Daesh taking advantage of Obama’s weakness: US gen.
US President Barack Obama’s weak and narrow strategy in the fight against the Daesh (ISIL) terrorist network allows the group to expand its “global footprint,” says the Pentagon’s former intelligence czar.
Retired US Army Lieutenant General Michael Flynn, who once headed the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), said Wednesday that sending limited groups of troops to Iraq would do nothing to curb the ISIL's international reach.
US Defense Secretary Ashton Carter announced Monday that the Obama administration would send 560 more American troops to Iraq to help fight the terror group, raising the total troop level to more than 4,600.
“They [Daesh] have the global strategic initiative,” Flynn told an audience at the Heritage Foundation. “I don’t care if they lose Fallujah. I don’t care if they lose Raqqah. Look at what they have been able to do globally. There is a global footprint.”
Daesh terrorists were initially trained by the CIA in Jordan in 2012 and were tasked with destabilizing the Syrian government. Today, they control swathes of land in Iraq and Syria.
In late June, the Iraqi military and popular forces liberated Fallujah, one of the first Iraqi cities that was overran by Daesh. The Syrian city of Raqqah, however, is still controlled by Daesh and is its self-proclaimed capital.
Besides Iraq and Syria, Daesh is believed to have a strong presence in countries like Libya, Yemen and Afghanistan. It has also managed to carry out terror attacks in France, Belgium, Turkey, and the US.
“The strategy they have assumed is a global strategy,” Flynn said. “And the strategy that we have taken on is a very narrow tactical strategy. They understand that weakness in our system and they fully, fully exploit it.”
Flynn, who supports presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, says Washington needs to act before it faces existential threats later in this century.
“I was asked this the other day, ‘The American public is tired,’” he said. “The American public will be tired if we lose because they will be slaves.”
The retired general, who is one of Trump’s possible vice presidential picks, took over the DIA in 2012 and was “fired” in 2014 by Obama over promoting wars against Muslims. He also served as the Pentagon’s highest intelligence officer in Afghanistan.
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