Politifact: What President Obama Said About Isis Being Contained (Barack Obama Group)

[DeepModem Mom]

Last week, President Barack Obama said the Islamic State is "contained" -- a comment that has been scrutinized in the wake of the deadly attacks in Paris that have been attributed to the terrorist group.

But has Obama’s comment been taken out of context?

ABC This Week host George Stephanopoulos presented White House deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes with a list of politicians criticizing Obama for his Nov. 12 remarks. Republican presidential candidate and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, for example, said Obama sees the world "as a fantasy."

Rhodes said Obama was talking about a particular aspect of containment that in no way dismissed the possibility of terrorist attacks in the West.

"The president was responding very specifically to the geographic expansion of ISIL in Iraq and Syria," Rhodes said, using another acronym for the group. "A year ago, we saw them on the march in Iraq and Syria, taking more and more population centers. The fact is that we have been able to stop that geographic advance and take back significant amounts of territory in both northern Iraq and northern Syria. At the same time, that does not diminish the fact that there is a threat posed by ISIL, not just in those countries but in their aspirations to project power overseas."...

http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2015/nov/15/ben-rhodes/what-barack-obama-said-about-isis-being-contained/ via Politifact

[Iliyah]

1. Pres O was referring to the Kurds and the city of Kobane near the border of Turkey and Syria

But alas, GOPers take it out of context and run with it and the corporate media laps it up.

[brer cat]

2. +1

K&R

[Tommy2Tone]

4. Love the Avatar..

My crazy cat does that all the time.

[razorman]

5. He should have been clearer, and not given them room to run

with it. He is a smart man, and his language should be more precise, especially since he knows that political opponents will interpret his comments to their advantage. Every politician should be aware of this. That's the way the game is played.

[Cha]

6. President Obama was clear.. repubs twist anything.. we know that.

"Obama: "Well, no, I don't think they're gaining strength. What is true is that from the start, our goal has been first to contain, and we have contained them. They have not gained ground in Iraq. And in Syria they'll come in, they'll leave. But you don't see this systematic march by ISIL across the terrain. What we have not yet been able to do is to completely decapitate their command and control structures. We've made some progress in trying to reduce the flow of foreign fighters."

When Obama said "we have contained them," it’s within a plainly defined scope: ISIS’s territorial ambitions in Iraq and Syria. This context is bolstered by the fact that Stephanopoulos asks Obama about the ground efforts in those two countries.

http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2015/nov/15/ben-rhodes/what-barack-obama-said-about-isis-being-contained/ via Politifact

[razorman]

9. You may be right. But, I have to respectfully disagree that he was as precise

as he should have been. Also, it is not like we do not take advantage of such things. We all had a lot of fun at GWB's expense years ago, with the "Mission Accomplished" banner. In truth, the banner had nothing to do with his speech that day. It was for the ship's crew, which had just completed their Persian Gulf deployment and were going home. My nephew was aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln that day. But, it was an inconvenient image for Bush at that moment. "Mission Accomplished" became the focus of his whole visit, and no one even remembers what he had to say. All because someone did not pay enough attention to details. History is full of such events in politicians' careers.

[Jarqui]

3. Saw that exchange when it happened

Politifact scored Rhodes account as "True"

[Cha]

7. Thank you for this, DM M! I wondered about this.. and now we know.

[RussBLib]

8. of course he was taken out of context

That's what Republicans do. I am so sick of hearing Morning Joe go on and on about this:

"There is no strategy!
He said ISIS was contained!
He said ISIS had no capability to strike in the U.S.!
He is clueless!"

There is a strategy, ISIS is contained geographically, he said they don't believe ISIS has the capability to strike in the U.S. and Obama is a lot smarter than Joe Scarborough.

Joe just repeats this crap so often, he's got Mika parroting it.

What's even more frustrating is thath MSNBC allows this propagandist to keep spewing BS every morning.