Local Editor

A former Pentagon official has revealed that US President Barack Obama ignored the threats of the so-called "Islamic State" [IS] for at least one year despite being given detailed intelligence about their advancements, according to Fox News on Tuesday.

The former official, who asked not to be identified, told Fox News that Obama was given detailed and specific intelligence about the rise of the IS extremist group as part of his daily briefing before the group seized large parts of Iraq and Syria.

The source said President's Daily Brief is considered the most authoritative, classified intelligence community product analyzing sensitive international events for Obama and that the data was strong and "granular" in detail.

Furthermore, the former Pentagon official also said that there was a delay regarding the question of whether to act to save American journalist James Foley from IS, with White House continually asking for "the intelligence to build up more."
Foley was detained by the militants in Syria in 2012 and he was decapitated by the group recently about two weeks ago.

In comments made by Obama recently last week, apparently trying to suggest that he'd take a measured approach to deciding on a US military response rather than make a quick decision, he said, "we don't have a strategy yet," for targeting the militant group.

Meanwhile, the US launched an air campaign against the militant group in Iraq since August 8.
The US military has begun planning for airstrikes against IS targets in Syria.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team