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Breaking on Capitol Hill is the news that Iraqi officials began requesting almost a year ago for the US to carry out drone strikes against ISIS – but the requests were shot down by the White House. That stunning revelation came during a hearing on the situation in Iraq this morning.
The Hill reports:
During a hearing on the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, House Foreign Affairs Chairman Ed Royce (R-Calif.) said the administration knew six months ago that the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS or ISIL) had established armed camps, staging areas and training grounds in Iraq’s western desert and its leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was threatening to attack the U.S.
“However, what the Administration did not say was that the Iraqi government had been urgently requesting drone strikes against ISIS camps since August 2013,” Royce continued.
“These repeated requests, unfortunately, were turned down,” he said. “I added my voice for drone strikes as ISIS convoys raced across the desert.”
The New York Times previously reported that in May 2014 Prime Minister Maliki had “secretly asked the Obama administration to consider carrying out airstrikes against extremist staging areas” and that “Iraq’s appeals for a military response have so far been rebuffed by the White House, which has been reluctant to open a new chapter in a conflict that President Obama has insisted was over when the United States withdrew the last of its forces from Iraq in 2011.”
But the fact that Iraqis have been begging for nearly a year for the US to strike ISIS with drones – and that those requests were repeatedly denied by Obama – was not previously known.
Obama regularly authorizes drone strikes against terrorist targets in Pakistan, Yemen and the Horn of Africa. The White House even boasted that the president personally approves the “kill lists” himself.
Why on earth would he refuse to do the same in Iraq? Was he hoping the problem would just go away?
This places culpability for the current fiasco in Iraq squarely on Obama’s shoulders. We already knew that the rise of ISIS was made possible by Obama’s decision to withdraw all American forces from Iraq, against the advice of his military commanders. But now we know that as ISIS was preparing its current offensive, Obama was warned of the coming danger–and refused Iraqi requests to strike ISIS before they recaptured American-liberated cities across Iraq.
The incompetence of this administration is simply mind-boggling.
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US troops were withdrawn from Iraq under a Bush-signed deal. I hope the USA stays out and for good. We burdened productive US cutizens for $3 trillion worth of outlays and incurred liabilities in Iraq and for what?
Utopia and fantasy dreams are expensive in real life.
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Joe B. you really think what happens in Iraq, or anywhere else in the world, stays there? Really? 9/11 ring a bell? And for the record, the Bush deal was not for ALL US troops/intelligence personnel to be pulled leaving a vacuum of power and no US ability to gather intelligence – Obama’s “brilliance” with foreign policy, or lack thereof, has made sure it was all for not – Now, we learn Obama ignored warnings regarding ISIS and the Iraqis’ requests for drone strikes, in fact, Obama said ISIS was “not a major threat” – tell that to the thousands who have been brutally murdered by ISIS and the Christians now displaced from their homes and facing persecution. Fundamental change? Just not for the better – we are witnessing the fruits of appeasement while many continue to suffer or die because of Obama’s so-called “fundamental change” – God help us!
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9.11 was a airline hijacking by 21 Saudi Arabians and one Egyptian. Better airline security has solved that problem.
Permanent occupations of anarchic crapholes like Iraq and Afghanistan is fantastically expensive—who pays the onerous federal taxes? Rich people say they are overtaxed.
Throwing money at the problem through the federal government has not worked.
I do feel guilty about one thing: Iraq was not anarchic before the US invasion. And I am saying we should stay out. We broke it and we do not fix it. But, as a sovereign nation under Maliki, they told us to leave.
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President Obama went to Congress to get approval to go into Syria to fight ISIS. Republicans failed again! Apparently the author of this post isn’t able to pull up the YouTube video of President Obama on the 30th or 31st of august when he asked Congress for the approval. How embarrassing for you to get the story all wrong and backwards!
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John Evans, Obama went to Congress to topple Assad for the Saudis not to fight ISIS. Getting the story wrong is a little hypocritical. Going to Congress was a way to break the cycle of being Saudi Arabia’s mercenaries.
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John Evans – Didn’t you hear? Congress wasn’t in session on August 30-31. They were on vacation. Did Obama ask them to come back to solve the problem? Nope. BTW, since Obama knew about ISIS since last year, why did he bury his head and state that ISIS was not a threat?
I still say he’s standing with the Muslim Jihadists instead of the American people. Why else would the boarder be inundated by the ILLEGAL immigrants; half of which were OLDER than the pre-puberty children the Democrats want you you believe, and the other half drug cartel/gang members, and let’s not forget the prayer rugs found in the desert. They are here and just waiting for the right moment.
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