President Barack Obama "100 percent dropped the ball" by ignoring both intelligence and warning signs that the Islamic State (ISIS) was gaining power, Rep. Peter King, a New York Republican, said Tuesday on "America’s Forum" on
Newsmax TV.
"He didn't listen to the intelligence he had," King told host J.D. Hayworth. "Then, he talks about the failure of the Iraqi army. When we pulled all of our troops out,
we lost our contact with the Iraqi army and we couldn't provide security for our intelligence assets in Iraq. That's also the president's fault because by pulling all of our military out, we lost our leverage in Iraq. As far as ISIS, that is 100 percent the president dropped the ball on that.
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As a member of both the House Intelligence Committee and the Homeland Security Committee, King said he and other members have known for more than a year about the threat posed by ISIS. It’s implausible that President Obama was not aware.
"Whatever we're told, the president is told five times more," King said. "When Fallujah fell to ISIS, what a wakeup call that should've been. That was one of the bloodiest battles in the war in Iraq. To have that fall to ISIS in February, and when July and August comes around, the president acts like he just heard about ISIS. He should've spent from February to July lining up a coalition, a strategy and taking preemptive action against ISIS."
Equally distressing, King said, are reports that the
president is not meeting with intelligence officials.
"These intelligence people never tell us that the president is not meeting with them," he said. "Now, we find out that he only attended 42 percent and Bush went to almost every one of them. I don't know what he's doing."
American boots on the ground are inevitable to successfully defeat ISIS, according to King.
"Ultimately, you have to see American troops on the ground and Special Forces," King said. "The situation is so far advanced that airstrikes by themselves won't be sufficient. I don't know of any military person that says they will be. He's criticizing those who suggested it two years ago and he's doing it now."
As a matter of policy, King says the president ought to ask Congress for a new authorization of force agreement, though Obama needs to stop politicizing the war if he wants to get it.
"If he wants to get (the authorization), he's going to have to show more of a bipartisan spirit on this and avoid taking the cheap shots," he said. "It's going to require a real bipartisan effort."
On the subject of the Secret Service, King lauded the agency for doing a good job but said its
recent "glaring" mistakes — such as man armed with a knife making his way inside the White House — are evidence of systemic failures.
"The screw up that we saw at the White House is what you see in a bad movie," he said. "Everything that could've gone wrong, went wrong including the cover-up."
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