US Has ‘Contained’ Islamic State Group, Obama Says

The United States has halted the course of the Islamic State group, President Barack Obama said in remarks broadcast yesterday, calling for a stepped up drive to “completely decapitate” the militants’ operations.

In an interview with ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos that aired Friday, Obama claimed the US has achieved its first goal of containing ISIS, which is also known as ISIL. “I think it’s fair to say over the last several years I’ve had access to all the best military minds in the country”. However, the president admitted that attempts to “decapitate” ISIS’ leadership have been unsuccessful and will require a “multi-year effort”.

In Tuesday night’s GOP primary debate in Milwaukee, Carson said he would make ISIS “look like losers” by “destroying their caliphate”. “We could do that, I believe, fairly easily, I’ve learned from talking to several generals, and then you move on from there”.

It’s been a tough couple of months in the battle against the so-called Islamic State, but the news coming out of Iraq and Syria on this November Friday marks a refreshing change of pace.

During Allen’s time in the military, he served as deputy commander in Iraq’s Anbar province and as deputy commander for U.S. Central Command.

“A majority of Americans continue to describe the Iraq War as a mistake”, they added, referring to a June poll finding.

But Labott pushed back on why, with the Kurds such strong partners in the fight against ISIS, the United States is not directly arming them.

“The Seals and the Marines that can conduct those missions, as well, and did so very skillfully in Afghanistan, there’s just never enough of them – and I know because I tried to find every single one in the inventory, and tried to get them into Iraq, Afghanistan or the greater Central Command area. And in Syria it – they’ll come in, they’ll leave”, Obama said. The USA wants to preserve the oil fields for the Iraqi government, which is probably wise, but it’s also true that ISIS is making a fortune off of black-market oil sales. “But you don’t see this systematic march by ISIS across the terrain”, he said.

Obama’s full interview with Stephanopoulos will air Sunday on “This Week”. “We’ve made a few progress in trying to reduce the flow of foreign fighters”.