Posted on 06/12/2014 6:30:34 AM PDT by kristinn
At a closed-door gathering of Gulf states in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, in May, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel and his Arab counterparts all signaled agreement on one thing for the first time: Islamist forces seizing territory in Syria and Iraq had become a regionwide menace that can't be ignored.
What they didn't agree on was what to do about it, U.S. officials said.The fall this week of the Iraqi cities Mosul and Tikrit to the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham rebel group shows how the insurgent threat is outpacing the response and posing a challenge to President Barack Obama's approach of limiting U.S. involvement in foreign conflicts.
The quickly unfolding drama prompted a White House meeting Wednesday of top policy makers and military leaders who were caught off guard by the swift collapse of Iraqi security forces, officials acknowledged.
State Department and Pentagon officials have long warned about ISIS's desire to create an Islamic state based in the Sunni-dominated parts of Iraq and Syria.
Now, current and former officials say Washington's options for helping the Iraqi army fight back are limitedboth because the threat in Iraq is so entrenched and because the U.S. hasn't invested in building up moderate allies on the Syrian side of the border.
SNIP
Some military officials now believe ISIS is the single greatest terrorist threat the U.S. and its allies facestronger than the al Qaeda affiliates in Yemen or Africa and far more powerful than al Qaeda's central leadership in Pakistan. Other senior U.S. officials say ISIS has yet to carry out any attacks directly targeting the U.S.
"It makes you want to kill yourself," a senior U.S. official said of the intelligence on ISIS, which was presented by U.S. and Gulf allies during the May meeting in Jeddah.
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
The first Obama heard of this was in the newspapers.
This is what happens when you have children who hate America in charge.
The primary goal of Team BO has been to surrender power abroad and to infiltrate the military with open homosexuals and trannies. THAT is the priority for the Clown.
The analogy we use around here sometimes, and I think is accurate, is if a jayvee team puts on Lakers uniforms that doesnt make them Kobe Bryant, Obama told Remnick.
"I think there is a distinction between the capacity and reach of a bin Laden and a network that is actively planning major terrorist plots against the homeland versus jihadists who are engaged in various local power struggles and disputes, often sectarian.
This is more of the same BS about moderate Syrian rebels.
I just can’t wait for our most effective Secretary of State, skerry, to give his excellent advice.
After having been told it would happen for a decade.
Heckuva job CIA and NSA.
You know what.... Let the middle east just kill each other. They will never, ever stop. Tell them that they are on their own and if they decide to attack Israel or the U.S. well nuke them off the planet. And mean it.
Question:
How many men do we have left in Iraq? Are they all in Baghdad?
We're nothing but a celebrity worship culture now, chasing the lifestyle of the worst dregs to ever disgrace our shores. Let the goat pluggers run rampant in the Middle East, who cares? If it starts to affect ME, then I'll start to cry about it until someone else does something about it.
I said the first day we rolled into Iraq, that we had to be there for at least 20 years, or else it would quickly crumble.
In hindsight, it was better to leave Saddam in charge.
Then why in the world are we spending such big bucks for our intelligence organizations?
It starts at the top. Our dumbass President couldn’t be bothered with daily intelligence briefings. He had more important things to do like raise money for the Democrat Party.
Is the ISIS getting arms and supplies headed for Uncle Scam's Al Qaeda allies in Syria?
People are in denial. Perhaps its because they just can't handle the truth or simply don't care. Whatever, that fundamental truth is...
If its bad for America, Obama is for it.
Where's Shazam?
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