Obama ‘Did Almost Nothing’ About the Rise of ISIL
PBS’s “Frontline’s” aired a documentary Tuesday titled, “The Rise of ISIS.” In it, they interviewed former U.S. ambassador James Jeffrey, who served in Iraq from 2010 to 2012. He pulled no punches from the president when it came to ISIL’s rise, and Barack Obama’s assertion that the intelligence community let everyone down by not sounding the alarm. “The administration not only was warned by everybody back in January,” Jeffrey said, “it actually announced that it was going to intensify support against ISIS with the Iraqi armed forces. And it did almost nothing.” So is Barack Obama’s strategy going to be enough? The interviewer asked Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs, that question, and Dempsey responded, “No, I’m not an optimist.” He argued that while the strategy may not be entirely defective, “every campaign’s assumptions have to be revisited as the campaign evolves. Some of these assumptions are no doubt going to be challenged.” More…
- Tags:
- Islamic State
- Iraq
- Martin Dempsey