The DIA document was too big an anti-Obama scoop for Fox News not to cover at all. Yet they still managed to give the story a pro-interventionist spin. They did so by focusing on Obama’s alleged low estimation of the threat of ISIS and the Libyan jihadists, and how the predictions in the report belie that low estimation. Yet, they completely glossed over the report’s claim that the predicted rise of ISIS was a result of support for the Syrian opposition by the west and its allies.
As incredible as the DIA disclosure is, its basic import has been an open secret for years.
The general US policy of allying with the Gulf states (especially the Saudis) and Turkey in supporting radical Sunni insurgents to counter the“Shia expansion” was reported by Seymour Hersh back in 2007, shortly after that policy (“the Redirection”) was initiated by the Bush administration.
The Obama administration’s support of the Sunni insurgency in Syria against the Shiite-led regime of Bashar al-Assad following the 2011 “Arab Spring” was simply a continuation and intensification of that general policy. The administration claimed to be aiming their support at “moderates” and “secular, liberal reformers” in the opposition. But officials of the highest level in the administration have repeatedly betrayed how little they believe their own lie; especially when defending themselves against criticism for not intervening more.