EBL: National Public Radio blames Barack Obama for the rise of ISIS and the fall of Ramadi?

Saturday, May 30, 2015

National Public Radio blames Barack Obama for the rise of ISIS and the fall of Ramadi?

No, of course NPR would never criticize President Obama, Barack Obama is not even mentioned in this article. Still this story is amazing for NPR (and you should listen to the whole thing) because the blame for ISIS's rise and collapse of Ramadi in Iraq cannot be blamed on anyone but Barack Obama and his Administration's policies of abandoning Iraq to Iran.

Journalist Ayman Oghanna with Iraqi Gen.Fadhil Barwari

Scott Simon: U.S. Secretary of Defense [Ash] Carter said last weekend that Iraqi forces in Ramadi ... had "no will to fight." Was that your impression?Ayman Oghanna: No, that's totally false. The unit I was embedded with, the Golden Division, were Iraq special forces, and they were the most capable, disciplined military organization in the history of the modern Iraqi state. And in many ways they were failed perhaps more by America's strategy than by their own will to fight. ...
When the so-called Islamic State had its offensive through Iraq last year, the regular Iraqi army and police crumbed and melted away. In their place, the only effective fighting force, and the fighting force that was closest to the United States, was the Golden Division and ISOF, Iraqi Special Forces, set up by the U.S. Special Forces.
But you have to understand that a Special Forces unit is meant to do certain things. They are guys you want to use for precision offensive operations, like, you know, helicoptering into Syria and taking some guy out. But since the Iraqi army crumbled they were basically forced to do the job of the entire military. And that included being spread very thinly over a huge area, holding defensive positions against ISIS. When I was on the ground with them they complained about a lack of U.S. air strikes. And when I was there I did not see many air strikes.

This exchange in particular between Scott Simon and embedded journalist (in Iraqi special force unit) Ayman Oghanna is telling:

You're probably familiar enough with the U.S. policy debate to know that for a lot of Americans, priority No. 1. is, "No American boots on the ground."Why?
Well, because a lot of Americans feel that enough Americans have died for Iraq already.Died for what?
I think a lot of American servicemen and their families who lost lives and comrades in Iraq are feeling pretty disappointed that we're pulling out and almost letting them die in vain by not following through.
I mean, make no mistake, we are at war with the so-called Islamic State. Even if you don't think so, the Islamic State thinks that it's at war with us. And it wants to strike us everywhere it can. Inside America, inside Europe. And so we either fight them in Syria and Iraq, or we fight them somewhere else.