Fmr Obama Amb: Al Qaeda ‘Came Roaring Back’ in 2012

Ambassador James Jeffrey, who served as Ambassador to both Iraq and Turkey under President Obama (although he was appointed to be the Ambassador to Turkey by President Bush) and as Deputy National Security Advisor to President George W. Bush said that in 2012 al Qaeda “gained new life, they gained a second wind” and “came roaring back” on Saturday’s “Justice with Judge Jeanine” on the Fox News Channel.

“First, under President Bush then under President Obama, the United States, for ten years, suppressed al Qaeda, killed its leadership, including Osama bin Laden in 2011, and thought that we were finished. What we didn’t recognize, was that this organization, and the theology, and ideology that drives this has very deep roots in the region. By 2012, as many Arab states, Egypt, Libya, Syria, Yemen, were facing these Arab Spring uprisings, al Qaeda gained new life, they gained a second wind. And now we’re facing a much bigger threat than we’ve seen for years” he declared.

Jeffrey added, when asked about President Obama’s claims that al Qaeda was “on the run,” “all administrations like to put a positive spin on whatever they do. They had been fighting al Qaeda, they had some successes. They wanted to claim that it was on the run. In 2011, it was on the run, it wasn’t defeated, and in 2012, it came roaring back. Flynn is right.”

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