The Obama administration is working quickly to push back against the notion that there is no strategy to defeat Islamic State terrorists, after President Obama’s comments during a press conference in Germany after the G-7 World Leaders Summit.
The newly minted State Department spokesperson John Kirby appeared on Morning Joe today to remind Americans that the fight against ISIS would last “3-5 years” and ask for some “strategic patience.”
Kirby explained that Obama did have a strategy although it was “messy” and would “take time.”
“The ends are very clear, we’ve said this all along, the goal is to degrade and defeat ISIL and remove them as a threat in the region and around the world,” he said.
Kirby outlined Obama’s effort to train and equip more Iraqi troops to fight ISIS, directing airstrikes against ISIS forces and working with surrounding countries to stop ISIS from bringing recruited fighters across the borders of Iraq and Syria.
“Every day we take a look at the strategy, in it’s execution,” Kirby said, asserting that it was “sound.”
Obama’s comments, he explained, was referring to a specific element of his strategy. The new effort, he added, was a surge of Iraqi troop training in response to the fall of Ramadi.
“Obviously, we believe, certainly after Ramadi, that there is perhaps some room for improvement there,” he said.
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