Speaking to a “group of visitors” during a private meeting, President Barack Obama reportedly imagined a far-fetched hypothetical scenario in which he was an “advisor to ISIS” prior to the beheading of two American journalists.
The New York Times, citing “several people who were in the meeting,” reports that the president claimed Islamic State terrorists made a serious strategic mistake by murdering the hostages. He then reportedly revealed what he would’ve suggested if he had been “an adviser to ISIS.” The discussion reportedly occurred just before his primetime address to the nation on the Islamic State threat.
Obama said he would have released the hostages and pinned notes to their chests that urged the United States, “Stay out of here; this is none of your business,” according to the Times report. If the terrorists had done that, Obama reportedly argued, the group may have been able to diminish public support for U.S. military action.
(AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)
The reported comments, which appears 26 paragraphs into the New York Times story, were receiving increased attention on Monday as several news organizations questioned the validity of the hypothetical scenario that turns the president of the United States into an adviser to a murderous terrorist group.
National Review’s Jim Geraghty writes:
Why is our president thinking about what he would tell the Islamic State if he were advising them?Does the president spend a lot of time thinking about this? Or did it just strike him as a fascinating little nugget of insight to share with a guest while discussing the Islamic State?
I can see the value in trying to understand the thinking of your enemy. I can see the value in thinking through an ultimatum to the group, contemplating what you'll demand and what consequences to threaten. You can "offer advice" to a foe in the sense of, "Don't make me angry. You wouldn't like me when I'm angry."
But Obama's "if I was an adviser to ISIS" comment doesn't sound like any of these -- at least from the context that we're given by the Times' sources, individuals who have met with the president in the past week. It's just, hey, if I were advising the enemy, this is what I would have told them.
Okay . . . what's the point?
Read the full New York Times story here.
(H/T: American Thinker)
