Obama Waited Months to Approve Rescue of Hostages Killed by ISIS

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If only it had been something important, like getting the IRS to target his political opponents, he would have had it all done yesterday instead of waiting until it was too late.

As early as May, the Obama administration had strong and specific information about the location of American James Foley and other hostages held in Syria, a source close to the discussions told Fox News, but the rescue mission was not approved until early July.

“We had a lot of really good information on where they were being held, very specific information,” said the source, who agreed to discuss the details on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter. The source added that the Islamic State captors felt so secure in their stronghold of Raqqa, Syria, that the hostages were moved between only a handful of locations. By late spring, the American and British hostages had been held for at least three weeks in one facility.

Other sources backed up the account provided to Fox News. The timeline seems to conflict with administration claims that the White House signed off on the operation as soon as the intelligence allowed.

“The intelligence is never bullet-proof,” a former military official said. “When they [the rescue team] finally did go, the general view was that the intelligence was drying up. … These guys were ready to go, on a lower threshold [for the intelligence than the White House] … We want the American people to know we are there for them, and ready to go 24 hours a day.”

Similar delays may have cost lives in Benghazi. It’s part of a pattern of slow approvals routed through too many White House staffers with no military experience.

Now we have Susan Rice running the war against ISIS with predictably disastrous results. Americans under fire in Benghazi didn’t receive help because of repeated enforced delays. Woods and Doherty died because they defied orders and advanced anyway.

It’s sad that we have gotten to the point where the only way to save American lives is for military personnel and contractors to defy orders.

  • Pete

    Maybe if Valerie Jarrett was offered a sweetheart deal in May of 2014 to become CEO of a reconstituted Habitat Co., the hostages might have been rescued before being beheaded.

  • http://ruleofreason.blogspot.com/ Edward Cline

    When are people going to realize that Obama just doesn’t give a s–t? Why are so many people always shocked and surprised by his lackadaisical, casual approach to anything but putting the screws to Americans (oil pipelines, amnesty, Obamacare, etc.) and golf?

  • Eric Blake

    Sometimes it takes Valerie Jarrett a long time to make a decision.

  • Pete

    Al-Gharbi claimed that the isolated instances of U.S. soldiers committing atrocities including rape, for which they face court-martial and imprisonment if found guilty, are on a level with the widespread and systematic brutality of Islamic State radicals.

    Al Ghabi has impeccable liberal reasoning skills!

  • hhh33

    Obama the waffler.

  • Pete

    MUSINGS ON IRAQ

    “The town had been surrounded, and the elders of the tribe were begging for coalition air strikes to relieve the pressure, but all they got were fly overs and a humanitarian air drop.”