The Patriot Post® · Obama's Indifference on Iraq

Jonah Goldberg: “When Obama pulled American troops out of Iraq, they were not serving as a magnet for terrorists; they were acting as a deterrent not only to terrorists but to ‘irresponsible’ Iraqi factions. … [A]s recently as last November, Obama dismissed ISIS and other al-Qaeda affiliates as nothing more than a jayvee squad. While interviewing Obama, The New Yorker’s David Remnick noted that ‘the flag of al-Qaeda is now flying in Fallujah, in Iraq, and among various rebel factions in Syria,’ and that ‘al-Qaeda has asserted a presence in parts of Africa, too.’ The president shot back: ‘If a jayvee team puts on Lakers uniforms that doesn’t make them Kobe Bryant.’ Now, that same junior varsity team controls more territory than any terrorist organization in history, has some 5,000 battle-hardened jihadists with Western passports, hundreds of millions of dollars at its disposal, and is earning millions more every day by selling oil on the black market. … He remains as blasé about mass slaughter today as he was in 2007.”