President Obama said administration ‘underestimated’ ISIS threat

President Obama announced Sunday that his administration “underestimated what had been taking place in Syria” and overestimated the Iraqi military’s abilities to defeat ISIS. He now says that ISIS, as well as the al-qaeda-affiliated Khorasan Group are a threat to the U.S. and an “immediate concern that has to be dealt with.”

 

Shortly after Obama made these statements, reports came out that ISIS terrorists appear to be closing in on Baghdad with the intention of overtaking the city.  The Foundation for Relief and Reconciliation in the Middle East said early Monday morning that the militants were “less than 2km away from entering Baghdad.”

 

“During the chaos of the Syrian civil war, where essentially you have huge swaths of the country that are completely ungoverned, they were able to reconstitute themselves and take advantage of that chaos,” Obama said.

The president said his director of national intelligence, James Clapper, has acknowledged that the U.S. “underestimated what had been taking place in Syria.” He also said it was “absolutely true” that the U.S. overestimated the ability and will of the Iraqi army.

“I recognize the contradiction in a contradictory land and a contradictory circumstance,” Obama said. “We are not going to stabilize Syria under the rule of Assad,” whose government has committed “terrible atrocities.”

“On the other hand, in terms of immediate threats to the United States, ISIL, Khorasan Group — those folks could kill Americans,” he said.

Fox News summarizes “Obama said his first priority is degrading the extremists who are threatening Iraq and the West.  To defeat them, he acknowledged, would require a competent local ground force, something no analyst predicts will surface any time soon in Syria, despite U.S. plans to arm and train ‘moderate’ rebels.”

“Right now, we’ve got a campaign plan that has a strong chance for success in Iraq,” the president said. “Syria is a more challenging situation.”

The President didn’t address allegations from critics who point to the arming of rebels in Syria as a key factor in the rise if ISIS, the reordering of Sunni militants and are calling for the U.S. to be more cautious in their actions.