Barack Obama once famously dismissed ISIS (or ISIL if you will) as the JV:
“The analogy we use around here sometimes, and I think is accurate, is if a jayvee team puts on Lakers uniforms that doesn’t make them Kobe Bryant. I think there is a distinction between the capacity and reach of a bin Laden and a network that is actively planning major terrorist plots against the homeland versus jihadists who are engaged in various local power struggles and disputes, often sectarian.”
The White House team tried to spin the statement to no avail:
The transcript shows that the president was asked about al Qaeda-affiliated groups in Iraq, Syria and Africa, which would include ISIS, when the president made his remark about the “JV team.” That was Earnest’s point when he said the president “was not singling out” ISIS. But, as the transcript shows, Remnick followed up his initial question with a direct question about the “JV team” that “just took over Fallujah,” a reference to ISIS. On Jan. 3, the New York Times reported that “Sunni militants of Al Qaeda … members of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, or ISIS” had planted their flag over Fallujah.
The president can make the case that he wasn’t referring only to ISIS when he made his remark about a junior varsity team. But he cannot say that he “wasn’t specifically referring to ISIL,” because The New Yorker article and the transcript of the interview make it clear that the context of the president’s remark included ISIS.
Let’s go back to this:
“I’ve kept the commitments I’ve made, I told you we’d end the war in Iraq, we did..”
And this (Biden):
“I am very optimistic about — about Iraq. I mean, this could be one of the great achievements of this administration.”
And especially this:
But we’re leaving behind a sovereign, stable and self-reliant Iraq…
Iraq has suffered a series of setbacks which is a humiliation to the Obama regime strategy. Speaking of strategies, Obama even admitted that he still really doesn’t have one to deal with ISIS.
Curt reported here that ISIS now has enough cash to buy a nuclear weapon. Today we learn that they have enough uranium for a dirty bomb.
The Isis militant group has seized enough radioactive material from government facilities to suggest it has the capacity to build a large and devastating “dirty” bomb, according to Australian intelligence reports.
Isis declared its ambition to develop weapons of mass destruction in the most recent edition of its propaganda magazine Dabiq, and Indian defence officials have previously warned of the possibility the militants could acquire a nuclear weapon from Pakistan.
According to the Australian foreign minister, Julie Bishop, Nato has expressed deep concerns about the materials seized by Isis from research centres and hospitals that would normally only be available to governments.
At least someone is taking this seriously:
The threat of Isis’s radioactive and biological weapons stockpile was so severe that the Australia Group, a 40-nation bloc dedicated to ending the use of chemical weapons, held a session on the subject at its summit in Perth last week.
“This is really worrying them,” Ms Bishop said in an interview with The Australian.
Well, we can take comfort in knowing that we have the TSA protecting us. No one would be able to sneak in a bomb or anything, right?
Obama has consistently underestimated ISIS. He blamed “bad intel” despite a Congressional report warning Obama about ISIS in 2012. Obama even ordered the training of members of ISIS.
The JV team now has sufficient uranium for a dirty bomb. This has some strong Obama legacy potential. It could be, as Biden might put it, one heck of an achievement.
DrJohn has been a health care professional for more than 30 years. In addition to clinical practice he has done extensive research and has published widely with over 70 original articles and abstracts in the peer-reviewed literature. DrJohn is well known in his field and has lectured on every continent except for Antarctica. He has been married to the same wonderful lady for over 30 years and has three kids- two sons, both of whom are attorneys and one daughter on her way into the field of education.
DrJohn was brought up with the concept that one can do well if one is prepared to work hard but nothing in life is guaranteed.
Except for liberals being foolish.