Former Pentagon Intelligence Director: Our Military Strategy Since 9/11 Has Been Going In The Wrong Direction

Lieutenant General Michael Flynn during his interview with Mehdi Hasan on Al Jazeera.

Interview Conducted By Matthias Gebauer and Holger Stark, Spiegel Online: Ex-US Intelligence Chief on Islamic State's Rise: 'We Were Too Dumb'

Without the Iraq war, Islamic State wouldn't exist today, former US special forces chief Mike Flynn openly admits. In an interview, he explains IS' rise to become a professional force and how the Americans allowed its future leader to slip out of their hands.

Michael Flynn, 56, served in the United States Army for more than 30 years, most recently as director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, where he was the nation's highest-ranking military intelligence officer. Previously, he served as assistant director of national intelligence inside the Obama administration. From 2004 to 2007, he was stationed in Afghanistan and Iraq, where, as commander of the US special forces, he hunted top al-Qaida terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, one of the predecessors to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, who today heads the Islamic State (IS) in Syria and Iraq. After Flynn's team located Zarqawi's whereabouts, the US killed the terrorist in an air strike in June 2006.

In an interview, Flynn explains the rise of the Islamic State and how the blinding emotions of 9/11 led the United States in the wrong direction strategically.

Update: Ex-Intel Chief Admits US Was 'Dumb' on Middle East Strategy After 9/11 (Sputnik)

WNU Editor: Memo to Michael Flynn (ret.) .... regular readers of this blog figured out this wrong strategy direction years ago.