Obama's Foreign Policy of Fantasies

By Joseph Klein

Obama continued his feckless foreign policy charade at the UN on September 29th. He chaired what was billed as "The Leaders' Summit on Countering ISIL and Violent Extremism," and he met with Cuban President Raul Castro. At the summit, Obama claimed major progress in rolling back the Islamic State (or ISIL, as he refers to the jihadist caliphate occupying large portions of Syria and Iraq). By now, the president is certainly aware of the reported complaint, backed by 52 defense analysts, to the Pentagon’s inspector general, which alleged that intelligence reports on the war against the Islamic State were doctored in order to support the Obama administration’s claims that the fighting was going well. 

Some of these doctored reports were reportedly used to brief the president and other high government officials, telling them what they wanted to hear. The defense analysts, who are career professionals, have painted a far more pessimistic picture of the fight so far than the Obama administration wants the public to believe. Nevertheless, while Obama acknowledged at the summit that the Islamic State fighters are "resilient" and that there will be some setbacks along with successes, he continued the false narrative that the Islamic State is in retreat. The fact is that Russian President Vladimir Putin is taking advantage of Obama’s lack of leadership in the fight against ISIL.  Putin is taking the lead himself, providing direct military support to the Syrian regime and building his own coalition including Iraq and Iran. [more...]