President Barack Obama is assessing what’s working and what’s not in the fight against the Islamic State group as the USA military ramps up its action plans.
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He added that the United States and global partners needed to do more to stop the spread of ISIS networks across the world and prepare for more threats in America. “Because in order for us to ultimately win this fight, we can not frame this as a clash of civilizations between the West and Islam, that plays right into the hands of ISIL and the perverse interpretations of Islam they’re putting forward”.
“It should be clear by now, and no one knows this better than our military leaders, that even as we need to crush ISIL on the battlefield, their military defeat will not be enough, so long as their twisted ideology persists and drives people to violence, then groups like ISIL will keep emerging and the worldwide community will continue to be at risk in getting sucked into a global whack-a-mole where we’re always reacting to the latest threat or the lone actor”, the president said.
Obama did not discuss the Manbij airstrikes explicitly, but said he takes “very seriously” allegations of civilian casualties.
Obama warned that ISIS is aware of how much attention they can get out of small scale attacks, saying that the U.S. needs to do a better job is disrupting ISIS networks around the world, and not just in the countries that the USA war is now taking place in.
“We’re going to follow the law”, Obama said.
Obama noted that with the decline of ISIS strongholds in Iraq and Syria, the Islamic extremists may revert to tactics such as those seen at home in Orlando, Fla., and overseas in Nice, France.
“The U.S. remains prepared to work with Russia to try to reduce the violence and strengthen our efforts against ISIL and al Qaeda in Syria, but so far Russia has failed to take the necessary steps”, Obama said, adding that he was not confident Russia or Putin could be trusted.
“Given the success, the additional 560 United States support personnel that I ordered to Iraq last month will help turn this base into a logistical hub and launch bed for Iraqi forces as a push into Mosul”, he said.
President Barack Obama says the US does not pay ransom for hostages. With significant USA help, Iraq’s government is preparing a major offensive to reclaim the key northern city of Mosul, controlled by IS since June 2014.
Obama announced no new initiatives or accelerants against Isis after his meeting at the Pentagon, but defended two security policies that have come under recent criticism: diplomacy with both Iran and Russian Federation.
Obama dismissed a widely circulated story from the Wall Street Journal claiming that a $400m cash payment to Iran, announced in January, was a payment to secure the release of United States citizens held captive by the Iranian government.
“We do not pay ransom for hostages”, Obama said, treating the account as a proxy for criticism of his 2015 accord to end Iran’s nuclear weapons program, which he challenged his critics to admit had worked. “In other words, ISIL turns out not to be invincible, they are, in fact, inevitably going to be defeated”. Should the plan fail, he said: “Russia will have shown itself very clearly to be an irresponsible actor”.
While Obama has recently shown great relish for attacking Trump, at last week’s Democratic convention and elsewhere, as a demagogue, he told reporters at the Pentagon that continuing the criticism would belabor the point.
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Instead, Obama urged journalists and voters to evaluate the next president on the basis of “someone with the temperament and good judgment to keep America safe”.
