Obama up for fight
But warns of long battle in ISIS crisis
WASHINGTON — President Obama declared Monday that ISIS “can be pushed back” — but warned that the campaign against the terror network will be a “generational struggle.”
Surrounding himself with military brass at the Pentagon almost 11 months after the first US strike against the group, Obama cautioned, “This is a longterm campaign. [ ISIS] is opportunistic and it is nimble.”
He warned that there would be ups and downs in the battle, mentioning the 5,100 airstrikes carried out by US and coalition forces — including nearly 2,000 inside Syria.
The president said there are “no current plans” to send more Americans into the fight and repeated his position that local forces must carry the fight if lasting gains are to be made.
“If we try to do everything ourselves . . . we’ll be playing Whac-A-Mole” as ISIS regroups, Obama warned.
He referenced heightened efforts to train opposition forces amid repeated failures by the Iraqi army.
“More Sunni volunteers are coming forward,” Obama said. “And I have made it clear to my team that we will do more to train and equip the moderate opposition in Syria.”
He added, “When we have an effective partner on the ground, ISIL [ ISIS] can be pushed back.”
But so far, the US has trained only 100 Syrian rebels, far fewer than the goal of 5,. 400 a year, Fox News reported.
In what amounted to a report card on the campaign to defeat ISIS, the president conceded the US faces an enemy with worldwide reach.
“We also have to acknowledge that ISIL has been particularly effective at reaching out to and recruiting vulnerable people around the world, including here in the United States. And they are targeting Muslim communities around the world,” Obama said, using another acronym for the Islamic State group.
ISIS still controls a huge region, although Obama said the coalition has clawed back a quarter of the populated territory under the terror group’s rigid rule.
Ticking off tactical accomplishments, Obama said the US coalition had taken out thousands of ISIS “fighting positions, tanks, vehicles, bomb factories, and training camps” and “eliminated thousands of fighters, including senior ISIL commanders.”
Obama also pointed to the threat of ISIS inspired threats on the home front and highlighted concerns of “lone wolf” attacks.
“Across more than two centuries we’ve faced much bigger, much more formidable challenges than this. Civil war, a Great Depression, fascism, communism, terrible natural disasters, 9/ 11,” Obama said.