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Obama's Responsibility for Syrian Casualties and Refugees

https://www.aei.org/publication/brennan-admits-isis-was-decimated-under-bush-but-has-grown-under-obama-by-as-much-as-4400-percent/?utm_source=paramount&utm_medium=email&utm_content =AEITHISWEEK&utm_campaign=Weekly122615

CIA director Brennan admits ISIS was “decimated” under Bush, but has grown as much as 4,400% under Obama

Foreign and Defense Policy, Middle East, Terrorism




In a speech at the Center for Strategic and International Studies yesterday, CIA director John Brennan made a startling admission: The Islamic State was “decimated” under George W. Bush and had just “700-or-so adherents left” following the surge in Iraq. Said Brennan:
[ISIS] was, you know, pretty much decimated when US forces were there in Iraq. It had maybe 700-or-so adherents left. And then it grew quite a bit in the last several years, when it split then from al-Qaida in Syria, and set up its own organization.​
US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Director John Brennan addresses a conference on national security in Washington October 27, 2015. REUTERS/Yuri Gripas.

But in September 2014, a CIA analysis found that:
[ISIS] can muster between 20,000 and 31,500 fighters across Iraq and Syria … This new total reflects an increase in members because of stronger recruitment since June following battlefield successes and the declaration of a caliphate, greater battlefield activity, and additional intelligence.​
This means that, by the CIA’s own estimate, ISIS has grown on President Obama’s watch from just 700 fighters to between 20,000 and 31,500 fighters.
That is an increase of between 2,700 and 4,400 %. . . .


 
The same CIA that has gotten everything perpetually wrong for over a decade is now saying ISIS was decimated under Dubya!
 
What is wrong with this whole way of thinking is the idea that we Americans are responsible for the world. A lot of terrible things have been happening in the world for hundreds of years yet you do not hold America responsible for not stopping them. What we are responsible for is stopping any threats to our nation and our citizens. Anything beyond that is charity from the goodness of our hearts and must only be done if it does not undercut American interests (e.g. budget).

The US Govt. is the wrong-thinkers, as it THINKS it's their responsibility to police the world.

What the US has done 'for' (in) the ME is in the US interests of Oil, and US control/influence in the Region. Hardly US "charity from the goodness of our hearts." The US currently runs a deficit of over 18 Trillion USD...and Obama's mind-set is that he'll just borrow more money from China, etc.

Regardless of what Obama said, (in the OP) the US could've saved many MORE lives than have been lost in the ME by simply staying home and minding their own business....and this applies to GWB, and earlier Presidents, as well. Obama's meaningless red line is a great example of this.

I don't believe much Brennen says, but ISIS wasn't the only Islamic Group involved then, or now. (It seems Brennen, and the CIA is trying to place ALL the blame for ISIS' creation on Obama here.)

Decades of US meddling in this Region, (esp. and inc. the CIA) definitely created the environment which allowed ISIS to form. Due to Obama's incompetence, etc. in Iraq, and the Iraqi Army's unwillingness to stand and fight, ISIS acquired large amounts of US Military Hardware that the US had provided to the Iraqi Army.

I'll be back to post links that support my position here...but, MC is correct, we are covering the same material over and over.

Informative article on those involved in the ME, and Syria:

    Military to Military :  Information Clearing House - ICH

A Rand Corp. article on the Pentagon's predicting ISIS-like Groups would form:

https://medium.com/insurge-intellig...is-as-strategic-asset-b99ad7a29092#.b57gi0ss5

The US Arms ISIS:

U.S. Shoots Itself In the Foot By Accidentally Arming ISIS | The Fiscal Times
 
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It's been denied by the right all along that the Islamic State even existed before Obama. Multiple times I and others posted the evidence that they formed in Iraq in October of 2006. Now that there's a benefit to acknowledge it, suddenly the Islamic State did exist in Bush's Iraq. :lamo
 
In a at the Center for Strategic and International Studies yesterday, CIA director John Brennan made a startling admission: The Islamic State was “decimated” under George W. Bush and had just “700-or-so adherents left” following the surge in Iraq. Said Brennan:
[ISIS] was, you know, pretty much decimated when US forces were there in Iraq. It had maybe 700-or-so adherents left. And then it grew quite a bit in the last several years, when it split then from al-Qaida in Syria, and set up its own organization.


But in September 2014, a CIA analysis that:[ISIS] can muster between 20,000 and 31,500 fighters across Iraq and Syria … This new total reflects an increase in members because of stronger recruitment since June following battlefield successes and the declaration of a caliphate, greater battlefield activity, and additional intelligence
This means that, by the CIA’s own estimate, ISIS has grown on President Obama’s watch from just 700 fighters to between 20,000 and 31,500 fighters.
That is an increase of between 2,700 and 4,400 %. . . . SNIPPED due to character limit.

Here's post #26, again, (above) for Fledermaus.

Quoting from this article: " It had maybe 700-or-so adherents left." IOW, the CIA didn't know the exact number then, and still doesn't. ISIS was not destroyed then, nor were they the only Islamic Group in the region during GWB's time, or now. IMO, this is Brennen's attempt to focus, and lay ALL the blame on Obama, and absolve GWB of ANY blame at the same time. Plz read "Legacy Of Ashes: History of the CIA"

Also, here's the 2007 Hersh article that supports the idea that GWB DOES share the blame, (equally so w/ Obama) for the current situation in Syria, and the entire ME Region. (Of course, Cheney shares this blame as well...and as we 'all know' Cheney made his fortune in the Vietnam War w/ Kellog-Brown-Root receiving Open-Bid Contracts from the USG during that time.)

The Redirection - The New Yorker

The US Govt. is the wrong-thinkers, as it THINKS it's their responsibility to police the world.

What the US has done 'for' (in) the ME is in the US interests of Oil, and US control/influence in the Region. Hardly US "charity from the goodness of our hearts." The US currently runs a deficit of over 18 Trillion USD...and Obama's mind-set is that he'll just borrow more money from China, etc.

Regardless of what Obama said, (in the OP) the US could've saved many MORE lives than have been lost in the ME by simply staying home and minding their own business....and this applies to GWB, and earlier Presidents, as well. Obama's meaningless red line is a great example of this.

I don't believe much Brennen says, but ISIS wasn't the only Islamic Group involved then, or now. (It seems Brennen, and the CIA is trying to place ALL the blame for ISIS' creation on Obama here.)

Decades of US meddling in this Region, (esp. and inc. the CIA) definitely created the environment which allowed ISIS to form. Due to Obama's incompetence, etc. in Iraq, and the Iraqi Army's unwillingness to stand and fight, ISIS acquired large amounts of US Military Hardware that the US had provided to the Iraqi Army.

I'll be back to post links that support my position here...but, MC is correct, we are covering the same material over and over.

Informative article on those involved in the ME, and Syria:

*** Military to Military :* Information Clearing House - ICH

A Rand Corp. article on the Pentagon's predicting ISIS-like Groups would form:

https://medium.com/insurge-intellig...is-as-strategic-asset-b99ad7a29092#.b57gi0ss5

The US Arms ISIS:

U.S. Shoots Itself In the Foot By Accidentally Arming ISIS | The Fiscal Times

Quoted to add, and consolidate all: I must ask where Obama got his 300,00 number in the OP? :doh

Also, Obama could've saved the many American lives that were WASTED in his version of the Iraq War, and this applies to GWB as well.

ISIS and GWB?

Show me.

See above.

Read post 26 slowly and carefully.

Thanks! :cool:

It's been denied by the right all along that the Islamic State even existed before Obama. Multiple times I and others posted the evidence that they formed in Iraq in October of 2006. Now that there's a benefit to acknowledge it, suddenly the Islamic State did exist in Bush's Iraq. :lamo

Correct, (and posted again) it's just the CIA's way of trying to make GWB look good, and Obama look bad.

Keep up the good work, my friend! :2wave:
 
Read post 26 slowly and carefully.

I did.

Where does it state, infer or imply "ISIS was decimated under Dubya"?

According to Brennan the "Islamic State" was around 700 at the time of the surge in Iraq.

The problem is ISIS was not ISIS at that time.

But, hey, call it whatever you want.
 
The problem isn't where Obama was born, it's where he lives now.
 
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