Secretary of Defense Mark Esper
CNN: Defense secretary says ISIS not in a resurgent state in Syria despite Pentagon report saying ISIS is re-surging
Secretary of Defense Mark Esper said Wednesday that ISIS was not "in a resurgent state in Syria" despite a Pentagon inspector general report saying the terror group is re-surging in that country.
"I don't agree that ISIS is in a resurgent state in Syria, but that doesn't mean we haven't seen them spring up in places like Afghanistan," Esper said in an interview with Fox News, his first since becoming Defense secretary.
His comments appear to be at odds with a report from the Pentagon's Office of the Inspector General published earlier this month, which said ISIS was "re-surging" in Syria following President Donald Trump's decision to reduce troops there.
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Update: Administration muddles its ISIS message (Politico)
WNU Editor: ISIS is a shell of its former self, but ideology of radical Islam is still with us, and it is going to take generations (if not more) to defeat it.
2 comments:
That is exactly it WNU editor. Eliminating one group is never going to be a long term solution. And long-term occupation of arab land with western troops only exacerbates the ideology of jihad.
ISIS is in no position to hold territory anymore. The PMU in Iraq and Tiger Forces in Syrian broke their back. But that doesn't mean they aren't going to maintain a low intensity insurgency for years to come. If manning hundreds of checkpoints while being sniped at and car bombed is something we want our boys to do indefinitely then why'd we even leave?
If Saudi Arabia and Israel don't feel safe with a bunch of cut-throat jihadists running around their neighboring countries maybe they should stop bombing the forces that are actually fighting them. The forces who are doing the groundwork against ISIS with actual support from the local people, who supposedly need to be "won over" if we ever want them to stop feeding the beast.
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