ISIS just taught Obama a CRUEL lesson about economics at your expense!

ISIS just taught Obama a CRUEL lesson about economics

Written by Allen West 

So, we were going to degrade, defeat, destroy, and achieve all the other grand lofty rhetorical declarations against ISIS as espoused by President Barack Obama — and reiterated by his loyal court jester and mouthpiece Josh Earnest. And after more than a year when nothing has truly been done, I offer my congratulations to our Army Special Operations force for the daring rescue operation that freed captured Iraqi soldiers. However, let’s not forget Russia is flying airstrikes that aren’t doing anything against ISIS — as the very sly Vladimir Putin admitted.

But is it just about killing ISIS fighters? I’ll be the first to admit killing needs to be done, but a critical strategic task that must occur is to cut off their flow of resources, men, materiel, and financing.

ISIS has to be choked off, methodically reduced and its sphere of influence shrunk. And nothing resembling that will occur in the next fourteen months. There may be instances of daring operations – in fact I wonder if the recent raid operation was done with or without the approval of President Obama.

Then again, as we reported, he vetoed the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) so we have a military unauthorized to exist or conduct any missions.

One thing is for certain, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi has authorized the savage barbarians of ISIS to conduct all sorts of operations — including financial.

As reported by the Washington Times, “The Islamic State terrorist group is raking in up to $50 million a month from the sales of crude from oilfields under its control in Iraq and Syria, according to Iraqi intelligence and U.S. officials.

The militant group’s oil boom, highlighted by the Associated Press on Friday, demonstrates a well-run terrorist industry that U.S. diplomacy and airstrikes have so far failed to shut down.

The oil sales are the extremists’ largest single source of continual income and are a key reason the group has been able to maintain their control over their self-declared “caliphate” over Iraq and Syria. Islamic State militants sell crude to smugglers at prices that vary between $10 and $35 per barrel, Iraqi intelligence officials told the Associated Press. The international price of oil is about $50 per barrel.

The smugglers then sell the oil to middlemen in Turkey, or, according to one Iraqi official, to individuals in Kurdish areas of Iraq, as well. A Kurdish politician denied the claim. The extremists were believed to have extracted about 30,000 barrels a day in Syria, and about 10,000 to 20,000 barrels per day in Iraq, according to AP.”

You know what’s actually comical? We have an administration that maintains a ban on our oil and natural gas resources while ISIS is busy exporting oil, which in turn funds their barbarism. And you must understand you cannot effectively bomb oil smuggling or degrade this operation unless you put forces on the ground to specifically reduce this capability for ISIS. And let’s be honest, our supposed ally, Turkey, has a border like Swiss cheese — perhaps they’re following Obama’s lead on border security?

“The U.S.-led airstrike campaign has sought to target the group’s main funding sources in recent months. On Thursday the international coalition carried out a large-scale attack on Syria’s Omar oil field, a major source of revenue for the group. The terrorist group also collects taxes in the areas it controls, which are believed to bring in a considerable profit. In addition, the group has made money on the sales of looted antiques and artifacts from Iraq and Syrian cities.”

Again, unless you have effective ground tactical teams directing air attacks, bombing isn’t going to be effective. I’d just love to know whether or not ISIS is running a budget deficit.

We must begin to follow the money and put in place sanctions against those enabling ISIS financial viability. It’s not impossible to trace those purchasing historical artifacts and antiquities — someone knows. If we don’t take action soon, we’ll be witnessing one of the most well financed non-state Islamic terrorist groups the world has ever known. And thanks to President Obama, Iran is about to become the most well funded state sponsor of Islamic terrorism.

If you know your history, this is no different than the Barbary pirates of North Africa — Morocco, Tunis, Tripoli, and Algiers. They made a living off raiding commerce in the Mediterranean Sea and out into the littorals of the Atlantic Ocean. And the only means to prevent their raids was to pay tribute, a jizya tax. Our new nation, without an established naval presence, was an easy target for the Barbary States. It was Thomas Jefferson who realized this enemy could not be appeased and negotiated with and so he ordered the commissioning of our Expeditionary Naval force. I find it rather ironic that it’s the same Jefferson who the Democrats celebrate in their Jefferson-Jackson dinner events.

History teaches us that Jefferson, if alive today, would not accept the existence of ISIS. Jefferson met with the Dey of Algiers in Paris, had already read the Koran, and understood the enemy and his objectives. And so he committed our nation to fight them.

Today the so-called descendants of Jefferson are doing nothing…and ISIS is bankrolling big jack, as we used to say growing up. Well, at least someone understands the power of exporting energy resources — but it ain’t the Obama administration.