Author Topic: Hillary Clinton: I ‘Could Not Have Predicted’ That Al Qaida Would Take Over Iraq  (Read 463 times)

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rangerrebew

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Hillary Clinton: I ‘Could Not Have Predicted’ That Al Qaida Would Take Over Iraq

Posted By Patrick Howley On 9:04 PM 06/12/2014 In | No Comments


Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton admitted that she “could not have predicted” the effectiveness of the al-Qaida-affiliated terrorist group that seized control this week of two major Iraqi cities.

The Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIS), which has pledged allegiance to al-Qaida since 2004, captured the western Iraqi cities of Tikrit and Mosul, expanding its influence across the entire Sunni-dominated western region of Iraq in addition to Syria — where it remains one of the strongest rebel factions fighting dictator Bashar al-Assad. The group, led by enigmatic terrorist Abu Bakr al Baghdadi, evolved out of al-Qaida’s Bush-era presence in Iraq, adopting a version of its current name as early as 2006.

Clinton, the Obama administration’s first Secretary of State and a presumptive 2016 presidential candidate, admitted that she underestimated ISIS in an interview Thursday with NPR’s Terry Gross at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York City.



“So this is not just a Syrian problem anymore,” Clinton said. “I never thought it was just a Syrian problem. I thought it was a regional problem. I could not have predicted, however, the extent to which ISIS could be effective in seizing cities in Iraq and trying to erase boundaries to create an Islamic state. That’s why it’s a wicked problem.”

Clinton also notably failed to classify the Islamist terrorist group Boko Haram as a terrorist group during her time at the State Department, which made it more difficult to prosecute the group that recently abducted a classroom full of Nigerian schoolgirls.

ISIS wants to create an Islamic caliphate state in Iraq and Syria, similar to the vision espoused by the late al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden. The group has been effective in riling up Sunnis in the region against Sh’ia Iraqi prime minister Nouri al-Maliki and also Shi’ia leader al-Assad in Syria. The group recently seized the Iraqi city of Fallujah, where U.S. Marines won arguably their most important Iraq War victory. ISIS hangs the black flag of al-Qaida over the cities that it conquers.

U.S. military leaders predicted as early as 2006, during a dismal period for al-Qaida and prior to Clinton’s term at the State Department, that al-Qaida would re-generate in Iraq.

 
“If the Iraqi security forces are not able to put pressure on them, they could regenerate,” said Maj. Gen. Jeffrey Buchanan in 2006.

Though Clinton claimed inability to have predicted the group’s rise, Republicans are placing the blame for ISIS squarely on the shoulders of the Obama administration, which withdrew all U.S. troops from Iraq in 2011 — while Clinton was Secretary of State — without locking down a status of forces agreement.

“Regrettably, the current administration’s failure to consummate an agreement to leave a residual force for training and counter insurgency operations has directly contributed to the deterioration in security conditions in Iraq and a deterioration in military capability,” said New Mexico Republican Senate candidate Allen Weh, a retired Marine Colonel and Iraq War veteran, in a statement provided to The Daily Caller.

“In 2008 our progress was impressive,” Weh continued. “There was no question then that this Army was on track to become the stabilizing force it was intended to be for both the country and the region.”

(h/t Joe Walsh)

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Article printed from The Daily Caller: http://dailycaller.com

URL to article: http://dailycaller.com/2014/06/12/hillary-clinton-i-could-not-have-predicted-that-al-qaida-would-take-over-iraq/


Offline rb224315

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Hillary Clinton: I ‘Could Not Have Predicted’ That Al Qaida Would Take Over Iraq

And this is precisely why you should be laughed out of town any time the term "presidential candidate" is mentioned in the same sentence as your name.  Conservatives and Republicans have said for years that this would happen.  You clearly refused to listen or consciously ignored their counsel.
rb224315:  just another "Creepy-ass Cracka".

Offline EC

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Lady, WE EFFING WELL TOLD YOU IT WOULD HAPPEN!

Words of one syllable, mostly, since the reports were prepared for moronic politicians, not competent problem solvers. I should bloody well know - I were on the working group that produced the JTA(Q) (Joint Threat Assessment(Iraq)) in 07, 08, and 09.

I have read the damned thing. Maybe you should have too. We don't risk assets, risk our people, and stick our colleagues asses in a crack to make a pretty book to shim your side table's wobbly leg. Seriously, each one is about 100 pages long. Printed in a large font too, with neat little color coding of significant threats. You can read the damned things in the time it takes to have a long bath, or to be driven from Washington to New York. There is even a super handy dandy check list of recommended actions at the back, to make picking shit to do easier.

Now here's the odd thing. Everyone involved was made available to answer questions and provide further clarification as needed. In 2007, I personally had maybe 3 dozen calls. Pretty much average for the group as a whole, though the guy in charge and the various station chiefs got a couple hundred each. 2008, it ramped up slightly for most of the working group. I was out of the response loop then (mandatory 6 months leave), but was getting personal calls from colleagues to clarify things that I knew and they did not.

Then we come to 2009. Report goes in, and total bleep silence. I didn't get a single clarification call from the USA for that report. Not one. No one did. It got so bad that the lead on the group actually called State to make sure they had the bleep report.

YOU DIDN'T READ IT. At the time when it most needed reading, a new administration, it got ignored. And do go blaming it on "communication failures." The people preparing briefing materials are still the same - career civil servants. Hell, I know the family birthdays of half of them. The only reason they wouldn't call and ask for clarification is if you, Ms. SoS, didn't need clarification. And you are simply not that damned smart.


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Offline flowers

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Another reason why you should not be prez.  We told you it would happen. many told your side.
« Last Edit: June 14, 2014, 06:01:15 pm by flowers »


Offline NavyCanDo

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FLASHBACK OCT 2011

Former Vice President Dick Cheney said Tuesday that President Obama is imperiling gains made in Iraq by pulling troops out too quickly.

Cheney said he envisioned the United States having a substantial long-term military presence in Iraq to act as a stabilizing force in the region, drawing comparisons to Japan, Germany and South Korea.
He described Obama’s Iraq policy as a “rush for the exit.”
“I’ve got a problem with it,” Cheney said when asked about the president’s announcement last week that the last American soldier would leave Iraq by the end of the year.

The former vice president has been a longtime critic of the Obama administration and its national-security policies. His stance echoes that of the GOP presidential contenders, most of whom blasted Obama for the announcement, noting it risked the gains Americans have made in the region.


Read more: http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/189643-cheney-obama-threatens-military-gains-by-pulling-out-of-iraq-too-soon#ixzz34dk6aCA7
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« Last Edit: June 14, 2014, 06:41:26 pm by NavyCanDo »
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Online Fishrrman

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From the post above:
[[ Former Vice President Dick Cheney said Tuesday that President Obama is imperiling gains made in Iraq by pulling troops out too quickly. ]]

I admire Mr. Cheney, but he's wrong on this one.

It doesn't matter how quickly or how slowly we "pulled out" of Iraq.

Once we were gone, what was going to happen would have happened anyway.

The Republicans were as wrong as how to handle events after September 11, 2001 as were the democrats. NONE of them seem to "get it".

We are seeing the results of that now.
We are going to be seeing a LOT MORE of such "results" in the years to come...

Online Lando Lincoln

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In my view, we should have said, "we are here to stay." Cripes, we have bases in Germany and Japan. It would have served notice that the United States was serious about stabilizing the region. Obama's political calculus got in the way.
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Online Lando Lincoln

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BTW... As others have noted... Inane response from a former Secretary of State and an aspiring Presidential candidate.
There are some among us who live in rooms of experience we can never enter.
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Online kevindavis007

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Isn't she suppose to be the world's smartest woman?
 :pondering:
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