US claim on fighting terrorism delusional: Commentator

Press TV has interviewed Gordon Duff, a senior editor with the Veterans Today from Ohio, about remarks made by US President Barack Obama on the seriousness of the American authorities in fighting the Daesh Takfiri terrorist group.

The following is a rough transcription of the interview.

Press TV: Why did Obama fail to mention all the other countries and factions that have been fighting ISIL in his speech and that many sacrifices that they suffer on the ground fighting this Takfiri group, it seemed that he did a bit of grandstanding as if the US is handling this battle alone?

Duff: The interesting thing I think he also overlooked is that the US trained many of the people that we're fighting now as ISIL or ISIS or 50 other groups because they can rename themselves overnight. More appropriately as you begin to look at the US effort calling the terrorists they're all being paid by someone most of the mercenaries, they’re recruited around the world, they're fighting with typically not just American weapons by advanced American weapons some of them built only months ago and smuggled around the world through Saudi Arabia, Ukraine through Turkey.

These terrorist mercenaries, we've tracked down, are moving around the world on aircraft where no one can get an aircraft certainly not an Islamic male traveling by himself or with friends unless they say, “Well, I'm a mercenary, I’m working for the CIA.” How did they get there from Indonesia, from the Philippines? What are they asking us to believe? There's a certain amount of insanity in this. And then, the idea that he had the audacity to criticize Russia or Syria when the US every time the US uses a weapon and they did this for years with the drone attacks, they typically try to punish civilian populations. It's been a long American tradition.

The Russians and the Syrians are fighting the war, volunteers from Iran are fighting the war, the Iraqi army is down and fighting this war with all their heart, and everyone else including the United States. We aren't so clear what side they're actually on. The US is giving far more support for the other side. So, his idea of that being a war on terrorism much less talking about lone wolves whoever they are. The whole talk was delusional.

Press TV: And we don’t want to forget the Kurds fighting against them to, also the national unity government over in Libya fighting them in Sirte. Can you mention Russia and then the way he blasted Russia. He kind of said that Russia’s fight against Daesh is somewhat lackluster but many have said the same thing about the US as being an effective in its aerial campaign, your thoughts about the efficiency and the success of the US air campaign against Daesh.

Duff:  Not to denigrate the military power of Russia but the United States has 30 times as many combat aircraft as Russia has but we have only 25 percent of the planes operating in the entire Middle East that Russia has of what they have. The US also has thousands even rumored to be tens of thousands of combat drones which could watch every road, every intersection, every terrorist vehicle in the entire Middle East, could destroy all of it from the comfort of Ramstein Air Force Base or secret bases in Nevada and Arizona.

Instead where are all of those American spy drones, those combat drones? Where are the hundreds and thousands of American combat aircraft that were there to fight Saddam or that were there well to bomb the people of Afghanistan? They’re certainly not there to attack ISIS not with five or six sorties a day for an effort where the American-backed Kurdish forces have been stalled for now week after week after week ... And they haven't advanced a block while the Russians and the Syrian army are moving against sixty, eighty, a hundred thousand fresh mercenaries being brought through Turkey and having tremendous success and the US says it's fighting a war that's absurd.

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