Fury as Obama blames intelligence agencies for Isil surprise
With his foreign policy approval ratings at a historic low, Barack Obama
meets furious reaction after blaming US intelligence agencies for failing to
predict rise of Isil in Syria
By Peter Foster, Washington
9:03PM BST 29 Sep 2014
President Barack Obama was facing a fierce political backlash on Monday
night after he blamed US intelligence chiefs for being caught by surprise by
the sudden rise of the Islamic State (Isil) terror movement in Iraq and
Syria.
In a highly unusual step, Mr Obama singled out James Clapper, his director
of national intelligence, when asked by a television interviewer whether he
had underestimated the threat posed by Isil after its fighters burst across
the Syrian border into Iraq this summer, capturing large swathes of
territory.
I think our head of the intelligence community, Jim Clapper, has
acknowledged that they underestimated what had been taking place in Syria,
Mr Obama told CBS News.
The presidents apparent unwillingness to take responsibility for his
administrations failure to foresee the threat was met with disbelief by
both policy experts and senior Republicans, who have long warned of the
risks of ceding strategic space to the jihadists in Syria.
This was the dog ate my homework speech, Senator John McCain, the former
Republican presidential candidate who has long called for Mr Obama to arm
moderate rebel forces in Syria, told Fox News, adding that Mr Obama should
follow other presidents and admit his mistake.
Every president in history had made a mistake, acknowledged it and then
moved on. President Reagan with Iran contra, President Clinton in Bosnia,
President George W Bush after the debacle in Iraq, when he started the surge
- but it doesnt seem to be in this presidents DNA, he said.
Mr Obamas foreign policy approval ratings are at a historic low, with
almost 60 per cent of American disapproving of his handling of foreign
policy a number that has not improved since the president began
implementing his strategy to degrade and destroy Isil.
Frederic Hof, the former State Department special adviser on Syria now with
the Rafik Hariri Center in Washington, who argued for greater support for
the rebels but later resigned in the face of White House opposition to the
policy, said the intelligence community was not to blame.
I very much doubt that the intelligence community was asleep at the switch
while Isil was gaining strength in Syria, he told The Telegraph, None of
this was exactly hidden from view.
No doubt President Obama and his advisors were perplexed when it came to
policy options, and no doubt the scope and speed of the Isil thrust into
Iraq were surprising. But I doubt that the US intelligence community is to
blame for any policy shortfalls."
The White House denied that Mr Obama was trying to shift the blame away from
himself and onto the intelligence community.
That is not what the presidents intent was, said Josh Earnest, the White
House press secretary, adding the president had the highest degree of
confidence in the intelligence community.
However Mr McCain warned of blowback from the intelligence community which
already appeared to be moving to defend itself, with a former senior
Pentagon official who worked on Isil intelligence assessments telling the
Daily Beast website: Either the president doesnt read the intelligence
hes getting or hes bullsh------.
Thé Mulindwas Communication Group
"With Yoweri Museveni, Ssabassajja and Dr. Kiiza Besigye, Uganda is in
anarchy"
Kuungana Mulindwa Mawasiliano Kikundi
"Pamoja na Yoweri Museveni, Ssabassajja na Dk. Kiiza Besigye, Uganda ni
katika machafuko"
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