Ex-Intelligence Chief: Rise of ISIS Was a ‘Willful Washington Decision’

The classified DIA report presented in August 2012, stated that “the Salafist, the Muslim Brotherhood, and AQI [Al- Qaeda in Iraq] are the major forces driving the insurgency in Syria,” being supported by “the West, Gulf countries and Turkey.”

When asked why the US turned a “blind eye” to the intelligence reports, Flynn’s opinion was they did not listen to his agency nor his recommendations on purpose.

“I think it was a decision. I think it was a willful decision,” the former DIA chief said.”

General Flynn has gone on the record about the failure of the Administration in regards to the Syrian conflict and how it relates to the rise of ISIS.  Flynn states that if the US would have backed groups like the “Free Syrian Army” adequately, the outcome of the rise of ISIS in that region would have been much less.  But Flynn goes on to state the the genesis of ISIS goes back much further.  He states that at the point of pulling out of Iraq, the DIA and the Administration were well aware that the prisons being turned over to the Iraqis were breeding grounds for ISIS.  Thus, it was well known within US intelligence community that ISIS was well on its way to organizing and becoming what we see today.  The 2012 DIA report went on:

“ISI (the Islamic State of Iraq) could also declare an Islamic State through its union with other terrorist organizations in Iraq and Syria, which will create grave danger in regards of unifying Iraq and the protection of its territory,” the DIA report correctly predicted at the time.
Those groups eventually emerged as Islamic State (IS formerly ISIS/ISIL) and Al-Nusra Front, an Islamic group loyal to Al-Qaeda.

Flynn believes the so called strategy of what we see today, is no strategy at all.  The number of terrorists has doubled between 2004-2014.  And the “replacements” and many new recruits are from the West, states Flynn.