Yesterday, Roll Call and The Hill both relayed Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein's call, in Roll Call's words, "for a broader military campaign against ISIL, not just the targeted missions authorized by the president." She believes it is needed because "It has become clear that ISIL is recruiting fighters in Western countries ... and possibly returning them to European and American cities to attack us in our backyard."
Searches at their web sites indicate that the Associated Press and New York Times have not reported Feinstein's stark warning, which directly contradicts the President's January ridicule of ISIL/ISIS as the equivalent of junior varsity basketball players. At the Politico, in a worry-wart piece on "Obama's liberal problem," Seung Min Kim and Jeremy Herb shamefully omitted Feinstein's "in our backyard" warning — while covering the rest of what she said.
Here is what the Politico pair did report:
And Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), the chairwoman of the Intelligence Committee, said she “strongly” supports Obama’s authorization for airstrikes — warning that ISIL was a “terrorist army” that was quickly broadening its influence in the region.
“It takes an army to defeat an army, and I believe that we either confront ISIL now or we will be forced to deal with an even stronger enemy in the future,” she said. “Inaction is no longer an option.”
In bold, look at what they Politico pair did not report, as carried in Roll Call:
Senate Intelligence Chairwoman Dianne Feinstein warned Friday of the risk that the insurgent group ISIL could be preparing fighters to attack American and European targets.
“It has become clear that ISIL is recruiting fighters in Western countries, training them to fight its battles in the Middle East and possibly returning them to European and American cities to attack us in our backyard,” the California Democrat said in a statement backing military action authorized by President Barack Obama. “We simply cannot allow this to happen.”
Feinstein called for a broader military campaign against ISIL, not just the targeted missions authorized by the president.
“It takes an army to defeat an army, and I believe that we either confront ISIL now or we will be forced to deal with an even stronger enemy in the future. Inaction is no longer an option. I support actions by the administration to coordinate efforts with Iraq and other allies to use our military strength and targeting expertise to the fullest extent possible,” Feinstein said.
Kim and Herb somehow managed to get down everything Feinstein said about the current "airstrikes" and the terrorists "broadening ... influence in the region," and ignored everything she said about the need for "a broader military campaign" and the possibility that ISIS/ISIL fighter are working or will work on "attack(ing) us in our backyard." How conveniently selective — and negligent. It would appear that they want "Obama's liberal problem" to be that he's doing too much, not that he's not doing enough.
At the AP Friday morning, before Feinstein made her afternoon statement, Julie Pace gave away the problem the press is having in reporting the full truth about the horrors occurring in Iraq, the country the President arguably abandoned several years ago after the U.S. achieved undeniable victory in a hard-fought war there. The problem in all of this is, per her story's headline: "IRAQ UPHEAVAL THREATENS OBAMA LEGACY."
Cross-posted at BizzyBlog.com.
