Posted on 11/15/2015 3:22:19 PM PST by rickmichaels
Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes was forced several times today to clarify a comment made by President Obama that aired Friday morning hours before ISIS terrorists murdered more than 125 in Paris.
'I don't think they're gaining strength,' Obama had said of the terrorist organization on Good Morning America. 'What is true is that from the start our goal has been first to contain them and we have contained them.'
Contained, said Rhodes, was simply meant in terms of geography.
'The president was responding very specifically to the geographic expansion of ISIL in Iraq and Syria,' Rhodes told ABC This Week host George Stephanopoulos.
On Fox News Sunday, host Chris Wallace also brought up Obama's comments, asking Rhodes if the administration had 'profoundly misjudged' the ISIS threat in light of the violent Parisian attacks. Rhodes noted that taking out ISIS would be a 'longterm challenge.' 'What the president was referring to very specifically was we had to stop their geographic advance in Iraq and Syria, where they were gaining more territory,' Rhodes said. 'We had done that.' Rhodes pointed out that ISIS had been rolled back in Northern Iraq and Northern and Eastern Syria.
'That's necessary to shrink the space they operate in,' he said, noting that the fighters 'very much depend on their safe havens' in the two war-torn countries.
'But that does not eliminate the threat as you saw so tragically in Paris,' Rhodes said.
CNN's Jake Tapper, host of State of the Union, acted even more incredulous when posing questions to Rhodes.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
Tell it to France asshat.
Geographically where? The Planet Earth?
Thank God ISIS hasn’t invaded Mars yet....
The great orator has his staff explaining what he meant
Well, ORetard was wrong again unless he meant that ISIS was held in check in France.
Shrunk it geographically down to just Eurasia and parts of Africa, sort of. Not really.
Paris is a suburb of Mosul?
They’re not contained geographically anymore. Obozo just invited 10,000 potential ISIS members to the US. On top of the ones that were undoubtedly here already.
Flippin' politicians.
I guess he meant the old Roman Empire.
Obama created ISIS, and now calls it “ISIL” so the
trail does not lead ... to him.
And this, only years after the 911 Atrocities,
now long-forgotten by the corrupt, EXEMPT US Congress.
Yeah, and the sun was in his eyes and the dog ate his homework and it was some other kid who threw the rock.
The are contained on the planet Earth (so far... muzzies in NASA).
What a maroooon! He is STILL and FOREVER known as "O'Douchebag"
Riiiiight.
Oh please enlighten us with your geographical knowledge.....from the man that says there are 57 states
How is striking in the capital city of a foreign land fsr, far away, a sophisticated, planned, multi-pronged attack, how is that “geographically contained”?
Ben Rhodes: sycophant for Hussein.
France is part of islam’s domain?
Seriously???
Yeah, right...If the Narcissist-in-Chief meant why didn’t he say that.
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