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Iraqi Drama Catches U.S. Off Guard (Senior U.S. Off.: Makes you want to kill yourself)
The Wall Street Journal ^ | Thursday, June 12, 2014 | Adam Entous and Julian E. Barnes

Posted on 06/12/2014 6:30:34 AM PDT by kristinn

At a closed-door gathering of Gulf states in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, in May, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel and his Arab counterparts all signaled agreement on one thing for the first time: Islamist forces seizing territory in Syria and Iraq had become a regionwide menace that can't be ignored.

What they didn't agree on was what to do about it, U.S. officials said.The fall this week of the Iraqi cities Mosul and Tikrit to the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham rebel group shows how the insurgent threat is outpacing the response and posing a challenge to President Barack Obama's approach of limiting U.S. involvement in foreign conflicts.

The quickly unfolding drama prompted a White House meeting Wednesday of top policy makers and military leaders who were caught off guard by the swift collapse of Iraqi security forces, officials acknowledged.

State Department and Pentagon officials have long warned about ISIS's desire to create an Islamic state based in the Sunni-dominated parts of Iraq and Syria.

Now, current and former officials say Washington's options for helping the Iraqi army fight back are limited—both because the threat in Iraq is so entrenched and because the U.S. hasn't invested in building up moderate allies on the Syrian side of the border.

SNIP

Some military officials now believe ISIS is the single greatest terrorist threat the U.S. and its allies face—stronger than the al Qaeda affiliates in Yemen or Africa and far more powerful than al Qaeda's central leadership in Pakistan. Other senior U.S. officials say ISIS has yet to carry out any attacks directly targeting the U.S.

"It makes you want to kill yourself," a senior U.S. official said of the intelligence on ISIS, which was presented by U.S. and Gulf allies during the May meeting in Jeddah.

(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...


TOPICS: Breaking News; Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: alqaeda; bho44; bhogwot; bhosecdef; iraq; iraqmeltdown; isil; isis; leadingfrombehind; mosul; obama; secdefhagel
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To: baddog 219

“You know what.... Let the middle east just kill each other. They will never, ever stop. Tell them that they are on their own and if they decide to attack Israel or the U.S. well nuke them off the planet. And mean it.”

Maybe it’s time for the countries over there like the Saudis to get their hands dirty for once and start policing their own neighborhood.


41 posted on 06/12/2014 7:26:48 AM PDT by headstamp 2 (What would Scooby do?)
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It makes you want to kill yourself.

Ping to Mullah Baraq: take the hint

42 posted on 06/12/2014 7:28:04 AM PDT by clintonh8r (Can Juan Williams possibly be that stupid?)
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To: kristinn

Embrace le suck.


43 posted on 06/12/2014 7:30:08 AM PDT by VanDeKoik
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To: baddog 219
You know what.... Let the middle east just kill each other. They will never, ever stop. Tell them that they are on their own and if they decide to attack Israel or the U.S. well nuke them off the planet. And mean it.

I totally agree.

44 posted on 06/12/2014 7:33:56 AM PDT by concerned about politics ("Get thee behind me, Liberal")
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To: kristinn

So al-quaeda is not on the run?


45 posted on 06/12/2014 7:44:29 AM PDT by matt04
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To: kristinn

How can you catch someone “off guard” when you weren’t “on guard” to begin with?


46 posted on 06/12/2014 7:50:36 AM PDT by unixfox (Abolish Slavery, Repeal the 16th Amendment)
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To: I cannot think of a name

Our brand of democracy would never have worked in a Muslim nation.


47 posted on 06/12/2014 7:53:55 AM PDT by USAF80
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To: Corporate Democrat
On Fox yesterday--I think on Megyn Kelly's show--they played a clip of 0 saying this, and juxtaposed it to what happened in Iraq.

VERY powerful!

48 posted on 06/12/2014 7:55:08 AM PDT by milagro (There is no peace in appeasement!)
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To: dfwgator
Heckuva job CIA and NSA.

They are busy ya know. Spying on Americans, building new data centers, surfing social media. Important stuff.

49 posted on 06/12/2014 8:02:44 AM PDT by unixfox (Abolish Slavery, Repeal the 16th Amendment)
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To: unixfox

I think they rely too much on electronic means as opposed to humans on the ground.


50 posted on 06/12/2014 8:08:13 AM PDT by USAF80
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To: blueunicorn6

They are a reflection of the culture in Washington. The analysts are only as good as what their worldview allows them to see.


51 posted on 06/12/2014 8:09:13 AM PDT by redgolum ("God is dead" -- Nietzsche. "Nietzsche is dead" -- God.)
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To: kristinn

Obama’s Vietnam....


52 posted on 06/12/2014 8:15:53 AM PDT by kcvl
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To: baddog 219

Bomb Mecca and it’s over. Not kidding. That black rock sitting in that shrine down there.

Islam believes that its invincible. It can’t be brought down and never will be.

You take that out, and Islam falls.

Sounds simplistic, but there are few that understand ME Islam at its roots. These aren’t learned, sophisticated people in a religion that withstands fundamental questions about the dogma that underpins it.

In the Carribean, we took on about 300 Haitians to repatriate them back to Haiti back in 1991 or so. Maybe 1992. They started getting rowdy on the forecastle, so one of the BM2s got the ‘Oscar dummy’ we used for man overboard drills (you hoist the ‘oscar’ flag in the mast to signify to all ships you have a M.O.).

He threw it on the deck and started beating and stabbing it.

End of unrest. Period.

People in the developed world take their freedom to openly question religion for granted. It’s not done in most of the world. You buy in, and that’s it.


53 posted on 06/12/2014 8:18:21 AM PDT by RinaseaofDs (.)
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To: Redplum

your gas prices are about to go up.


54 posted on 06/12/2014 8:22:33 AM PDT by Bulwyf
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To: kristinn

"Trust me, ladies.. He's black and he can talk good and we get free condoms!" (applause)

55 posted on 06/12/2014 8:27:30 AM PDT by CivilWarBrewing
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To: kristinn

Oliver North was interviewed this morning and he said that veterans are contacting him and talking about suicide due to whats happening in Afghanistan and Iraq. The blood of these men will forever be on the hands of Obama and his minions.


56 posted on 06/12/2014 8:27:33 AM PDT by HOYA97 (twitter @hoya97)
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To: kristinn

Why is anyone shocked?

We can’t even defend our own southern border.


57 posted on 06/12/2014 8:31:36 AM PDT by Tzimisce
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To: kristinn

Barry is using his “stash” to fund this new terrorist organization.


58 posted on 06/12/2014 8:42:35 AM PDT by major1971
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To: kristinn

I’m sure the ObamaQaida-sympathetic administration will do the right thing ..

and run a Red Crescent flag up over the WH ..

and make it official.

It’s either incompetency.. or??

None Dare Call It.. Uhhhhh


59 posted on 06/12/2014 8:47:31 AM PDT by NormsRevenge (Semper Fi - Revolution is a'brewin!!!)
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To: kristinn

“It makes you want to kill yourself,” a senior U.S. official said

Don’t let me stop you, 0bama sycophant.


60 posted on 06/12/2014 8:48:27 AM PDT by Uncle Miltie (Radicalized via the Internet)
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