Posted on 09/03/2014 2:57:53 PM PDT by Hojczyk
Hagel suggested that America should focus on Obama’s prepared remarks and ignore the president’s extemporaneous musings on America’s objectives and capabilities.
Obama was “pretty clear,” Hagel insisted. America’s goal is to “degrade and destroy the capability of ISIL to come after U.S. interests all over the world and our allies.”
“However way he addressed that later in the news conference, I wasn’t aware of that,” the secretary added, if you can believe it.
“That’s the end game? Degrade and destroy, not contain?” Sciutto asked.
“No, it’s not contain,” Hagel replied. “It’s exactly what the president said: ‘Degrade and destroy.’” But that’s not “exactly what the president said.” Reading the statements coming out of this White House has become a form of Kremlinology. Americans are instructed after the fact to ignore some of administration officials’ statements and take others as gospel.
At the closing of this event, Hagel was asked if he could pledge to the American people that the group responsible for what the administration considers a “terrorist attack” on the United States will be destroyed. “We will do everything possible that we can do to destroy their capacity to inflict harm on our people and Western values and our interests,” Hagel replied.
This lawyerly equivocation was hardly inspiring, but the secretary only has so much leeway to make policy for this administration. It was his statements, and those of the Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Martin Dempsey two weeks ago, which prompted Obama to say the U.S. doesn’t “have a strategy yet” to take on ISIS in Syria. The Defense Secretary can only be as clear as is his boss, and there is no clarity coming from the man at the top.
(Excerpt) Read more at hotair.com ...
Pay no attention to the muslim usurper behind the curtain.
Wet clean up on aisle Obama.
Oh, wait...
Watching our foreign policy is likewatching Larry, Moe and Curly.
Who is in charge of the defense of our nation? Is anybody in charge?
Obama gave IS their Caliph and Generals and MANPADs.
America? America got Deathpanels, tuberculosis,
DO”J”-corruption, and arming of al Qaeda.
Larry, Moe and Curly would have done a much better job!!
There would seem to be a wide spectrum between ‘Degrade’ and ‘Destroy’. I’m sure that Obama apologists would consider a single drone strike as ‘Degrading’ ISIS in a very narrow definitional sense.
Hagel was saying “listen to the teleprompter not the reader of the teleprompter”.
“He didn’t mean what he said, he meant what I said.” Right, Chuck.
——Watching our foreign policy is likewatching Larry, Moe and Curly.——
More like Darryl, Darryl and Darryl from the Bob Newhart show...
I heard that he had said he was going to make the mid east “manageable,” not ISIS.
Actually, Larry and, I believe, 2 Darryls.
Hapless Hagel is the Circus Clown with the pooper scooper following the elephant.
Just ‘hotair’ indeed.
“We will manage ISIS to the gates of hell.”
Jim Geherty on Greta’s show speaking about the administrations position on ISIS.
I stand corrected... you are right...
It's been a while...!
Some words are more equal than others. Obama’s version of ‘newspeak’. Its a new world but not so brave the current resident.
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