Americans want to get tougher with the Islamic State

Working to ease public jitters ahead of the holidays, President Barack Obama opened a rare meeting of his National Security Council at the Pentagon on Monday, part of a weeklong push to explain his strategy for stopping the Islamic State group overseas and its sympathizers at home.

President Barack Obama on Monday said the U.S.-led coalition is making progress against Islamic State militants in both Iraq and Syria, as he delivered an update on the campaign aimed at reassuring Americans anxious about the spread of extremism-fuel terrorism.

“…I’ve asked Secretary Carter to go to the Middle East – he’ll depart right after this press briefing – to work with our coalition partners on securing more military contributions to this fight”.

Obama says ISIS has lost 40% of populated areas it once controlled in Iraq, and continues to lose area in Syria.

“Our strategy is moving forward with a great sense of urgency”, coupled with “persistent diplomacy to end the Syrian civil war so everyone can focus on ISIL”, the president said, using another acronym for the Islamic state of Iraq and Syria, or ISIS.

Obama listed several prominent ISIS leaders, commanders and killers who have been taken out, including Emwazi, “who brutally murdered Americans and others”.

“[Islamic State] leaders can not hide”, he said, “and our next message to them is simple: You are next”. The military has said hundreds of U.S airstrikes in recent days dealt a major blow to the Islamic State’s ranks in the western Iraqi city of Ramadi, which the group seized in May.

Analysts say the public desire for more action reflects growing anxiety over the Islamic State after its attack in Paris, and the shootings in San Bernardino, California, carried out by a couple apparently inspired by the group.

Obama’s comments were seen as an effort to calm Americans unnerved by the brazen ISIS attacks in Paris last month, in which more than 30 people were killed.

Amid mounting worries the Islamic State is using its sanctuaries in Syria and Iraq to plan attacks in the Middle East, Europe, and perhaps the United States, critics say that more than tweaks are needed.

Forty-two percent now favor sending USA troops to fight the Islamic State group after just 31 percent said that in January.

“The President would not be satisfied unless ISIS is defeated and degraded”, the White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest told reporters later at his daily news conference. He highlighted the anti-IS coalition’s mission to destroy the Islamic State from its root.

In addition, 51 percent of Americans feel at least “somewhat worried” that they or their family members would become a victim of terrorism.

The president made the remarks after meeting with his national security team at the Pentagon on Monday. It was also a quiet acknowledgment that Obama’s speech from the Oval Office last week was not well received, even by some Democrats. Obama rattled off a litany of successes – more bombs being dropped, more territory being regained, more allies joining the fight – but acknowledged that it’s not enough.