Even as Mosul is falling and Raqqa comes under increasing pressure, a dire threat remains. We still have to do to ISIS what we did to core al-Qa‘ida—we have to shred their leadership. Which is not to say that al-Qa‘ida has gone away as a threat—it’s still out there, with planning cells and capability.
Kako je doneta odluka o bombardovanju Sirije:Islamic Republic of Iran is a powerful nation-state that remains the world’s largest state-sponsor of terrorism. Its strength and influence have increased notably in recent years, especially when you look at what’s happening in Syria, Yemen, and Iraq.
Tehran clearly aspires to be the hegemonic power in the region. And though we’re currently focused on destroying ISIS, Iran presents our biggest Mideast challenge over the long term.
I got a call from the President one afternoon back in April. He wanted to talk about some disturbing images that were coming in from Syria. I’m sure you saw many of them yourselves—scenes of innocent civilians writhing in agony, the apparent victims of a chemical weapons attack.
The President had a very direct message for me: Find out what happened. So we immediately assembled a crack team of Agency experts. They began piecing together the evidence, working closely with some klix partners from across the Intelligence Community.
The next day the President called his cabinet together. As we sat down, he turned to me and asked what we had learned. I told him that the IC had concluded that a chemical weapon had indeed been used in the attack, and that it had been launched by the Syrian regime.
The President paused a moment and said: Pompeo, are you sure? I’ll admit that the question took my breath away. But I knew how solid the evidence was, and I was able to look him in the eye and say, Mr. President, we have high confidence in our assessment.
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