07-07-2015, 09:35 AM
ISIS -- Where are we now?
President Obama's Speech:
President Barack Obama reiterated today that the global battle to defeat ISIS, almost in its second year, will not be over any time soon and that putting additional U.S. forces in the region isn't an option his administration is considering.
'This will not be quick. This is a long-term campaign,' he said today during a statement following a meeting with his national security team at the Pentagon, later telling reporters that the U.S. and its partners are engaged in a 'larger battle for hearts and minds' and Muslims.
ISIS 'is opportunistic, and it is nimble,' he said in many places, its fighters have embedded themselves in local communities.
'It will take time to root them out and doing so must be the job of local forces on the ground with training and support' of the U.S. and a 60-nation coalition, he said, noting as his administration has said many times in the last several months, that will periods of progress and periods of setback.
The U.S. over the weekend stepped up its attacks on ISIS in Syria, launching 'the most sustained set of airstrikes to date' against the group, according to Brett McGurk, the U.S. envoy to the international coalition that is fighting ISIS.
The attack, which consisted of 18 airstrikes on targets in Raqqa, Syria, coincided with America's Independence Day, July 4. A year ago, on June 30, 2014, drove through the streets of Raqqa, declaring a caliphate across Iraq and Syria.
All told, the U.S. and it's allies have dropped more than 5,000 bombs on the extremist group since last August, Obama said today.
But military action alone will not wipe out the terrorist group, he said. 'Ideologies are not defeated with guns, they're defeated by better ideas, a more attractive and compelling vision,' Obama said.
That is why the coalition against ISIS must discredit the group's ideology, paying special attention to the online communities and social networks the terrorist group frequents.
'We will constantly reaffirm with words and with deeds that we will never be at war with Islam. We are fighting terrorists who distort Islam,' Obama said, 'and whose victims are mostly Muslims.'
The U.S. is relying on Muslim communities around the world to push back against ISIS forcefully and teach young people the true teachings of Islam.
'This larger battle for hearts and minds is gonna be a generational struggle. It's ultimately not going to be won or lost by the United States alone,' he said. It will be decided by countries and communities that ISIS has set its sights on.
Those countries must reject ISIS' 'warped' interpretation of Islam and sectarianism and address the types of 'economic grievances that Obama said terrorists exploit in order for ISIS to be driven out.
'This will not be quick': Obama on the battle against ISIS. That is why, he said, the U.S. has no plans to send in additional troops to Iraq at this time.
Obama said, 'It is not enough for us to simply send in American troops to temporarily set back organizations like [ISIS] but to then, as soon as we leave, see that void filled once again with extremists.'
It is 'vital' to global security and the future of those countries that local ground forces are able to protect their homeland. 'If we try to do everything ourselves' across the Middle East, Obama said, we'll be playing 'whack a mole and there will be a whole lot of unintended consequences.'
That will 'ultimately make us less secure,' he said, standing his ground.
President Obama's Speech:
President Barack Obama reiterated today that the global battle to defeat ISIS, almost in its second year, will not be over any time soon and that putting additional U.S. forces in the region isn't an option his administration is considering.
'This will not be quick. This is a long-term campaign,' he said today during a statement following a meeting with his national security team at the Pentagon, later telling reporters that the U.S. and its partners are engaged in a 'larger battle for hearts and minds' and Muslims.
ISIS 'is opportunistic, and it is nimble,' he said in many places, its fighters have embedded themselves in local communities.
'It will take time to root them out and doing so must be the job of local forces on the ground with training and support' of the U.S. and a 60-nation coalition, he said, noting as his administration has said many times in the last several months, that will periods of progress and periods of setback.
The U.S. over the weekend stepped up its attacks on ISIS in Syria, launching 'the most sustained set of airstrikes to date' against the group, according to Brett McGurk, the U.S. envoy to the international coalition that is fighting ISIS.
The attack, which consisted of 18 airstrikes on targets in Raqqa, Syria, coincided with America's Independence Day, July 4. A year ago, on June 30, 2014, drove through the streets of Raqqa, declaring a caliphate across Iraq and Syria.
All told, the U.S. and it's allies have dropped more than 5,000 bombs on the extremist group since last August, Obama said today.
But military action alone will not wipe out the terrorist group, he said. 'Ideologies are not defeated with guns, they're defeated by better ideas, a more attractive and compelling vision,' Obama said.
That is why the coalition against ISIS must discredit the group's ideology, paying special attention to the online communities and social networks the terrorist group frequents.
'We will constantly reaffirm with words and with deeds that we will never be at war with Islam. We are fighting terrorists who distort Islam,' Obama said, 'and whose victims are mostly Muslims.'
The U.S. is relying on Muslim communities around the world to push back against ISIS forcefully and teach young people the true teachings of Islam.
'This larger battle for hearts and minds is gonna be a generational struggle. It's ultimately not going to be won or lost by the United States alone,' he said. It will be decided by countries and communities that ISIS has set its sights on.
Those countries must reject ISIS' 'warped' interpretation of Islam and sectarianism and address the types of 'economic grievances that Obama said terrorists exploit in order for ISIS to be driven out.
'This will not be quick': Obama on the battle against ISIS. That is why, he said, the U.S. has no plans to send in additional troops to Iraq at this time.
Obama said, 'It is not enough for us to simply send in American troops to temporarily set back organizations like [ISIS] but to then, as soon as we leave, see that void filled once again with extremists.'
It is 'vital' to global security and the future of those countries that local ground forces are able to protect their homeland. 'If we try to do everything ourselves' across the Middle East, Obama said, we'll be playing 'whack a mole and there will be a whole lot of unintended consequences.'
That will 'ultimately make us less secure,' he said, standing his ground.