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Tapper Grills WH Official on ISIS: Why Was There 'No Serious Action' for Months?
Mediaite ^ | 8 Aug 2014 | Josh Feldman

Posted on 08/08/2014 4:53:25 PM PDT by mandaladon

Jake Tapper grilled White House Deputy National Security Advisor Tony Blinken today over the perception that President Obama underestimated the threat of ISIS, citing in particular a quote in which Obama compared ISIS and other al-Qaeda groups to junior varsity teams wearing Lakers uniforms. ADVERTISEMENT

Tapper said that “for months and months” people had warned about the threat ISIS posed “with no action, no serious action, by the White House.” He asked, “Was the intelligence not there? Why is it only now that you’re acting?”

Blinken argued they’ve been “focused on this for well over a year,” and they had been working with Iraqis to deal with AQI and eventually ISIS before “the ISIS threat overtook the efforts that the Iraqis were making to deal with it.”

Tapper then asked, “Just how badly did President Obama underestimate the threat of ISIS?” Blinken defended Obama and said that there are groups out there, like ISIS, that are not focused on attacking the United States and so therefore are not as big a threat as core al-Qaeda would be.

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


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: iraq; iraqichristians; isis; obama
Obama was too busy fundraising and playing golf.
1 posted on 08/08/2014 4:53:25 PM PDT by mandaladon
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Why?

Indifference.


2 posted on 08/08/2014 4:54:43 PM PDT by Gene Eric (Don't be a statist!)
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Comment #3 Removed by Moderator

To: mandaladon

Incredible that they do not view ISIS as a serious threat!


4 posted on 08/08/2014 4:55:13 PM PDT by plain talk
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To: mandaladon

Someone should ask Tapper and his fellow Obama kneepad worshipers why they hardly ever mentioned ISIS in months.


5 posted on 08/08/2014 4:55:16 PM PDT by dforest
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To: Gene Eric
Why?

Any person or group who pushes Western influence OUT of a region, Team Obama supports 100%.

6 posted on 08/08/2014 4:56:16 PM PDT by CivilWarBrewing
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To: mandaladon

He had Racist, White, gun toting, Bible thumping, Christians to worry about here in the States. NO SARCASM.


7 posted on 08/08/2014 4:58:23 PM PDT by Dallas59
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To: mandaladon

Obama doesn’t care. He is only worried about the latest homosexual pro sports figure.


8 posted on 08/08/2014 5:04:24 PM PDT by Blood of Tyrants (The cure has become worse than the disease. Support an end to the WOD now.)
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To: Dallas59

change had to HAS and you’ll have it correct. The Grand Kenyan needs to keep his eye on disgusted dimokratz also.


9 posted on 08/08/2014 5:05:40 PM PDT by cherokee1 (skip the names---just kick the buttz)
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To: mandaladon

Hey now, ISIS is no big deal, they are JV right Hussein?


10 posted on 08/08/2014 5:06:51 PM PDT by Sarah Barracuda
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To: mandaladon

They were only killing Christians before. Nothing to see here folks, move along.


11 posted on 08/08/2014 5:16:49 PM PDT by markomalley (Nothing emboldens the wicked so greatly as the lack of courage on the part of the good -- Leo XIII)
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To: mandaladon
Now I wish Tapper (who, for an MSM reporter, is not bad) had asked this: Does the President now regret funding the Syrian rebels who morphed into Iraq?

Please remember a little history.

April 23, 2013, NY Times: Islamist Rebels Create Dilemma on Syria Policy

In Syria’s largest city, Aleppo, rebels aligned with Al Qaeda control the power plant, run the bakeries and head a court that applies Islamic law. Elsewhere, they have seized government oil fields, put employees back to work and now profit from the crude they produce.

Across Syria, rebel-held areas are dotted with Islamic courts staffed by lawyers and clerics, and by fighting brigades led by extremists. Even the Supreme Military Council, the umbrella rebel organization whose formation the West had hoped would sideline radical groups, is stocked with commanders who want to infuse Islamic law into a future Syrian government.

Nowhere in rebel-controlled Syria is there a secular fighting force to speak of.

This is the landscape President Obama confronts as he considers how to respond to growing evidence that Syrian officials have used chemical weapons, crossing a “red line” he had set. More than two years of violence have radicalized the armed opposition fighting the government of President Bashar al-Assad, leaving few groups that both share the political vision of the United States and have the military might to push it forward.
(The above article gives a decent overview of the character of all of the rebel forces. Yet, as you can see below, the Obama Regime decided to arm and equip them)

June 13, 2013, Yahoo News: White House: U.S. to give Syria rebels military aid after chemical attacks
In a sharp escalation of the U.S. role in Syria's bloody civil war, the White House announced late Thursday that it will provide military aid to rebels fighting to topple President Bashar al-Assad after confirming that his government used chemical weapons against the opposition.
Then we have this from 15 Sep 2013 issue of The Telegraph, Syria: nearly half rebel fighters are jihadists or hardline Islamists, says IHS Jane's report
Opposition forces battling Bashar al-Assad's regime in Syria now number around 100,000 fighters, but after more than two years of fighting they are fragmented into as many as 1,000 bands.
The new study by IHS Jane's, a defence consultancy, estimates there are around 10,000 jihadists - who would include foreign fighters - fighting for powerful factions linked to al-Qaeda..
Another 30,000 to 35,000 are hardline Islamists who share much of the outlook of the jihadists, but are focused purely on the Syrian war rather than a wider international struggle.
There are also at least a further 30,000 moderates belonging to groups that have an Islamic character, meaning only a small minority of the rebels are linked to secular or purely nationalist groups.
The stark assessment, to be published later this week, accords with the view of Western diplomats estimate that less than one third of the opposition forces are "palatable" to Britain, while American envoys put the figure even lower.
Fears that the rebellion against the Assad regime is being increasingly dominated by extremists has fuelled concerns in the West over supplying weaponry that will fall into hostile hands. These fears contributed to unease in the US and elsewhere over military intervention in Syria.
Sadly, it is patently obvious that the US Government knew who these people were before funding them, decided to fund them anyway. And from these people emerged the group formerly known as ISIL, then ISIS, and now "the Caliphate".
12 posted on 08/08/2014 5:24:32 PM PDT by markomalley (Nothing emboldens the wicked so greatly as the lack of courage on the part of the good -- Leo XIII)
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To: dforest

“Someone should ask Tapper and his fellow Obama kneepad worshipers why they hardly ever mentioned ISIS in months”.

“Someone should ask Tapper and his fellow Obama kneepad worshipers why Obama almost took us to war with Russia so he could bomb Syria in SUPPORT of ISIS, 11 short months ago


13 posted on 08/08/2014 5:30:57 PM PDT by tcrlaf (Q)
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To: tcrlaf

SSSSSSShhhh, nobody in DC wants to mention that now. But some of us have not forgotten.


14 posted on 08/08/2014 5:43:02 PM PDT by dforest
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To: mandaladon

Here we have Godless people who believe they are God. Of coarse this changes when thier on thier death bed and thats all you hear out of thier mouths. What happeneds to those who have the power to save children being beheaded by these satanists and he doent pull out the entire force of the US military and burn them to a crisp?


15 posted on 08/08/2014 7:09:30 PM PDT by ronnie raygun
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To: mandaladon
(Article) :"Tapper said that “for months and months” people had warned about the threat ISIS posed “with no action, no serious action, by the White House.”
He asked, “Was the intelligence not there? Why is it only now that you’re acting?” "

Why ,.. Obama was "the smartest guy in the room".. he didn't need any other input !

Two Bombs ??
No Balls !!
That is not what I call an effective response !!


16 posted on 08/08/2014 7:37:17 PM PDT by Tilted Irish Kilt (FUBO)
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To: markomalley

Bfl


17 posted on 08/08/2014 7:43:51 PM PDT by Reddy (B.O. stinks)
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To: tcrlaf

What size are your Putin kneepads?


18 posted on 08/08/2014 9:43:10 PM PDT by Chad_the_Impaler
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