Yesterday Barack Obama outlined his “strategy” to take on Islamic State (aka ISIS, ISIL). In brief, his strategy is to selectively bomb Islamic State jihadists in Iraq and Syria and to aid and arm the supposed enemies of Islamic State in the hopes that they remain loyal to the United States and that they do not transfer or lose U.S. weapons to America’s enemies.

Implicitly, Obama’s strategy involves leaving untouched the primary state sponsors of terrorism—Iran and Saudi Arabia. Indeed, although Obama did not mention this in his speech, his administration is actively working with Saudi Arabia—a chief sponsor of Islamic terrorism against America—“to train moderate Syrian opposition [anti-Assad regime] fighters,” the New York Times reports.

In other words, Obama’s strategy is a combination of halfhearted attacks on Islamic State and dangerous coalitions with Islamic tyrants and militants, many of whom wish to see America destroyed.

What explains the ineptness of Obama’s foreign policy with respect to Islamic terrorism? One of the most important problems is Obama’s refusal to recognize the nature of America’s enemies.

What motivates Islamic terrorists? As they continually tell us, they are motivated by their religion, Islam. As Craig Biddle points out in his recent article, Iran was constitutionally founded on the Koranic requirement that Muslims engage in violent global conquest. The terrorists that Iran sponsors and encourages—and that Saudi Arabia sponsors and encourages—are motivated by the same religion.

Yet Obama refuses to believe these facts. Instead, he claims: . . .

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