Nov 20, 2015 U.S. President Barack Obama recently ruled out a shift in strategy in the fight against the Islamic State despite the deadly attacks in Paris last week.
President Obama, who spoke after a G20 leaders’ summit in Turkey, said the Paris attacks were a setback in the fight against Islamic State. However he insisted that the coalition led by the United States was making progress in bringing down the militant group in Syria and Iraq.
“The terrible events in Paris were obviously a terrible and sickening setback, even as we grieve with our French friends, however, we can’t lose sight that there has been progress being made. On the military front our coalition is intensifying our air strikes, more than 8,000 to date. We are taking out ISIL (Islamic State) leaders, commanders, their killers, we have seen that when we have an affective partner on the ground ISIL can and is pushed back,”
Obama went on to say that U.S. intelligence agencies have been concerned over a potential attack on the West by Islamic State militants for over a year. But insisted that the U.S.-led coalition fighting the militants in Iraq and Syria will increase efforts to implement the current strategy rather than moving in a new direction, even as the militants threaten to strike Washington.
“There will be an intensification of the strategy that we’ve put forward, but the strategy that we are putting forward is the strategy that ultimately is going to work. But, as I said from the start, it is going to take time and what has been interesting is that in the aftermath of Paris is I listened to those who suggest something else needs to be done, typically, the things they suggest that needs to be done are things we already do,”