Obama Says U.S. Intelligence Underestimated Islamic State threat

[UncleBeer 244]

There is zero evidence that Obama is anti-American and there is zero evidence that he is intent on 'breaking stuff'.

He sympathizes with our enemies, apologizing for our "crimes", going so far as to release war criminals and terrorists in exchange for deserters. That's just the beginning. Keystone pipeline: name one good reason for not approving it. Not enforcing immigration law: aside from the fact it's an impeachable offense, what possible purpose could it serve than to undermine the laws of the US? Give me a reason. $7 trillion in new debt, while having bragged that he was going to reduce the national debt; you don't think that's destructive?

This appears to be a fancy you have dreamed up, but you even lack the conviction of your own ideas by refusing to or being unable to articulate just why Obama would be so keen to destroy America.

Please just leave out the personal stuff, OK? No need for that. Debate the facts if you can.

What would Obama gain from 'fomenting racial strife,

How could he have sat in Rev. Wright's church for 20 years and not heard any offensive racist stuff? There's the very real possibility the man's been brainwashed. Skip Gray, Trayvon, Ferguson: the guy's hardly been unbiased.

making profitability unaffordable', whatever the latter may mean?

Punishing the successful. It's what he's all about. The antithesis of the Founders' intent.

[spookyturtle 9,466]

He sympathizes with our enemies, apologizing for our "crimes", going so far as to release war criminals and terrorists in exchange for deserters. That's just the beginning. Keystone pipeline: name one good reason for not approving it. Not enforcing immigration law: aside from the fact it's an impeachable offense, what possible purpose could it serve than to undermine the laws of the US? Give me a reason. $7 trillion in new debt, while having bragged that he was going to reduce the national debt; you don't think that's destructive?

Please just leave out the personal stuff, OK? No need for that. Debate the facts if you can.

How could he have sat in Rev. Wright's church for 20 years and not heard any offensive racist stuff? There's the very real possibility the man's been brainwashed. Skip Gray, Trayvon, Ferguson: the guy's hardly been unbiased.

Punishing the successful. It's what he's all about. The antithesis of the Founders' intent.

Why doesn't your party impeach him? Then you'd have to come up with something else to continue your agenda.

[Curmudgeon 227]

He sympathizes with our enemies, apologizing for our "crimes", going so far as to release war criminals and terrorists in exchange for deserters. That's just the beginning. Keystone pipeline: name one good reason for not approving it. Not enforcing immigration law: aside from the fact it's an impeachable offense, what possible purpose could it serve than to undermine the laws of the US? Give me a reason. $7 trillion in new debt, while having bragged that he was going to reduce the national debt; you don't think that's destructive?

Please just leave out the personal stuff, OK? No need for that. Debate the facts if you can.

How could he have sat in Rev. Wright's church for 20 years and not heard any offensive racist stuff? There's the very real possibility the man's been brainwashed. Skip Gray, Trayvon, Ferguson: the guy's hardly been unbiased.

Punishing the successful. It's what he's all about. The antithesis of the Founders' intent.

Nah, your theories are untenable. Thanks all the same, but I'll stick with things that are plausible based on the evidence. Obama does not sympathize with US enemies, he hasn't done anything radically different from the last president and the several before that, in short, you seem to be seeing things that just aren't there. Has he made mistakes? Absolutely, but did he do so deliberately to sabotage the USA? Ridiculous.

Calling your ideas fanciful is not a personal comment, you can test that theory out if you want to.

[UncleBeer 244]

Why doesn't your party impeach him?

What exactly is "my party"? You don't have a clue who I vote for.

Nah, your theories are untenable. Thanks all the same, but I'll stick with things that are plausible based on the evidence.

A matter of opinion, or maybe even "faith based" for you, since you've done nothing to prove the opposite.

[spookyturtle 9,466]

What exactly is "my party"? You don't have a clue who I vote for.

You're a Libertarian, but you need the Republican's to accomplish what you want since your party really doesn't have any clout.

[DavenRoxy 1,073]

Nah, your theories are untenable. Thanks all the same, but I'll stick with things that are plausible based on the evidence. Obama does not sympathize with US enemies, he hasn't done anything radically different from the last president and the several before that, in short, you seem to be seeing things that just aren't there. Has he made mistakes? Absolutely, but did he do so deliberately to sabotage the USA? Ridiculous.

Calling your ideas fanciful is not a personal comment, you can test that theory out if you want to.

Actually, you are quite wrong an UB has posted some good, accurate examples of how Obama has done more harm than good to the US.

Let's turn this around. Why don't you post three or four positive things he has done for the USA?

[Curmudgeon 227]

What exactly is "my party"? You don't have a clue who I vote for.

A matter of opinion, or maybe even "faith based" for you, since you've done nothing to prove the opposite.

I don't need to produce proof to counteract a claim that is untenable. Take your claim that Obama sympathizes with the enemies of Obama as an example. Anyone can put forward that as an idea, but the person making that claim is the one that needs to provide credible evidence. The default position (IE what is tenable) is that the US president (whoever the incumbent happens to be) is not going to sympathize with the enemies of the USA, that's a self evident truth. If you want to make that claim you need to produce some credible evidence that not only is it possible that a US president would sympathize with its enemies, you need to provide concrete proof of actions that were taken in the capacity of president that demonstrate this sympathy. The failure to detect a terrorist threat in Bengazi isn't credible evidence of your claim, just in case you thought that was going to be your go to evidence. What that might be evidence of is a failure within US intelligence, but that's highly unlikely. The most plausible explanation is that the attack was opportunistic. So, go for it, produce your evidence.

[Curmudgeon 227]

Actually, you are quite wrong an UB has posted some good, accurate examples of how Obama has done more harm than good to the US.

Let's turn this around. Why don't you post three or four positive things he has done for the USA?

Actually, that's not what is being argued. What is being argued is that Obama, unlike all previous presidents, has deliberately set out to harm the US in various ways. As I am not arguing the point as to what Obama has or hasn't achieved your contribution is irrelevant.

[DavenRoxy 1,073]

So, go for it, produce your evidence.

Well, for starters on the apologizing for America's actions topic....

http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2009/06/barack-obamas-top-10-apologies-how-the-president-has-humiliated-a-superpower

(BTW, isn't Gitmo still open??)

Actually, that's not what is being argued. What is being argued is that Obama, unlike all previous presidents, has deliberately set out to harm the US in various ways. As I am not arguing the point as to what Obama has or hasn't achieved your contribution is irrelevant.

You seem to take pleasure in defending him (rhetorically and without basis, of course)

I see even you cannot come up with. Few positive things he has done. Thank you for proving my point.

[Curmudgeon 227]

Well, for starters on the apologizing for America's actions topic....

http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2009/06/barack-obamas-top-10-apologies-how-the-president-has-humiliated-a-superpower

(BTW, isn't Gitmo still open??)

You seem to take pleasure in defending him (rhetorically and without basis, of course)

I see even you cannot come up with. Few positive things he has done. Thank you for proving my point.

I haven't contributed to your point in any way. It's not relevant. What a waste of time. No, that is not evidence that Obama has his heart set on destroying America. This is so absurd. Why do you even bother to take part in the democratic process? Surely what you need to do is get together and take back America by force of arms if this truly how you perceive the US president? In fact, by not doing so you are guilty of colluding with the axis of Evil that is Obama. What a conundrum that faces you and those who think like this?

Edited September 29, 2014 by Curmudgeon

[DavenRoxy 1,073]

I haven't contributed to your point in any way. It's not relevant. What a waste of time. No, that is not evidence that Obama has his heart set on destroying America. This is so absurd. Why do you even bother to take part in the democratic process? Surely what you need to do is get together and take back America by force of arms if this truly how you perceive the US president. In fact, by not doing so you are guilty of colluding with the axis of Evil that is Obama.

I thought so. You want to act like you are all pro-Obama, defending him, and trying to denigrate those who show (with facts and links) that he is one of the worst and most dishonest presidents I can recall. Yet you can't come up with less than a handful of positive things he has done for this country. You should shut up while you are ahead.

He's had his chances, and failed. Time for him to move on.

[Curmudgeon 227]

I thought so. You want to act like you are all pro-Obama, defending him, and trying to denigrate those who show (with facts and links) that he is one of the worst and most dishonest presidents I can recall. Yet you can't come up with less than a handful of positive things he has done for this country. You should shut up while you are ahead.

He's had his chances, and failed. Time for him to move on.

I am not acting like anything and I am not defending Obama. I have asked for proof that there is an agenda behind the Obama presidency from a person who has put forward a theory that there is one You have misunderstood the argument. I am not going to defend a position I don't hold,but thanks all the same for your contribution, again. BTW, the president has a fixed term. He'll move on like all presidents before him have done, when that term is completed.

[LibCampFireClub 635]

This Steve Croft interview was a lot tougher than previous encounters. But damn the prez gets frantic and frigidity when thrown anything other than a softball. He's walking the plank now only because he chose to walk it.

Obama: U.S. underestimated rise of ISIS in Iraq and Syria

The U.S. had expected the Iraqi army to do more against extremists, president says in acknowledgment of intelligence shortcomings

President Obama acknowledged that the U.S. underestimated the rise of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS, also called ISIL) and overestimated the ability of the Iraqi military to fend off the militant group in an interview that will air Sunday on 60 Minutes.

The president was asked by 60 Minutes correspondent Steve Kroft about comments from Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, who has said the U.S. not only underestimated ISIS, it also overestimated the ability and will of the Iraqi military to fight the extremist group.

"That's true," Mr. Obama said. "That's absolutely true."

"Jim Clappper has acknowledged that I think they underestimated what had been taking place in Syria," he said, blaming the instability of the Syrian civil war for giving extremists space to thrive.

The comments were among the president's most candid to date about the rapid rise of the terrorist group that has ransacked much of Syria and Iraq in recent months.

"Essentially what happened with ISIL was that you had al Qaeda in Iraq, which was a vicious group, but our Marines were able to quash with the help of Sunni tribes," he explained. "They went back underground, but over the past couple of years, during the chaos of the Syrian civil war, where essentially you had huge swaths of the country that are completely ungoverned, they were able to reconstitute themselves and take advantage of that chaos."

The group was able to "attract foreign fighters who believed in their jihadist nonsense and traveled everywhere from Europe to the United States to Australia to other parts of the Muslim world, converging on Syria," the president said. "And so this became ground zero for jihadists around the world."

He said their recruitment has been aided by a "very savvy" social media campaign. He also blamed remnants of former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein's military, which were expunged from the Iraqi military after Hussein's fall, for lending some "traditional military capacity" to the terrorist group.

"That's why it's so important for us to recognize part of the solution here is gonna be military," he said. "We just have to push them back, and shrink their space, and go after their command and control, and their capacity, and their weapons, and their fueling, and cut off their financing, and work to eliminate the flow of foreign fighters."

The U.S. has been launching air strikes at ISIS targets in Iraq for weeks, and the administration expanded that campaign to include targets in Syria this week. The president also sought and received congressional authorization to equip and train moderate Syrian rebel groups to take the fight to ISIS on the ground.

But as he has before, the president said that a lasting peace can only be secured with a political solution.

"What we also have to do is we have to come up with political solutions in Iraq and Syria, in particular, but in the Middle East generally that arrive in the combination between Sunni and Shia populations that right now are the biggest cause of conflict, not just in the Middle East, but in the world."

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/obama-u-s-underestimated-rise-of-isis-in-iraq-and-syria/

Edited September 29, 2014 by ExExpat

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

All of you who supported the Iraq war back in 2003 - IS is why that was a bad idea. Who knew that running around the middle east like a bull in a China shop was a stupid, stupid idea?

Well done for that one guys

[The Nature Boy 4,224]

You should know it was not Obama's fault. Ignore your national security briefings, play golf, blame it on someone else. Party on Wayne

The Deniers are in Mourning