Daesh Is Contained

 

That’s what President Barack Obama said the morning of the Daesh’s afternoon and evening terrorist assault on Paris. Obama’s Deputy Fantasist National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes then explained that Obama’s claim had been taken out of context by those … Republicans:

The president was responding very specifically to the geographic expansion of ISIL in Iraq and Syria. A year ago, we saw them on the march in Iraq and Syria, taking more and more population centers. The fact is that we have been able to stop that geographic advance and take back significant amounts of territory in both northern Iraq and northern Syria.

Now we get this:

Since announcing its presence in February in Sirte, the city on Libya’s Mediterranean coast has become the first that the [Daesh] governs outside of Syria and Iraq. Its presence there has grown over the past year from 200 eager fighters to a roughly 5,000-strong contingent which includes administrators and financiers….

Sirte gives the Daesh access to a multiplicity of Libyan oil fields and refineries. The city also gives the Daesh a major port on the Mediterranean Sea for short, direct access to the underbelly of Europe. Not quite as well as Carthage did for Hannibal, but close enough for Daesh work.

‘Twas a famous containment.

Eric Hines

Published in Foreign Policy, General, Islamist Terrorism
Like this post? Want to comment? Join Ricochet’s community of conservatives and be part of the conversation. Join Ricochet for Free.

There are 14 comments.

Become a member to join the conversation. Or sign in if you're already a member.
  1. Percival Thatcher
    Percival
    @Percival

    We’ve got ISIS pinned down in Iraq and Syria. And Afghanistan. And Yemen. And Libya. And Nigeria, Niger, Mali, Algeria, Morocco, and Cameroon. And Western Europe. Plus a few in Pakistan.

    Yup. All penned up with no place to go.

    • #1
  2. Western Chauvinist Member
    Western Chauvinist
    @WesternChauvinist

    There’s a sickness at the heart of this administration. If it isn’t self-deception, it’s something much, much worse.

    • #2
  3. Chris Campion Coolidge
    Chris Campion
    @ChrisCampion

    They were well contained in the streets of Paris just a little while ago.

    • #3
  4. PHCheese Inactive
    PHCheese
    @PHCheese

    It’s called delusional.

    • #4
  5. Eric Hines Inactive
    Eric Hines
    @EricHines

    Percival:We’ve got ISIS pinned down in Iraq and Syria. And Afghanistan. And Yemen. And Libya. And Nigeria, Niger, Mali, Algeria, Morocco, and Cameroon. And Western Europe. Plus a few in Pakistan.

    Yup. All penned up with no place to go.

    And at this rate, they’ll be soon everywhere and so have no place left to go–the ultimate penning up.

    Eric Hines

    • #5
  6. MJBubba Member
    MJBubba
    @

    I keep seeing conservatives cite the President’s “contained” remarks and note that they came on the morning of the Paris attacks.

    That has led to Leftist defenses of President O like this one:

    http://www.politicususa.com/2015/11/16/president-obama-remarkable-grasp-fight-isis-hes-correct.html

    But, what I think is even more damning, I don’t see mentions of the fact that these remarks were given on the morning after the attack in Beirut.   Two suicide bombers killed 43 people and injured 240. Then the next day the President had the audacity to give this answer:

    Stephanopoulos: “And that’s the strategy you’ve been following. But ISIS is gaining strength, aren’t they?”

    Obama: “Well, no, I don’t think they’re gaining strength. What is true is that 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 systematic march by ISIL across the terrain. What we have not yet been able to do is to completely decapitate their command and control structures. We’ve made some progress in trying to reduce the flow of foreign fighters.”

    ( found the quote at this Leftist site:)

    http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2015/nov/15/ben-rhodes/what-barack-obama-said-about-isis-being-contained/

    Shameful.   Clueless.   Blinded by ideology.   Uninformed.   Uninterested.   Un-serious.

    • #6
  7. MJBubba Member
    MJBubba
    @

    continued from #6:

    The only rationale for the President to think ISIL was contained after the attack in Beirut is because  he is a Citizen-of-the-World, and also a Francophile, and so he uses “ISIL” instead of “ISIS” or “I.S.” or “Da-Esh” because the Levant is a French word that incorporates Syria, Lebanon, Israel, the West Bank and Gaza all into one entity.   He is satisfied if Da-Esh runs wild all over the Levant, and thinks they are contained if they do.

    He is a danger to our country and to western Europe, and an even greater danger to Israel.

    • #7
  8. WI Con Member
    WI Con
    @WICon

    The outlines of his brilliant ‘strategy’ are beginning to take shape. Simply rename the offending group periodically so it doesn’t look like your losing to them (Al Qaeda, ‘Korason Group’, ISIS, ISIL, Daesh.

    We’ll be lucky if we make it through past inauguration day.

    • #8
  9. Western Chauvinist Member
    Western Chauvinist
    @WesternChauvinist

    MJBubba: He is a danger to our country and to western Europe, and an even greater danger to Israel.

    VDH thinks he’s just getting going. I fear he’s right.

    • #9
  10. RightAngles Member
    RightAngles
    @RightAngles

    I go back and forth between thinking he believes if he says a thing out loud it will be true or that at least we’re dumb enough to believe him, and thinking he’s an incompetent boob in way over his head. And I’m not even sure which is worse.

    • #10
  11. Ryan M Inactive
    Ryan M
    @RyanM

    It irritates me every time he says ISIL.

    • #11
  12. lesserson Member
    lesserson
    @LesserSonofBarsham

    “Contained”

    doesn't mean

    • #12
  13. MJBubba Member
    MJBubba
    @

    Ryan M:It irritates me every time he says ISIL.

    Yes.   If he is content to have Da-Esh contained to Iraq and the Levant, then he is implicitly conceding Lebanon and Israel as well as Syria to the ravages of Islamic State.

    This is borne out by the fact that he made his “containment” statement the day after the attack in Beirut.

    • #13
  14. HVTs Inactive
    HVTs
    @HVTs

    PHCheese:It’s called delusional.

    I’m afraid it’s worse than that.  They aren’t confused about the truth; they suppress or manipulate it for political purposes.  Whatever they can say to the public and not get handed a political loss for, that’s as much truth as they seek and all the truth that they need.  From the Obama team’s vantage point, we are the delusional ones—we think truth exists as something not subject to their manipulation.  The record of success is on their side, not those that think of them as delusional.

    • #14
Become a member to join the conversation. Or sign in if you're already a member.