War On Terror: A new report from the West Point counterterrorism center says the administration ignored warning signs as the Islamic State grew and trained over a four-year period paralleling our withdrawal from Iraq.
As President Obama dithers about whether to strike the Islamic State's sanctuary in Syria, a report by the Combating Terrorism Center at West Point shows how we got to this point. Obama simply overlooked the "JV" team until it was ready for terrorism's Pro Bowl.
Instead, he was focused on getting us out of Iraq and creating a power vacuum that the terrorist group was all too willing to fill.
"ISIL did not suddenly become effective in early June 2014," the report states. "It has been steadily strengthening and actively shaping the future operating environment for four years."
The Islamic State's rapid expansion into Iraq was "the result of years of patient preparatory operations," wrote the report's author, Michael Knights of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.
IS' early steps were not unobserved. We could have stopped IS long before it became the threat it is today.
