Claim: Former US President Barack Obama confessed that ISIS was formed by the CIA and funded by the US.
Verdict: Context lacking
A video allegedly featuring a speech by former US President Barack Obama is circulating online, with the claim that he acknowledges the US’s involvement in training ISIS. This fragment has resurfaced amid efforts to implicate the US in the recent terrorist attack in Russia, as part of Russian propaganda seeking to blame Ukraine and its allies for the incident claimed by ISIS.
| ISIS was allegedly created by the CIA under the direction of John Brennan and funded by Barack Obama. The CIA is also said to have financed, armed, and trained ISIS members in Jordan to be deployed in Syria to overthrow Assad,
reportedly due to Assad’s refusal to permit Saudi Arabia to install a natural gas pipeline from Saudi Arabia through Syria, Jordan, Turkey, and into the European Union. Which of the two fake news versions seems worse? 1) ISIS carried out the terrorist attack in Russia last night, or 2) it was orchestrated by Ukraine with arms, training, and financing from the United States government? |
In the aforementioned clip, Obama is heard saying:
‘As I’ve mentioned previously, this aspect of our strategy has been progressing too slowly. But, the fall of Ramadi has galvanized the Iraqi government. Thus, with the additional steps I ordered last month, we are accelerating the training of ISIL forces, including volunteers from Sunni tribes in the Anbar Province.’
Through the Google Reverse Image Search engine, Faktoje discovered that the above video was excerpted from a speech Obama, then President of the United States, delivered on July 6, 2015. Obama discusses the U.S. strategy against ISIS in the video.
In the official archive, Obama’s statement is clarified as follows:
Meanwhile, we continue to ramp up our training and support of local forces that are fighting ISIL on the ground. As I’ve said before, this aspect of our strategy was moving too slowly. But, the fall of Ramadi has galvanized the Iraqi government. So, with the additional steps I ordered last month, we’re speeding up training of ISIL [Iraqi] forces, including volunteers from Sunni tribes in Anbar Provice. ‘
Thus, the above clip lacks the first sentence of this paragraph, in which Obama specifically addresses the fight against ISIL by aiding and financing local resistance. The Sunni tribes in Anbar were considered significant actors in the ground battle against ISIL.
Furthermore, in the official clarification, the word ‘ISIL’ heard in the clip is followed by the word ‘Iraqi’ enclosed in square brackets. This indicates that Obama mistakenly said ‘ISIL forces’, instead of ‘Iraqi forces.’
The circulating video portrays President Obama making a slip of the tongue during his statement about the fight against ISIL, rather than admitting that ISIL is funded by the CIA or the United States.
