This morning CIA Director John Brennan gave the Senate Intelligence Committee his assessment on how we are doing in the fight against ISIS.
In the beginning he explains how the anti-ISIS coalition is doing against ISIS on the battlefield:
Several notable indicators are trending in the right direction. ISIL has lost large stretches of territory in both Syria and Iraq. Its finance and media operations have been squeezed. And it has struggled to replenish its ranks of fighters, in part because fewer foreign fighters are traveling to Syria. Moreover, some reports suggest that a growing number of ISIL members are becoming disillusioned with the group and are eager to follow in the footsteps of members who have already defected.
The anti-ISIL Coalition is taking steps to exploit these vulnerabilities. In addition to efforts underway to liberate cities like Fallujah and Manbij, the Coalition is also removing ISIL leaders from the battlefield, thereby reducing the group’s capabilities and its will to fight. Last month, for example, a US airstrike killed an influential ISIL leader in Al Anbar.
ISIL, however, is a formidable, resilient, and largely cohesive enemy, and we anticipate that the group will adjust its strategy and tactics in an effort to regain momentum.
But then he says despite all this, they aren’t making a dent in ISIS ability to commit terrorist attacks around the world, indicating Obama and his coalition would have to do much, much more to stop them:
Despite all our progress against ISIL on the battlefield and in the financial realm, our efforts have not reduced the group’s terrorism capability and global reach. The resources needed for terrorism are very modest, and the group would have to suffer even heavier losses of territory, manpower, and money for its terrorist capacity to decline significantly.
Moreover, the group’s foreign branches and global networks can help preserve its capacity for terrorism regardless of events in Iraq and Syria. In fact, as the pressure mounts on ISIL, we judge that it will intensify its global terror campaign to maintain its dominance of the global terrorism agenda.
Of course, Obama has never taken ISIS seriously. He helped create them when he was warned not to support them in 2012, and he’s done nothing to really stop them and their campaign of terror around the globe. Oh, and let’s not forget he compared them to a junior varsity team in 2014.
Brennan also points out that ISIS has moved into Libya and that has become their most advanced and dangerous part of its global network:
ISIL is gradually cultivating its global network of branches into a more interconnected organization. The branch in Libya is probably the most developed and the most dangerous. We assess that it is trying to increase its influence in Africa and to plot attacks in the region and in Europe.
Meanwhile, ISIL’s Sinai branch has established itself as the most active and capable terrorist group in Egypt. The branch focuses its attacks on Egyptian military and government targets, but it has also targeted foreigners and tourists, as we saw with the downing of a Russian passenger jet last October.
Obama and Hillary took out Qaddafi 5 years ago and now look at it. Now Libya is the most dangerous satellite location for ISIS as they try to grow in Africa and plan terrorist attacks against Europe and the West.
And this is not to mention Obama’s horrible nuclear deal with Iran last year.
I think it’s pretty clear now that Obama not only has blood on his hands for all the lives lost at the hands of ISIS, but is the absolute worst president in American history. And yet he still gets a free pass from the media that refuses to hold him accountable like they did his predecessor.
You can read the full statement by Brennan here.