Former U.N. ambassador John Bolton claimed President Obama’s “ideological blinders” make him unwilling to recognize that the threat of international terrorism is growing — and unwilling to take necessary steps in Iraq and elsewhere to blunt its advance.
Bolton spoke with Fox News’ Greta van Susteren on Friday about a handful of new American airstrikes targeting Islamic State jihadists sweeping through northern Iraq and threatening religious minorities with genocide.
Susteren brought up comments the president made earlier this year about the Islamic State being “jayvee” terrorists — statements belied by their extraordinary success on the battlefield in recent days and months.
“I think he’s got ideological blinders on,” Bolton remarked. “He simply cannot admit that the threat of international terrorism is growing. Whether it’s core al-Qaida or this piece of al-Qaida, he just can’t admit it.”
“Because it would be a concession that his entire conduct of the war on terror — in fact his dismissal that there is a war on terror — is fundamentally wrong,” the former ambassador continued.
Bolton claimed that without significant support to America’s Kurdish allies — which would undoubtedly mean significantly stepping up airstrikes — the limited intervention would fail.
“If he follows what he said, the American military involvement cannot be consequential,” he concluded.
