Without directly fingering President Barack Obama, former Defense Intelligence Agency chief Michael Flynn on Monday lambasted the administration for running scared from the Islamic State (ISIS) instead of unleashing an all-out assault to eradicate the Muslim extremists, according to
The Daily Beast.
"You cannot defeat an enemy you do not admit exists," said Flynn, a retired Army lieutenant general, referring to the administration’s refusal to use the phrase "Islamic militants" when referring to jihadists.
In April,
The Los Angeles Times reported that Flynn abruptly retired from his post at the DIA, the military’s iteration of the CIA that collects and analyzes foreign intelligence to support the military. He reportedly had differences with Undersecretary for Intelligence Michael Vickers and others resistant to change and a paralytic posture on ISIS.
Speaking at the National Defense Industry Association’s special operations meeting, Flynn criticized those in the government who are "paralyzed" by the complexity of the battle with ISIS so they "accept a defensive posture, reasoning that passivity is less likely to provoke our enemies."
Flynn said the Obama administration fails to comprehend the mentality of Islamic terror, which is "fueled by a vision for worldwide domination, achieved through violence and bloodshed."
"They want us to think that our challenge is dealing with an undefined set of violent extremists or merely lone-wolf actors with no ideology or network. But that’s just not the straight truth," he said.
"Our adversaries around the world are self-described Islamic militants — they say," he told the crowd at the annual National Defense Industry Association’s special operations meeting. There were many nods of approval, the Beast reported.
Further, the White House’s blueprint of "retreat, retrenchment and disarmament are historically a recipe for disaster," Flynn said.
According to the Beast, Flynn advocates a "sweeping, decades-long campaign against the Islamic State Group, al-Qaida and its ilk — a fight like the one against the former Soviet Union against a new enemy he said is 'committed to the destruction of freedom and the American way of life.'"
"There is no substitute, none, for American power," Flynn said in his speech.
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