US President Barack Obama on Monday ruled out a shift in strategy in the fight against the ISIS despite the deadly attacks in Paris last week, saying putting US troops on the ground to combat the grou
US President Barack Obama on Monday ruled out a shift in strategy in the fight against the ISIS despite the deadly attacks in Paris last week, saying putting US troops on the ground to combat the group “would be a mistake.”
Mr Obama, speaking after a G20 leaders’ summit in Turkey, said the US-led coalition fighting ISIS in Iraq and Syria would redouble efforts to implement the current strategy rather than moving in a new direction, even as the militants threatened to strike Washington. “We are going to continue the strategy that has the best chance of working,” Mr Obama told a press conference.
“This is not a traditional military opponent. We can retake territory and as long as we keep our troops there we can hold it. But that does not solve the underlying problem of eliminating the dynamics that are producing these kinds of violent, extremist groups,” he added. The US President said avoiding sending American troops into Iraq and Syria to take on ISIS directly “is not just my view, but the view of my closest military and civilian advisers.”
“There will be an intensification of the strategy that we put forward but the strategy that we put forward is the strategy that ultimately is going to work,” Mr Obama said. He said the key was to resolve the political crisis in Syria that has fuelled years of civil war and at the same time to reduce the size of territory over which ISIS holds sway, handing it over to local forces who can hold it and keep the group out over the long term.
“That ultimately is what is going to make a difference and it’s going to take time,” the US leader said. He said US intelligence agencies have been concerned about a potential attack on the West by ISIS militants for over a year but they did not pick up specific threats about an attack on Paris that would have enabled officials there to respond effectively to deter the assault. “There were no specific mentions of this particular attack that would give us a sense of something that we could provide French authorities, for example, or act on ourselves,” he said. The United States has agreed to speed up its sharing of military intelligence with France to try to avert such assaults. The agreement would allow US personnel to pass threat information, including on ISIS jihadists to France “even more quickly and more often” Mr Obama added. “We need to be doing everything we can to protect against more attacks and protect our citizens.” Mr Obama also hailed “modest progress” in diplomatic efforts to find a solution to the Syria conflict.
As world leaders grapple with a migrant crisis in Europe and elsewhere, Mr Obama also warned against “equating the issue of refugees with the issue of terrorism”. “Many of the refugees are the victims of terrorism themselves, that is what they are fleeing. Slamming the door in their faces would be a betrayal of our values,” the US leader said.
Meanwhile, Texas and Ar-kansas on Monday joined two other US states, saying they will no longer accept Syrian refugees, contending that allowing in people was too dangerous following Friday’s deadly Paris attack. Republican governors of Texas and Arka-nsas, following the lead of Alabama and Michigan, said their states would no longer help support the Ob-ama administration’s goal of accepting 10,000 Syrian refugees in the coming years. “After full consideration of this weekend’s attacks of terror on innocent citizens in Paris, I will oppose any attempt to relocate Syrian refugees to Ala-bama,” said governor Rob-ert Bentley . “As your governor, I will not stand complicit to a policy that places the citizens of Alabama in harm’s way,” Mr Bentley said.
