.

As for the manner of the U.S. withdrawal, Trump actually wanted U.S. troops out years earlier than Obama brought them out.

He told CNN in March 2007 the U.S. should declare victory and get out because Iraq was going to get further bogged down in civil strife. He said the U.S. was "keeping a lid" on the situation by being there, but when the U.S. leaves, "it's all going to blow up," so the U.S. might as well leave "because you just are wasting time."

TRUMP: "In many respects, you know, they (IS militants) honor President Obama."

THE FACTS: To the contrary, IS propaganda has shown fighters shooting targets bearing Obama's image. IS has beheaded captives while slurring Obama's name and suggested prices for enslaving his wife.