Obama says ISIS being hit ‘harder than ever’; Carter arriving in

The president’s tone comes a day before Republican presidential candidates debate national security topics in Las Vegas – where there are bound to be plenty of arguments about how his strategy against global terrorism lacks teeth.

Following the speech, the president made a statement about the meetings, and the efforts of U.S. Special Forces in the middle east.

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“Since the summer, ISIL has not had a single successful ground operation in either Syria or Iraq”, he said, adding the coalition was also targeting its oil tanker trucks, wells, and refineries. “We are playing a long game, when a more rapid and disruptive strategy is required”.

Obama and the White House National Security Council were at the Pentagon for a briefing on progress against the Islamic State organization, which seized large swathes of Iraq and Syria in the last two years.

The president sought to reassure Americans after a deadly attack in San Bernardino, California earlier this month by a married couple believed to have been inspired by Islamic State, and a bloody massacre in Paris by extremists in November.

Obama has advocated a multipronged strategy of airstrikes, special forces operations, financial sanctions and diplomacy.

Still, a majority of those surveyed in the new poll, 56 percent, said that the USA has “not gone far enough” in the fight against ISIS, while 29 percent said it’s “been about right” and 12 percent said the US has “gone too far”. Here was the President at the Pentagon today.

Obama has tried to use his bully pulpit as a counterpoint to Trump and his widely condemned proposal to bar Muslims from entering the U.S. The White House scheduled a conference call Monday with religious leaders about ways to fight discrimination and promote religious tolerance. Another 32 percent in the latest poll are opposed to sending troops, while 22 percent are still on the fence. “What happens when there’s a terrorist attack generated from Yemen?”

Hawkish Sen. John McCain (R – AZ) blasted the comments as “business as usual”, dismissing the visit to the Pentagon as little more than a photo op for the president.

“Just as the United States is doing more in this fight, just as our allies – France, Germany and the United Kingdom, Australia, and Italy – are doing more, so must others”, Obama said. Eighty-eight percent of Republicans and 66 percent of independents said the president has not clearly explained the goals, and even among Democrats, 51 percent agreed.

Still, U.S. fighters have participated in 9,000 airstrikes and “dropped more bombs last month than any other month” since the fighting began.

“Iraq syndrome is still hanging there”, he said, referring to a hangover from the USA invasion and occupation of Iraq, “and the public doesn’t really think that war is going to solve the ISIS problem”.

An increasing number of Americans favor a more aggressive military stance against the Islamic State group amid increasing fear about threats against the United States, according to a new Associated Press-GfK poll. “The bombing doesn’t seem to have done anything”.