Politics

Obama Hesitant To Act In City Where ISIS Is Threatening A Fourth Beheading

Patrick Howley Political Reporter
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President Obama is reportedly hesitant to intervene in the Syria region where three Westerners have now been beheaded on video by the terrorist organization ISIS — and a fourth, British aid worker Alan Henning, is being threatened.

It is unclear when the videos were produced, or whether Henning is currently alive. But sources close to the Syrian situation confirm the videos’ setting as the mountainous area outside of Raqqa — the capital city of ISIS’ planned “Islamic Caliphate.”

Obama’s only intervention in the region came in the early summer of 2014, with a failed secret Department of Defense rescue mission for James Foley and the other ISIS captives. Approximately 24 Delta Force commandos retreated after gunfire with ISIS. The Obama administration only disclosed this information after the videotaped beheadings started. Defense Department officials were angry that they released the information at all.

When did ISIS take over Raqqa by driving a car bomb into one of their rivals’ hideouts? In mid-August 2013, just as Obama — then with a more than 50 percent approval rating — vacationed at Martha’s Vineyard with a small foreign policy team led by Susan Rice. There the president oversaw about a dozen drone strikes on al-Qaida in Yemen and also closed down U.S. embassies for a week amid terrorist chatter. House investigators also began requesting Benghazi documents from the administration in August 2013.

The search term “Raqqa” yields 0 results in a WhiteHouse.gov search of White House press releases. One reporter was told why.

“Let’s say the U.S. forces liberate Raqqa, which is a Syrian city where we know that ISIS is in control because of the Vice News video. Well, then who would administer Raqqa? That’s what I’m getting from administration officials sympathetic to the president’s view,” said Daily Beast reporter Eli Lake on Mark Levin’s radio show earlier this month.

How many months has it been since ISIS took over Raqqa, where some international reports claim that Islamist-supporting civilians are currently clearing out of town and into Turkey in anticipation of possible U.S. strikes there after the Syrian Air Force gets done bombing it?

13 months.

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