Intel Chair: WH Denied Having 'Containment Strategy' Toward ISIL, Until Obama Said: 'We Have Contained Them'
(CNSNews.com) - Rep. David Nunes, chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, says the Obama White House denied having a "containment strategy" toward ISIS/ISIL -- before President Obama told ABC News this month that "our goal has been first to contain -- and we have contained them."
Speaking to CNN's "State of the Union" with Jake Tapper, Nunes noted that the U.S. didn't "go after ISIS until two reporters got their heads cut off. And then the president said, well, this is our strategy."
(Obama explained his anti-ISIS "strategy" [1] in September 2014, saying the U.S.-led coalition would "conduct a systematic campaign of airstrikes" against terrorists in both Iraq and Syria; send U.S. advisers to help ground forces in their fight; train and equip the Syrian opposition; and boost intelligence and other counter-terrorism efforts.)
Nunes said he and other members of Congress "challenged the White House and the advisers that, well, this looks like a containment strategy, this looks like mission creep. And they said, well, no, no, no this is not a containment strategy.
"Well, then just a week ago, right before these Paris attacks, the president of the United States goes on and says our containment strategy is working.
"And you know, what we've been saying is, if you want to track down, kill, and defeat ISIS, if you only have a containment strategy within Iraq and Syria, you really don't understand the problem, because North Africa is full of ISIS fighters. At the same time you have al Qaeda growing in numbers."
Nunes said the president has to admit that he "got it wrong."
Nunes said the Obama administration must "re-look at a larger strategy that deals with North Africa, the Middle East, all the way to Afghanistan, Pakistan, and then work closely with our NATO allies" to undermine the "command and control structure that ISIS has created successfully in Europe."
In an interview with George Stephanopoulos on ABC's Good Morning America that was broadcast on Nov. 13 -- the same day as the Paris terror attacks -- President Obama said ISIS had been "contained."
"I don't think they're gaining strength," Obama told George Stephanopoulos. "What is true, from the start our goal has been first to contain and we have contained them. They have not gained ground in Iraq and in Syria they'll come in, they'll leave. But you don't see this systemic march by ISIL across the terrain."
"What we have not yet been able to do is to completely decapitate their command and control structures," Obama added.
On Sunday, Nunes told CNN that he is involved in the Pentagon's investigation into U.S. Central Command, and whether intelligence information about the anti-ISIS campaign sent to the president was manipulated to sound better than things really were.
The New York Times reported over the weekend that a group of Centcom analysts recently told the Pentagon inspector general that they had evidence that senior military officials had "changed intelligence assessments to overstate the progress of American airstrikes against the Islamic State."
"Well, we are involved in this investigation," Nunes told Jake Tapper. "So, we have heard from a lot of whistleblowers and other informants who have given us information, and not just related strictly to the latest allegations, Jake. These go back for four years."
According to The New York times [2], staffers at the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence are examining years of Centcom intelligence reports and comparing them to assessments from the Central Intelligence Agency, the Defense Intelligence Agency and others.
"The committee is not just examining reports about Iraq, Syria and the Islamic State, but also about Afghanistan and other areas under Centcom’s purview," the newspaper reported.
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