I think we are just beginning to see the distinctive foreign policy failure of the Obama era. It's not the emergence of a new Islamist threat. Yes, President Bush had beaten back the Islamists in a number of important ways, particularly al-Qaeda's rejection by the Sunnis in Iraq. Islam is a religion that expects success and domination, so when a supposed champion of Islam is defeated in the central conflict of the day—and defeated because its own supporters turned against it—that has a crushing impact, materially and morally.
The Battle of Regimes
The Battle of Regimes
The Battle of Regimes
I think we are just beginning to see the distinctive foreign policy failure of the Obama era. It's not the emergence of a new Islamist threat. Yes, President Bush had beaten back the Islamists in a number of important ways, particularly al-Qaeda's rejection by the Sunnis in Iraq. Islam is a religion that expects success and domination, so when a supposed champion of Islam is defeated in the central conflict of the day—and defeated because its own supporters turned against it—that has a crushing impact, materially and morally.