I highly respect Obama for, at least, admitting American contribution in the creation of ISIS. However, the buck shouldn't stop there. First mistake Obama made was saying that "we should look to the future instead of the past" back in 2009. He never brought Bush administration to justice for their war atrocities. Well, we can see what those actions did to the current world.
On top of that, Obama repeated Bush era's mistake by bombing Libya with American allies, & we can see how wonderfully democratic the country has become, & now helping Saudi coalition, with its British & French allies, in creating another humanitarian crisis &, perhaps, radicalization of Yemeni youths. Obama is clearly not learning from past Presidents' mistakes in bombing other countries to smithereens & then not investing in the development of those countries. Cases in point: Afghanistan, Iraq & Libya.
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President Barack Obama traced the origins of Islamic State militants back to the presidency of George W. Bush & the invasion of Iraq back in 2003, arguing that its growth was an “unintended consequence” of the war.
In an interview with Vice News, President Obama said the rise of Islamic State (IS, also known as ISIS/ISIL) can be directly linked to America’s excursion into Iraq under Bush.
“Two things: One is, ISIL is a direct outgrowth of Al-Qaeda in Iraq that grew out of our invasion,” Obama said in an interview with VICE News. “Which is an example of unintended consequences. Which is why we should generally aim before we shoot.”
Obama stated that he is “confident” a coalition consisting of 60 nations “will slowly push back ISIL out of Iraq,” but added that the challenge of stopping extremism won’t stop unless there is a political solution to the internal strife affecting so many countries in the Middle East.
“What I’m worried about” he said, “is even if ISIL is defeated, the underlying problem of disaffected Sunnis around the world – but particularly in some of these areas including Libya, including Yemen – where a young man who’s growing up has no education, has no prospects for the future, is looking around & the one way he can get validation, power, respect, is if he’s a fighter."
“That’s a problem we’re going to have, generally. And we can’t keep on thinking about counterterrorism & security as entirely separate from diplomacy, development, education.”
The president dismissed concerns that the US spends too much on foreign aid, noting that just over 1% of the federal budget goes to other nations. He argued that “we should be thinking about making investments” overseas that will prevent America from sending troops to engage in military operations.
Obama’s comments regarding ISIS mark the first time he has framed the extremist group’s existence as a consequence of American foreign policy decisions. The president’s opponents have often argued that his withdrawal of US troops from Iraq in 2011 left space for groups like ISIS to grow. At the same time, the Shia-dominated central government of Iraq failed to effectively bring the country’s Sunni minority into the governing process, leaving ISIS with a disaffected ethnic group more willing to join its cause.
On top of that, Obama repeated Bush era's mistake by bombing Libya with American allies, & we can see how wonderfully democratic the country has become, & now helping Saudi coalition, with its British & French allies, in creating another humanitarian crisis &, perhaps, radicalization of Yemeni youths. Obama is clearly not learning from past Presidents' mistakes in bombing other countries to smithereens & then not investing in the development of those countries. Cases in point: Afghanistan, Iraq & Libya.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
President Barack Obama traced the origins of Islamic State militants back to the presidency of George W. Bush & the invasion of Iraq back in 2003, arguing that its growth was an “unintended consequence” of the war.
In an interview with Vice News, President Obama said the rise of Islamic State (IS, also known as ISIS/ISIL) can be directly linked to America’s excursion into Iraq under Bush.
“Two things: One is, ISIL is a direct outgrowth of Al-Qaeda in Iraq that grew out of our invasion,” Obama said in an interview with VICE News. “Which is an example of unintended consequences. Which is why we should generally aim before we shoot.”
Obama stated that he is “confident” a coalition consisting of 60 nations “will slowly push back ISIL out of Iraq,” but added that the challenge of stopping extremism won’t stop unless there is a political solution to the internal strife affecting so many countries in the Middle East.
“What I’m worried about” he said, “is even if ISIL is defeated, the underlying problem of disaffected Sunnis around the world – but particularly in some of these areas including Libya, including Yemen – where a young man who’s growing up has no education, has no prospects for the future, is looking around & the one way he can get validation, power, respect, is if he’s a fighter."
“That’s a problem we’re going to have, generally. And we can’t keep on thinking about counterterrorism & security as entirely separate from diplomacy, development, education.”
The president dismissed concerns that the US spends too much on foreign aid, noting that just over 1% of the federal budget goes to other nations. He argued that “we should be thinking about making investments” overseas that will prevent America from sending troops to engage in military operations.
Obama’s comments regarding ISIS mark the first time he has framed the extremist group’s existence as a consequence of American foreign policy decisions. The president’s opponents have often argued that his withdrawal of US troops from Iraq in 2011 left space for groups like ISIS to grow. At the same time, the Shia-dominated central government of Iraq failed to effectively bring the country’s Sunni minority into the governing process, leaving ISIS with a disaffected ethnic group more willing to join its cause.
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