ISIS rise surprised Obama, US intelligence
By Kevin Liptak, CNN White House Producer
Updated 12:35 PM ET, Wed December 7, 2016
Washington (CNN)ISIS' march across Iraq and Syria -- a campaign that's forced President Barack Obama to return small numbers of US troops to the region, even after touting an end to the decade-long ground offensives there -- came as a surprise to US intelligence, the President told CNN in a new special report.
The terror organization's rise in a tumultuous Middle East has provided Obama some of the toughest decisions of his presidency, choices that CNN's Fareed Zakaria explores in "The Legacy of Barack Obama" airing Wednesday.
"The ability of ISIL to not just mass inside of Syria, but then to initiate major land offensives that took Mosul, for example, that was not on my intelligence radar screen," Obama told Zakaria, using the administration's term for the Islamic State terror group.
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http://www.cnn.com/2016/12/07/politics/isis-surprise-obama/index.html?sr=twpol120716isis-surprise-obama0608PMVODtopLink&linkId=32066887
