Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant - Obama Presidency Oral History Back Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant Index / Organizations Transcripts Thant Myint-U ...they saw images being from far away of ISIS [Islamic State of Iraq and Syria... Michael Morell ...Against Terrorism—from Al Qa‘ida to ISIS , published in 2015 by Twelve Books. H... ...of course, al-Qaeda in Iraq turns into ISIS [Islamic State of Iraq and Syria] in ... William Burns ...terrorism, especially after the rise of ISIS [Islamic State of Iraq and Syria], i... ...US military responded to the rise of ISIS . It was certainly true in Afghanistan... ...tools. In the case of the fight against ISIS , an inevitable tug as well. It wasn'... ...a coalition of countries to fight ISIS , but you weren't going to negotiat... ...conclusion with the leadership of ISIS , and that's where military an... Anne Patterson ...of the region. And, of course, Iraq and ISIS [Islamic State of Iraq and Syria]. Bu... ...team, Brett McGurk—they put up this ISIS coalition. That was a bloody five-yea... ...course, unrelated to Syria, most of the ISIS supporters. The debate was what to d... Samantha Power ...al-Qaeda, or what would later become ISIS [Islamic State of Iraq and Syria]... ...belief that the Muslim Brotherhood and ISIS are the same, even though there's a lo... ...in Libya should be treated like ISIS would be treated, namely, targeted as ... ...climate change, like the pandemic, like ISIS or any terrorist movement that move... ...longer exist in this world, and look, ISIS is rising, and imagine if thos... ...mobilizing a global coalition to fight ISIS . Once ISIS then becomes part of th... ...a global coalition to fight ISIS. Once ISIS then becomes part of the picture... ...was to build a coalition to fight ISIS . And it never moved Obama int... ...Assad, in many ways—he did deals with ISIS . In many ways, he understood tha... ...ISIS. In many ways, he understood that ISIS 's rise, in some perverse way, helpe... ...anyway. But that emphasis on the ISIS enemy, and that harnessing of all th... ...regime continues to be brutal; ISIS has come on the scene, and they're no... ...refugees generally as terrorists, as ISIS sympathizers, or ISIS agents, and muc... ...as terrorists, as ISIS sympathizers, or ISIS agents, and much as we're now familia... Show more... Brett McGurk ...for the Global Coalition to Counter ISIL [Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant]... ...the Global Coalition to Counter ISIL [ Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant ], a position which he held until 2018... ...we're going to focus on the rise of the Islamic State and the Obama administration's respons... ...first becoming aware of the threat that ISIS [Islamic State of Iraq and Syria... ...Iraq,” which we would come to know as ISIS . I was deeply concerned about it, an... ...Fallujah fell to what became known as ISIS . And again, we're still trying to ge... ...in that summer-of-2014 period, when ISIS essentially burst forth into, I think... ...for degrading and ultimately destroying ISIL . In those months leading up to that... ...that will draw recruits away from ISIS . And I just—I didn't really agree wit... ...I believe—I'd have to get the dates—but ISIS did another offensive, and we had ... ...were surrounded on a mountain by ISIS . And it was one of those fact pattern... ...thousand Yazidis that are surrounded by ISIS . They're on top of a mountain, Sinja... ...on top of a mountain, Sinjar Mountain. ISIS and the team of Sinjar has alread... ...have like a Biblical-type disaster. ISIS sees the dam. The president, we me... ...it was, how are we going to defeat ISIS ? And we really developed this trul... ...were you by the speed and scale of ISIS 's or ISIL's success in the summer o... ...you by the speed and scale of ISIS's or ISIL 's success in the summer of 2014? Yo... ...the course of—a period of days, and ISIS being on the gates of Baghdad. Not jus... ...fully anticipated that. The rise of ISIS , the risk of it, what was coming ou... ...first night of air strikes against ISIS in Syria in a very public way. An... ...Brussels airport was blown up by ISIS , suicide bombers that came out o... ...which was totally controlled by ISIS except the area we were in—I flew ou... ...people were “inspired” online from ISIS and that type of stuff. But it'... ...of flat-out, because I had not only the ISIS thing, but also I was asked by Joh... ...who are in Iran. So as I was doing the ISIS job, I was also, every month or so... ...take down Raqqa in these areas that ISIS was really kind of the brain—wher... ...exact same time as the fight against ISIS ? To what extent, or how, did tha... ...honestly. So when I was focused on the ISIS job, we were really focused on ISIS... ...the ISIS job, we were really focused on ISIS . But what ended up happening—once w... ...But my job was focused on the ISIS component of this. But as we go... ...we're taking more territory from ISIS . And we told the Russians—there's ... ...long arc of your effort in dealing with ISIS , what do you identify as—essentially... ...question—to take the city of Raqqa from ISIS , we had to more directly arm th... Show more... Colin Kahl ...secretary. This was shortly after ISIS [Islamic State of Iraq and Syria] ha... ...in Iraq and Syria to deal with ISIS . So I said, “Sure, you know, I'm no... ...were at stake in Iraq and Syria given ISIS 's seizure of territory; wha... ...administration. Obviously, the rise of the Islamic State , which happens in the summer of 201... ...crisis part of the agenda—dealing with ISIS , dealing with Russia, dealing wit... ...a lot. He was very attentive to the ISIS crisis for sure. He obviously played a... ...had the lead on Iraq and the counter- ISIS dimensions of that, Ukraine, an... ...degree, other countries in the counter- ISIS fight like Turkey and Jordan. And the... ...bit further. So perhaps the counter- ISIL [Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant... ...further. So perhaps the counter-ISIL [ Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant ] campaign. That strikes me as a set o... ...about counterterrorism, but that ISIL presented a new challenge. How was i... ...and elsewhere. I think the rise of ISIS threw into question that model becaus... ...threw into question that model because ISIS was of a scale that we simply weren'... ...of dollars of US military equipment to ISIS —which we called ISIL at the time, bu... ...equipment to ISIS—which we called ISIL at the time, but I've now bee... ...I've now been resocialized to call them ISIS . But for those listening in th... ...that one of the major reasons that the Islamic State was able to do what it did was tha... ...sympathy, at least acquiescence with ISIS . So there was a real concern that no... ...made it worse. And then of course ISIS was operating on both sides of th... ...going to partner with Assad against ISIS , but also—toppling Assad was no... ...it would only indirectly deal with the ISIS problem. It wouldn't—in fact, it coul... ...I sometimes use this reference point. ISIS grew out of al-Qaeda in Iraq. Th... ...violence levels down. When it came to ISIS , the framework that Obama put in plac... ...to a certain extent the counter- ISIL campaign, but I'm thinking more s... ...that was a by-product of the rise of the Islamic State . I think that Obama came into offic... Show more... Ash Carter ...and whatever happened—for example, ISIS [Islamic State of Iraq and Syria... ...the tech initiatives, like the counter- ISIS campaign, which, granted, wa... ...want to make sure we talk about the ISIS campaign. And I'm not going to have yo... ...there against us, rather than— ISIS was not wildly popular everywhere. S... ...who live there who would work to defeat ISIL [Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant]... ...there who would work to defeat ISIL [ Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant ]; and find and train them, which woul... ...way. And it is the plan that destroyed ISIS . It is Barack Obama's plan tha... ...is Barack Obama's plan that destroyed ISIS , no question. The die was cast; ... Show more... Load more Transcripts Related Topics go to the Education Education go to the Science Science go to the Criminal Justice Criminal Justice go to the Arts and Humanities Arts and Humanities go to the Public Health Public Health