WEEKLY STANDARD
by Lee Smith
June 22, 2015

A year ago the Islamic State first made headlines around the world by storming Mosul and conquering Iraq’s second-largest city. President Obama pledged to “degrade and ultimately destroy” the organization. Here we are a year later, and with ISIS now holding more territory—including other Iraqi cities like Ramadi—the Obama White House has yet to figure out how to degrade, never mind destroy, the organization…The problem isn’t simply that Obama has failed to come up with a strategy to defeat the Islamic State. It’s something far more disturbing: The region-wide Sunni rebellion spearheaded by ISIS is the direct, dangerous fallout of the administration’s own Middle East policy. The president decided that a deal with Iran is the be-all and end-all of his second term in office. READ MORE