The emperor gives a press conference in Europe, dodges simple question

Three days ago, after Islamic thugs released a second video of them beheading a bound American journalist, the incomparably brilliant emperor of the United States gave a a press conference in Estonia.  Reporters and liberals all over the world were hanging on His Majesty's every word.  So without further ado...

Q  [to the emperor]  Now that a second American has been slain, what is your response?  Will you have a full strategy now on ISIS...?

THE EMPEROR:  Well, keep in mind that from the outset, the moment that ISIS went into Mosul, we were very clear that this was a very serious threat not just to Iraq but to the region and to U.S. interests.  And so we’ve been putting forward a strategy since that time that was designed to do a number of things.

Wait...isn't he speaking just a day after he'd told reporters "We don't have a strategy" ? 

Number one, to make sure Americans were protected in Iraq, in our embassies, in our consulates.  Number two, that we worked with Iraqis to create a functioning government that was inclusive and that could serve as the basis for Iraq to begin to go on the offensive.
 
And the airstrikes that we’ve conducted in support of protecting Americans conducting humanitarian missions and providing space for the Iraqi government to form have borne fruit.  We’ve seen that in Sinjar Mountain.  We’ve seen it most recently in the town of Amerli, which heroically held out against a siege by ISIL.  We’re seeing progress in the formation of an inclusive Sunni-Shia-Kurd central government.  And so what we’ve seen is the strategy that we’ve laid out moving effectively.

But what I’ve said from the start is that this is not going to be a one-week or one-month or six-month proposition.  Because of what’s happened in the vacuum of Syria, as well as the battle-hardened elements of ISIS that grew out of al Qaeda in Iraq during the course of the Iraq war, it’s going to take time for us to be able to roll them back.

Nice ploy to convince people that the insane butchery by the bloodthirsty fanatics of ISIS is "Bush's fault."  

And it is going to take time for us to be able to form the regional coalition that's going to be required so that we can reach out to Sunni tribes in some of the areas that ISIS has occupied,

Wait...I thought the bad guys--ISIS--were Sunnis.  So Obama's strategy is that we're going to "degrade and destroy" ISIS by...reaching out to other members of the same cult?  Yeah, I totally get it...

...and make sure that we have allies on the ground in combination with the airstrikes that we’ve already conducted.

So the bottom line is this:  Our objective is clear, and that is to degrade and destroy ISIL so that it’s no longer a threat not just to Iraq but also the region and to the United States.  In order for us to accomplish that, the first phase has been to make sure that we’ve got an Iraqi government that's in place and that we are blunting the momentum that ISIL was carrying out.  And the airstrikes have done that.

But now what we need to do is make sure that we’ve got the regional strategy in place that can support an ongoing effort -- not just in the air but on the ground -- to move that forward.

And last week when this question was asked, I was specifically referring to the possibility of the military strategy inside of Syria that might require congressional approval.  It is very important from my perspective that when we send our pilots in to do a job, that we know that this is a mission that's going to work, that we’re very clear on what our objectives are, what our targets are; we’ve made the case to Congress and we’ve made the case to the American people; and we’ve got allies behind us so that it’s not just a one-off, but it’s something that over time is going to be effective.

And so the bottom line is this, Ann -- it’s not only that we’re going to be bringing to justice those who perpetrated this terrible crime against these two fine young men.  More broadly, the United States will continue to lead a regional and international effort against the kind of barbaric and ultimately empty vision that ISIL represents.  And that's going to take some time, but we’re going to get it done.  I’m very confident of it.

Q    Did you just say that the strategy is to destroy ISIS, or to simply contain them or push them back?

THE EMPEROR:  Our objective is to make sure that ISIL is not an ongoing threat to the region.  And we can accomplish that. It’s going to take some time and it’s going to take some effort. As we’ve seen with al Qaeda, there are always going to be remnants that can cause havoc of any of these networks, in part because of the nature of terrorist activities.  You get a few individuals, and they may be able to carry out a terrorist act.

But what we can do is to make sure that the kind of systemic and broad-based aggression that we’ve seen out of ISIL that terrorizes primarily Muslims, Shia, Sunni -- terrorizes Kurds, terrorizes not just Iraqis, but people throughout the region, that that is degraded to the point where it is no longer the kind of factor that we’ve seen it being over the last several months.

Anyone remember the question?

"Q:  Did you just say that the strategy is to destroy ISIS, or to simply contain them or push them back?"

Did any of you hear a clear answer to that clear, straightforward, non-tricky question?  What I heard was a lot of buzzwords but no bottom line--nothing you could misinterpret as an actual, y'know...action.  But is anyone at all surprised?

Why is Obozo reluctant to say "Ann, it's clear that ISIL is populated by utterly amoral, evil fanatics.  Under normal circumstances we might go in carefully--as the last president did in Iraq a decade ago--find those who have beheaded and otherwise shot captured prisoners, try them and hang them--as we did with Saddam Hussein.  But at this point I think they're all equally guilty and not worth sorting out.  Thus our strategy will be to utterly wipe them out to the last man.  The only ones we won't kill are those who surrender and turn over every weapon they have.  Anyone who resists or lies will be killed on the spot, with no apologies."

Now I'll be the first to admit that it will take a major military effort to destroy ISIL.  I'll also admit that if the U.S. leads, some nations on the bubble will decide to sit on their hands and let the U.S. do it all.  But if the U.S. does NOT take a strong lead in military action, I don't see any other nation jumping in. 

If we do nothing, is there any other nation or coalition that can stop ISIL?  I don't think so.  If that's true, Obama must make a decision to either send our military to war, or shrug and let the rest of the world deal with the problem.  And as noted above, I think that's a dead end.
 
Interestingly, in stark contrast to his mealy-mouthed, wishy-washy, bullshit non-commitment on ISIL, Obama has no trouble articulating a strong, unambiguous position on illegal invaders into the U.S:  On Friday the emperor said illegal immigrants should not have to “look over their shoulder”...despite being in the U.S. illegally.

Which of course is consistent with his promise to give 'em all amnesty.

Interesting contrast, eh?