U.S. President Barack Obama waves at the conclusion of his final State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress in Washington January 12, 2016. REUTERS/Evan Vucci/Pool
Kimberly Dozier, Daily Beast: Obama Takes the Gloves Off Against ISIS at Last
Recent airstrikes on cash depots in ISIS-land incinerated more than half-a-billion dollars. The oil operations are being hit—and the willingness to risk civilian casualties is growing.
“Don’t hold back. Show us your ideas.” U.S. officials say that’s the message President Barack Obama has sent his military commanders in the war against the so-called Islamic State. The administration is taking the gloves off after more than a year of reluctance to target the terrorist’s core infrastructure for fear of hitting civilians or risking the lives of American troops.
Two recent strikes on ISIS cash depots are examples of ideas the administration once considered too risky, and one of those attacks may have destroyed from half a billion to three-quarters of a billion dollars, two U.S. officials said Wednesday.
Faced with the virulence of the ISIS brand and the clock ticking down on President Barack Obama’s last term, administration officials are green-lighting aggressive proposals that have been languishing for years, and asking for more ideas to check the growth of ISIS from Syria to Libya and beyond, according to multiple U.S. defense officials.
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WNU Editor: I have to see it to believe it.