White House: Islamic State Fight Is 'Just a War of Narratives'

WASHINGTON, D.C. — White House press secretary Josh Earnest made the talk show rounds Monday morning to pitch his new line that the fight against the Islamic State, or ISIS (or “ISIL” as the White House calls it) is “just a war of narratives.”

“In some ways, actually, this is just a war of narratives,” Earnest said in an interview on MSNBC. “So we want to make sure we’re getting out our counter-narrative against ISIL. And we’re having some progress. Or, we’re making some progress.”

“We can’t give them the narrative victory of suggesting that every Muslim is responsible for this kind of terrorism. We can’t give into this narrative that ISIL wants to build up that the United States is at war with Islam. That is false. That is not true. With some of this rhetoric, we can’t allow that kind of narrative victory to be given,” Earnest said.

“When it comes to ISIL, we are in a narrative fight with them. A narrative battle,” Earnest said on CNN.

The way to win the narrative battle, Earnest said, is to make clear that America is not at war with Islam.