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| Obama: United States underestimated rise of Islamic State | Obama: United States underestimated rise of Islamic State |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| The United States has underestimated the rise of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, President Obama said during an interview, to be broadcast Sunday night, in which he also acknowledged the Iraqi army's inability to successfully tackle the threat. | |
| According to excerpts from Sunday's "60 Minutes" on CBS, presenter Steve Kroft referred to comments by James Clapper, the director of national intelligence, in which he said, “We overestimated the ability and the will of our allies, the Iraqi Army, to fight.” | |
| “That's true. That's absolutely true,” Obama said. “Jim Clapper has acknowledged that I think they underestimated what had been taking place in Syria.” | “That's true. That's absolutely true,” Obama said. “Jim Clapper has acknowledged that I think they underestimated what had been taking place in Syria.” |
| Obama blamed the ongoing turmoil in Syria for the rise of the Islamic State, also known as ISIL. | Obama blamed the ongoing turmoil in Syria for the rise of the Islamic State, also known as ISIL. |
| “Essentially what happened with ISIL was that you had al-Qaeda in Iraq, which was a vicious group, but our Marines were able to quash with the help of Sunni tribes. They went back underground. But over the past couple of years, during the chaos of the Syrian civil war, where essentially you have huge swaths of the country that are completely ungoverned, they were able to reconstitute themselves and take advantage of that chaos,” he said. "And so this became ground zero for jihadists around the world." | “Essentially what happened with ISIL was that you had al-Qaeda in Iraq, which was a vicious group, but our Marines were able to quash with the help of Sunni tribes. They went back underground. But over the past couple of years, during the chaos of the Syrian civil war, where essentially you have huge swaths of the country that are completely ungoverned, they were able to reconstitute themselves and take advantage of that chaos,” he said. "And so this became ground zero for jihadists around the world." |
| The president made clear the intentions of the campaign against the Islamic State. | |
| “We just have to push them back, and shrink their space, and go after their command and control, and their capacity, and their weapons, and their fueling, and cut off their financing, and work to eliminate the flow of foreign fighters,” he said. | “We just have to push them back, and shrink their space, and go after their command and control, and their capacity, and their weapons, and their fueling, and cut off their financing, and work to eliminate the flow of foreign fighters,” he said. |
| Acknowledging that the Islamic State has been "very savvy in terms of their social media," Obama said it is important to recognize that “part of our solution here is going to be military" but added that he hopes for a political settlement in the future. | Acknowledging that the Islamic State has been "very savvy in terms of their social media," Obama said it is important to recognize that “part of our solution here is going to be military" but added that he hopes for a political settlement in the future. |
| “What we also have to do is we have to come up with political solutions in Iraq and Syria in particular, but in the Middle East generally, that arise in an accommodation between Sunni and Shia populations that right now are the biggest cause of conflict, not just in the Middle East, but in the world,” he said. | “What we also have to do is we have to come up with political solutions in Iraq and Syria in particular, but in the Middle East generally, that arise in an accommodation between Sunni and Shia populations that right now are the biggest cause of conflict, not just in the Middle East, but in the world,” he said. |