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Obama Should Have Seen Iraq Unrest Coming, Experts Say
NBC News ^ | June 17, 2014 | Perry Bacon Jr.

Posted on 06/17/2014 5:15:39 AM PDT by Rennes Templar

Lawmakers from both parties and even some non-partisan analysts say the Obama administration should have better anticipated the rise of Sunni militants, who captured Iraq’s second-largest city last week and could pose a terrorism threat both within and outside the country’s borders.

With U.S. officials now scrambling to respond to the advances by The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, the insurgent group that seized Mosul last week, some critics say there was either a failure by U.S. intelligence officials in assessing the strength of ISIS or Obama and his policy team didn’t react quickly enough.

“It was very clear to people how bad these guys are,” Michael Leiter, a former top counterterrorism official in both the Bush and Obama administrations, said in an interview. “I don’t know if this was a tactical error or an intelligence error.”

Any question about the group's capabilities or intentions should have been answered when the militants took Fallujah in January, Leiter said.

“I think our intelligence has failed us miserably, from not being aware of the threat that we've faced and how this could unfold as quickly as it has. This has been planned for quite some time,” Sen. Joe Manchin, a Democrat from West Virginia, said on NBC’s Meet The Press Sunday. “My first thing to recommend to the president is get your intelligence group back on track, making sure that we have the intel that we need for whatever options we have, that are going to be accurate.”

The administration has argued that it had been monitoring the situation closely.

“We have been very aware and have discussed here and in other venues the challenge posed by the war in Syria, and the extremist activity there...", White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said at a press briefing.

(Excerpt) Read more at nbcnews.com ...


TOPICS: Extended News; Front Page News; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: bho44; iraq
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To: Rennes Templar

Per the title. “Should” is the most useless word in the english language.


21 posted on 06/17/2014 5:55:58 AM PDT by murrie (Mark Levin: Prosecuting stupidity nightly.)
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To: Rennes Templar

Obama was probably on vacation and missed the hundreds of emails warning him that Iraq militants began their buildup the very day he announced a complete troop withdrawal against all experts advice. He probably had a beer with the terrorist leader the day he released him from prison.


22 posted on 06/17/2014 5:59:38 AM PDT by 1Old Pro
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To: Rennes Templar

So she existed inside a bubble raised by people who no doubt had liberal guilt. Wow. And now she’s running our country.


23 posted on 06/17/2014 6:08:00 AM PDT by Mercat
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To: Rennes Templar
Incompetence or part of the plan?


24 posted on 06/17/2014 6:09:00 AM PDT by Iron Munro (The Obamas' Black skin has morphed into Teflon thanks to the Obama Media)
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To: Rennes Templar

Turnabout is fair play. The left said the same thing about Bush ... they refuse to apply the same standards to their chosen one.


25 posted on 06/17/2014 6:17:01 AM PDT by al_c (Obama's standing in the world has fallen so much that Kenya now claims he was born in America.)
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To: Rennes Templar


26 posted on 06/17/2014 6:21:51 AM PDT by Iron Munro (The Obamas' Black skin has morphed into Teflon thanks to the Obama Media)
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To: Gaffer

It’s hard to keep up with current events when he’s out on some golf course chasing a little white ball. All payed for by us, the US taxpayers. Basically, he doesn’t give a sh@*.


27 posted on 06/17/2014 6:23:45 AM PDT by NCC-1701 (You have your fear, which might become reality; and you have Godzilla, which IS reality.)
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To: Rennes Templar

Shoulda, coulda, woulda, heck no, he is not on our side.


28 posted on 06/17/2014 6:31:28 AM PDT by bergmeid
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To: Rennes Templar

Normalcy Bias kills.


29 posted on 06/17/2014 6:37:26 AM PDT by TADSLOS (The Event Horizon has come and gone. Buckle up and hang on.)
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To: Rennes Templar

Obama saw it coming because he caused it by intentionally creating the vacuum that made it possible.


30 posted on 06/17/2014 6:39:17 AM PDT by plain talk
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To: Opinionated Blowhard

“How did this story get bast the NBC editors?”

They have to show some semblance of being in touch with reality.


31 posted on 06/17/2014 6:49:43 AM PDT by Rennes Templar (If Obama hated America and wanted to destroy her, what would he do differently?)
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To: Rennes Templar

“Fellow islamists....”


32 posted on 06/17/2014 6:52:02 AM PDT by onedoug
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To: Rennes Templar

How the hell did she get to be in the 0bama fold?


33 posted on 06/17/2014 7:17:56 AM PDT by TribalPrincess2U (0bama's agenda—Divide and conquer seems to be working.)
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To: TribalPrincess2U

“How the hell did she get to be in the 0bama fold?”

In a word: Chicago


34 posted on 06/17/2014 7:25:59 AM PDT by Rennes Templar (If Obama hated America and wanted to destroy her, what would he do differently?)
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To: Rennes Templar

It is clear that Obama wants Iraq to fail, after all, it’s Bush’s war.

After announcing that there would be “no boots on the ground”, Obama reversed course the next day. I imagine the conversation went like this:

“Mr. President, we have some people there at our embassy that need protecting, if they are overrun and killed, this will reflect badly on you”.

Obama-”Well, if you are saying we need a few boots on the ground to accomplish this, then ok, but I want the minimum to protect these people, not enough of a force to actually repel the Islamists. How many would that be?”

“Dude, I would say around....4 to 5 hundred?”

Obama-”Then send in 300-no, make it 275, more precise, sounds like we know what we’re doing.”


35 posted on 06/17/2014 7:27:36 AM PDT by wayoverontheright
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To: wayoverontheright

Exactly.


36 posted on 06/17/2014 7:38:47 AM PDT by Rennes Templar (If Obama hated America and wanted to destroy her, what would he do differently?)
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To: Rennes Templar

Obama is behind it.


37 posted on 06/17/2014 7:45:01 AM PDT by <1/1,000,000th%
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To: 1Old Pro
Obama was probably on vacation and missed the hundreds of emails warning him that Iraq militants began their buildup the very day he announced a complete troop withdrawal against all experts advice. He probably had a beer with the terrorist leader the day he released him from prison.

Maybe they had a computer crash, and lost all those e mails. Well, if the IRS can use that excuse, why not the White Hut? Anyway, that is their story, and they are sticking with it. Oh yes, I forgot to mention. It's Bush's fault, and they sticking with that one too.

38 posted on 06/17/2014 10:28:58 AM PDT by Mark17 ( Rudyard Kipling: it is unhealthy, for evil doers, to awaken the sleeping Saxon, and torque his jaws)
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To: Rennes Templar

LOL! Are these people THAT stupid? 0bama is behind this Islamist takeover of Iraq. Notice how quickly he had to release 5 bad guys from Gitmo right before the Iraq thing blew up.


39 posted on 06/17/2014 4:22:54 PM PDT by Obama_Is_Sabotaging_America
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To: Rennes Templar

The number of people in our gov’t and military helping team Obama expand the Islamic Caliphate is scary as hell. Working to ensure terrorists eventually kill us all and overtake America just to keep their paychecks coming? WTF?


40 posted on 06/17/2014 5:18:42 PM PDT by Obama_Is_Sabotaging_America
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