Topic: Obama Reports Gains, and ‘Momentum,’ Against ISIS (Read 461 times)

The American policy in Syria is being dictated by Saudi Arabia and Turkey. Obama has little or no say in the Syria-related matters. It is Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, and his son (Mohammad bin Salman Al Saud) who are deciding how much American weapons should be handed over to the Islamist factions, and when those transactions should occur. The next POTUS would do the same thing. He will let Salman and Erdogan to decide what to do with Syria.

Didn't start with obama though. Plans to destabilize syria, arm muslim brotherhood, etc go back to the bush years. If not before. So I'm not sure a republican president would be much different. Despite all the talk about carpet bombing syria or isis or whatever. Perpetual war is probably the american strategy for the region. So it is best to keep arming the opposition. Doesn't matter who they are.

ISIS is the perfect enemy,its everywhere and they can strip rights and blow things up all in the crusade against terror.
Whenever I write "terror" I hear George Bush say it in my head.

Sure not a good time to be a Muslim these days,starting to see more phobia and rhetoric coming out of political camps.

so after the gop presidential election 2016,ISIS will really miss Obama who has been supporting them for years. 

no thanks to him

Shamelss American trying to get credit for the hard work done by the regime forces, Kurds, Iranian advisers, Russian pilots, Hezbollah fighters, and Shiite militiamen. Gains against ISIS were solely due to the valor and courage shown by the above mentioned groups. The Americans on the other hand indirectly helped the ISIS by supplying TOW missiles and other advanced weaponry.

^ that's good. But not enough. That is only treating the symptoms and perpetuating war. Nothing is being done about saudi arabia and others spreading wahhabism. About them radicalizing the region with it. Arming people they think they can control to do their dirty work. Nothing will be done about that. Because saudi arabia is a western client. So they can do whatever they want as long as they follow orders and keep buying weapons from the west.

President Obama said on Wednesday that while the Islamic State could still “inflict horrific violence on the innocent,” the United States had made substantial gains in combating the group, reducing its forces to the lowest level in two years and squeezing its cash flow.

“We have momentum, and we intend to keep that momentum,” Mr. Obama said after meeting with a broad group of national security officials at the headquarters of the Central Intelligence Agency in Langley, Va. “The ISIL core in Syria and Iraq continues to shrink.”

The meeting was one in a series of high-level gatherings Mr. Obama has convened outside the White House to take stock of the United States-led effort against the Sunni extremist group, also known as ISIS and ISIL, and to plot strategy for the months ahead. It was the first of those meetings since the bombings in Brussels last month, which killed 32 people and injured 300 more, the latest demonstration of the organization’s continuing ability to attack Western capitals far from its base in Syria and Iraq.

Mr. Obama said the attacks were intended to “weaken our collective resolve.”

“Once again, they have failed,” he added. “Their barbarism only stiffens our unity and determination to wipe this vile terrorist organization off the face of the earth.”

Mr. Obama has faced criticism for his approach, mostly from Republicans who argue that he has been too restrained in using military force to destroy the Islamic State and insufficiently concerned about the threat it poses. On Wednesday, he sought to demonstrate the intensity of his focus on the issue, citing the number of top leaders who have been killed, the battlefield gains in Iraq and Syria, and the setbacks inflicted on the oil production that provides the Islamic State with its main source of money as evidence of the progress the United States and its allies have made against the group.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/14/world/middleeast/obama-reports-gains-and-momentum-against-isis.html