Carter Criticizes Obama’s Slow ISIS Response

Former President Jimmy Carter is critical of
current President Barack Obama’s approach to dealing with the
Islamic State (ISIS). Although long known as a promoter of peace,
Carter believes America should’ve been more hawkish and quicker to
deal with the organization overrunning parts of Syria and Iraq.

Carter
told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram:

First of all, we waited too long. We let the Islamic state build
up its money, capability and strength and weapons while it was
still in Syria. Then when [ISIS] moved into Iraq, the Sunni Muslims
didn’t object to their being there and about a third of the
territory in Iraq was abandoned. …

You have to have somebody on the ground to direct our missiles
and to be sure you have the right target. Then you have to have
somebody to move in and be willing to fight ISIS after the
strikes.

He added that Obama’s foreign policy “changes from time to time.
I noticed that two of his secretaries of defense, after they got
out of office, were very critical of the lack of positive action on
the part of the president.” Indeed, Leon Panetta
just ripped into Obama.

There’s a lot of legitimate criticism for the hapless Obama, who
has been
skipping many intelligence briefings, but Carter’s statements
are a curious change in position for a man at 90 who
prides his own presidency on “never dropp[ing] a bomb” and
“never fir[ing] a bullet.” He’s
criticized Bush’s wars, and less than a year ago, when the
Obama administration wanted to bomb Syria’s Assad regime, Carter

penned an op-ed titled “Time to Be Bold and Make Peace in
Syria.”

Perhaps the interviewer omitted some significant portions of the
responses, because Carter’s coulda-woulda-shoulda statements are of
limited value without more in-depth explanations of how he thinks
Obama might have intervened more effectively. Carter has previously
been
cautious about the legality of an American military
intervention intervention, but his latest words fail to illuminate
how the current president, who is already using
dubious legal justifications, could have mobilized legitimately
and more rapidly within the bounds of his authority.

The Carter Center’s policy suggestions on Syria are all peaceful
political resolutions, with
no mention of either U.S. military engagement or the
Islamic State. The center doesn’t
have anything up-to-date on Iraq.

This isn’t the first time Carter has pushed for action. Last
month he announced, “I
think we need to bomb ISIS,” but didn’t hint that it was already
overdue. At the time he also seemed to suggest that America’s
allies, as opposed to America itself, should bring the ground
troops. Soon after he pivoted slightly and said
a bombing campaign would cost too many civilian lives and that
American U.S. forces should be on the ground.