Obama defending terrorism strategy before handover to Trump

“That’s the bottom line”.

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But he urged policy planners – and indirectly his replacement, President-elect Donald Trump – not to overreact to the threat by overcommitting American forces and choosing military might over diplomacy.

Obama maintained that avoiding a large-scale invasion in Syria is nonetheless “the smartest decision from a menu of bad options that were available to us”.

However, Obama made it clear that “the terrorist threat is real and it is unsafe”.

“We can get these terrorists and stay true to who we are”, Obama said.

“Today’s terrorists can kill, but they don’t pose an existential threat to our nation”.

Broadly, Obama argued that he saved American lives by not sending them into harm’s way without a clear strategy and achievable goal – and that he did it while remaining within the bounds of his presidential power.

Obama then pivoted and suggested that ISIL is not really the significant threat to the USA that many Americans know it to be. Under the Obama administration the number of troops in the two countries has been reduced from 180,000 to 15,000. Among the units under the leadership of U.S. Special Operations Command, whose headquarters Obama was visiting Tuesday, are the Army Delta Force, Navy SEALs and the Army’s Green Berets.

“What Obama can do for him is kind of help bring him up to date or help him understand what he’s gotten himself into”, Light said of Trump, who is 70.

The retired generals that Trump has assembled for his national security team, many other Republicans and some Democrats fault Obama for being too reluctant to commit force and too fuzzy in articulating America’s security interests.

“And I’ve seen the cost”. I’ve held the hands of wounded warriors at Walter Reed. I’ve met the caskets of the fallen at Dover. “I have been consistently in awe of your performance and the way that you’ve carried out your mission”.

While Trump is now calling for “extreme vetting” of certain refugees admitted to the United States, during the campaign he proposed banning foreign-born Muslims from entering the country.

“War has been a part of life in Afghanistan for over 30 years and the United States can not eliminate the Taliban in that country”, he said. “You are carrying the burden”.

MacDill was the flawless place to deliver that message, given that U.S. Central Command is responsible for carrying out the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and that Special Operations Command oversees the use of America’s special operations forces.

Ben Rhodes, a deputy national security adviser, said in previewing the speech that the president has focused on building partnerships with nations while the United States provides intelligence and training to complement a USA -led coalition air campaign.

The White House has said previously that the two also have spoken several times by phone since the election.