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US spends billions on bombing campaign, but the Islamic State is no weaker than it was a year ago

Jul 31, 2015 5:32 pm By Robert Spencer

Airstrikes“The assessments by the CIA, the Defense Intelligence Agency and others appear to contradict the optimistic line taken by the Obama administration’s special envoy, retired Gen. John Allen, who told a forum in Aspen, Colorado, last week that “ISIS is losing” in Iraq and Syria.” As long as the denial and willful ignorance about the reason for the Islamic State’s appeal continue, and no one is willing to commit ground troops to destroying the Islamic State, the U.S. and its allies will not make significant headway against the Islamic State. After the last Iraq misadventure, no one is going to commit ground troops, and even if anyone did, they would no doubt be hamstrung by impossible Rules of Engagement and politically correct nation-building efforts that would only strengthen Sharia forces — just like last time.

“Despite Bombing, Islamic State Is No Weaker Than a Year Ago,” by Ken Dilanian, Zeina Karam, and Bassem Mroue, Associated Press, July 31, 2015:

After billions of dollars spent and more than 10,000 extremist fighters killed, the Islamic State group is fundamentally no weaker than it was when the U.S.-led bombing campaign began a year ago, American intelligence agencies have concluded.

U.S. military commanders on the ground aren’t disputing the assessment, but they point to an upcoming effort to clear the important Sunni city of Ramadi, which fell to the militants in May, as a crucial milestone.

The battle for Ramadi, expected over the next few months, “promises to test the mettle” of Iraq’s security forces, Marine Corps Brig. Gen. Kevin J. Killea, who is helping run the U.S.-led coalition effort in Iraq, told reporters at the Pentagon in a video briefing from the region.

The U.S.-led military campaign has put the Islamic State group on defense, Killea said, adding, “There is progress.” Witnesses on the ground say the airstrikes and Kurdish ground actions are squeezing the militants in northern Syria, particularly in their self-proclaimed capital in Raqqa.

But U.S. intelligence agencies see the overall situation as a strategic stalemate: The Islamic State remains a well-funded extremist army able to replenish its ranks with foreign jihadis as quickly as the U.S. can eliminate them. Meanwhile, the group has expanded to other countries, including Libya, Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula and Afghanistan.

The assessments by the CIA, the Defense Intelligence Agency and others appear to contradict the optimistic line taken by the Obama administration’s special envoy, retired Gen. John Allen, who told a forum in Aspen, Colorado, last week that “ISIS is losing” in Iraq and Syria. The intelligence was described by officials who would not be named because they were not authorized to discuss it publicly.

“We’ve seen no meaningful degradation in their numbers,” a defense official said, citing intelligence estimates that put the group’s total strength at between 20,000 and 30,000, the same estimate as last August, when the airstrikes began.

The Islamic State’s staying power raises questions about the administration’s approach to the threat that the group poses to the U.S. and its allies. Although officials do not believe it is planning complex attacks on the West from its territory, the group’s call to Western Muslims to kill at home has become a serious problem, FBI Director James Comey and other officials say.

Yet under the Obama administration’s campaign of bombing and training, which prohibits American troops from accompanying fighters into combat or directing airstrikes from the ground, it could take a decade or more to drive the Islamic State from its safe havens, analysts say. The administration is adamant that it will commit no U.S. ground troops to the fight despite calls from some in Congress to do so.

The U.S.-led coalition and its Syrian and Kurdish allies have made some inroads. The Islamic State has lost 9.4 percent of its territory in the first six months of 2015, according to an analysis by the conflict monitoring group IHS….

Was that anything like this map, that conveniently left out the territory it had gained?

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Filed Under: Featured, Islamic State (aka ISIS, ISIL, Daesh), United States Tagged With: Defense Intelligence Agency, Marine Corps Brig. Gen. Kevin J. Killea


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Comments

  1. jihad3tracker says

    Jul 31, 2015 at 5:45 pm

    ANOTHER RECRUITING TOOL FOR ISIS AND ITS OUTREACH TO AMERICAN “LONE WOLVES”.

    Directly from the mouths of our top officials. Hey, Christmas can never come too early ! ! !

    • John C. Barile says

      Jul 31, 2015 at 6:29 pm

      Quite right. Only, it’s never too early for Eid.

      • John C. Barile says

        Aug 1, 2015 at 11:01 pm

        11 days earlier each successive year, in fact.

  2. Angemon says

    Jul 31, 2015 at 6:31 pm

    U.S. military commanders on the ground aren’t disputing the assessment, but they point to an upcoming effort to clear the important Sunni city of Ramadi, which fell to the militants in May, as a crucial milestone.

    Translation: they’re counting onone win they can parade around, trying to obfuscate the overall trend.

    • Huck Folder says

      Jul 31, 2015 at 8:35 pm

      What else do you expect from president 0bfuscation?

  3. Lynnl says

    Jul 31, 2015 at 8:37 pm

    BHO orchestrated this intentionally to spend down our Military in munitions and funds. He will not let any of his muslim peers be attacked. Most knowing this in our military have been replaced. He is intent on leveling the United States in as many ways as possible. The Rules of Engagement are just plain unsafe for our military.

  4. Lynn says

    Jul 31, 2015 at 8:43 pm

    Our president set the Rules of Engagement…

  5. Don McKellar says

    Jul 31, 2015 at 10:57 pm

    All those billions added to all the other billions thrown into the toilet to “build democracies” in moslem shit holes. Imagine what good could have been done in the United States with that money. Imagine it being used to rebuild crumbling highways and bridges and infrastructure, putting all those people to work doing something worthwhile. Imagine it going towards developing alternative fuels. Damn — how many hydrogen fueling stations across the United States could have been built and up and running? Ready for the inevitable switch to the inexhaustible fuel of the future. And a big chunk of that money could have been spent to a Manhattan Project to make hydrogen operation economical. But, no, instead it was spent on moslems in far-off bullshit moselm countries, accomplishing absolutely nothing of any lasting consequence.

  6. Lookmann says

    Jul 31, 2015 at 11:27 pm

    Related article :-

    Barack Obama does not want to defeat Isil – yet

    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/islamic-state/11776845/Barack-Obama-does-not-want-to-defeat-Isil-yet.html

  7. rcourtemanche says

    Aug 1, 2015 at 10:23 am

    Part of that battle with IS must be fought domestically to discourage those being influenced by IS. The eventual departure of Obama should bring back some patriotism to Americans and eliminate Islamism imported during his tenure.

  8. Lioness says

    Aug 1, 2015 at 11:42 am

    Anyone who is sane, including birds in trees, know that ISIS in NOT losing but rather expanding, and that US bombing does nothing whatsoever, except fool those who are already stupid to think that it makes a difference. There is no will from the Islamic president of the US to destroy ISIS, so bombing campaigns are a grand waste of money and manpower, which achieve precious little. ISIS must be laughing themselves sick, knowing that the West is spending billions on a futile effort that doesn’t even scratch their perverted surface.

  9. Milt w says

    Aug 1, 2015 at 7:58 pm

    The only thing the bombing is accomplishing is to keep the terrorist out of that particular area.
    Really must make the locals nervous though because compounder in chief’s rules of engagement only include not harming isis.

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