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Washington (CNN) -- A CIA assessment puts the number of ISIS fighters at possibly more than three times the previous estimates.
The terror group that calls itself the Islamic State "can muster between 20,000 and 31,500 fighters across Iraq and Syria," a CIA spokesman told CNN on Thursday.
Analysts and U.S. officials initially estimated there were as many as 10,000 fighters, including those who were freed from prisons by ISIS, and Sunni loyalists who have joined the fight as the group advanced across Iraq.
"This new total reflects an increase in members because of stronger recruitment since June following battlefield successes and the declaration of a caliphate, greater battlefield activity and additional intelligence," the spokesman said.
The news came a day after President Barack Obama laid out his plan to "dismantle and ultimately destroy" ISIS, including authorizing airstrikes.
Mass executions and videotaped beheadings, including those of two American journalists, have led to the push for a broader counterterrorism mission, including possible airstrikes in civil war-torn Syria.
It's unclear how the ISIS ranks swelled, and whether the increased numbers include recruits from within Iraq.

"The aim is to DESTROY ISIS " say's Obama.

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Want my opinion? `Merica!... Simple, aint no body fukin wit us unless dey wanna git rekt... #300

lmao

I could really get into this, I truly could but I won't. I will say this much, we're fighting ISIS wrong. Obama made a mistake by disregarding what our military leaders told him about pulling out of Iraq. By pulling out he created a place for evil to culminate, and our officers and enlisted personnel who had first hand experience knew this would happen. Then on top of that he fails to call ISIS what they really are, if he was in it to win it he wouldn't have failed to label them.

Ultimately he wants to avoid sending in ground forces because he would then have to admit that he made a mistake. That he was wrong by disregarding our generals, and that ISIS is a far greater threat than he realizes. I personally feel that one day we will end up going back to Iraq, maybe through Kuwait again or through Syria. Either way we will have boots on the deck.

One last thing, I wholeheartedly disagree with arming anyone. It's bad enough ISIS has a lot of our equipment that we left behind. The last thing we need to do is arm potential adversaries to do what ultimately is OUR fighting and OUR problem. We created this mess, it's our responsibility to clean it up.

u fucking americans caused this shit with ur dumbass 2003 ground led invasion. smh.

Oh yea ISIS it nos a threat to us.



Arming the Kurds is a good move, thank god we did not arm Syrian troops.



A couple of things people need to understand about this 'religious war' most of the people part of are not religious at all.
People taking part are using religious terms to make it sound better compared to what it is. These people are exploiting a couple key factors like inequality, poverty and unemployment.
Next thing is Islam has a couple religious groups within in. Both sides have been fighting for control of the middle east for some time, just like what happened catholic vs protestant.
Prince Bandar told the ex head MI6, Sir Richard Dearlove "The time is not far off in the Middle East, Richard, when it will be literally 'God help the Shia'. More than a billion Sunnis have simply had enough of them."
One last thing the middle has been tribalism which is at the core and divides villages, the middle east in its current form is 100 years old.
Arab spring was a sign people are fed up with the Arab elite and ISIS is a sign certain people want the elite power/wealth for their own. Arab states have created this problem by failing to deal with the above issues, and it's going to be ongoing. Why does ISIS want to kill its own and others?
The answer is to create fear and convert people to its own cause. Given the responsiveness of right wing people to ISIS being just what they want to see.
Getting American or British boots on the ground, it can hope to convert more people compared to killing any Muslims. ISIS has put down a trap it wants people to walk into and that why they issue threats. Days before the beheading of an American they killed a mulism reporter which one got more news?

Did the ground led invasion help cause this yes but it not the only cause it only created a power vacuum the Arab states are just as much to blame. Iraq government also did not help by forcing out certain groups from power and pissing them off.
West should push hard and for Arab states which fail to act to stop ISIS, to start acting together. ISIS has the power to destory every Arab state which is why certain states which are old foes have started to speak with each other.

Without religion there would be no war.

Well, here is another huge money debt we will owe and it will keep going until #illuminati.

I'm Muslim from Canada and I'm 100% against ISIS and their coward's action but I'm not going to take any sides. I have no idea what the hell is happening. But to answer, the ISIS is gaining more fighters, clearly many ungraduated kids who wanted to make their father proud and being brainwashed by the jihadist.

You couldn't have explained it any better. We took out soldiers too early and know this happens. We knew this was going to happen but Obama thought it would be a good idea to pull troops out. Now he thinks that he can just call air strikes to kill off Isis, and we all know that you can't just destroy a terrorist group with air strikes. This is why I truly think all presidents should have a military background so mistakes like this don't happen. Obama has never been in battle before, he sits behind a desk. He has no clue what he is doing controlling the worlds biggest military.

Same, I always disagreed with the whole "Command-in-Chief" title especially with most presidents that never really understood foreign policy or war fighting. If only he would have listened to the people he appointed to the JCS.