|
 Obama, speaking during a visit to the Pentagon, noted the
difficulty of preventing small-scale attacks by "lone wolves" within
the U.S. homeland despite success at preventing large attacks since
the Sept. 11, 2001 assaults on New York and Washington.
"We’re going to have to pick up our game to prevent these attacks,"
he said.
Obama said there were no current plans to send additional U.S.
troops overseas and repeated that the fight against the militant
group also known as ISIL would not be quick.
He said U.S. training of Iraqi forces had been ramped up after being
too slow.
The U.S. military has lamented that Iraq had not provided enough
recruits to meet U.S. training targets. [ID: nL1N0Z30YB] It has also
acknowledged that recruiting and training Syrians to fight Islamic
State was moving more slowly than expected, partly because of
problems with vetting volunteers. [ID: nL1N0Z42C9]
"We continue to accelerate the delivery of critical equipment,
including anti-tank weapons, to Iraqi security forces," Obama said.
"And I have made it clear to my team that we will do more to train
and equip the moderate opposition in Syria."
Obama did not give details on what more the United States would do
in that regard.
Republicans criticized the president for not having a successful
strategy.
[to top of second column] |
"His rhetoric doesn’t match reality. Over the last year, ISIS has
expanded its reach exponentially - and the group's influence
continues to grow," said Senator Tom Cotton, an Obama critic. "We’re
not going to defeat a radical jihadist army with more bureaucrats in
DC and no funding for our military on the front lines."
Obama said more needed to be done to prevent Islamic State from
gaining recruits within the United States. U.S. efforts to counter
extremism must not single out Muslim Americans or any faith group,
but the militant group was targeting its recruitment efforts at that
community, Obama said.
"We also have to acknowledge that ISIL has been particularly
effective at reaching out to and recruiting vulnerable people around
the world, including here in the United States," he said.
Obama's remarks came after U.S. July 4 Independence Day festivities
passed without a major attack.
(additional reporting by Phil Stewart, Emily Stephenson and Patricia
Zengerle; Editing by Bill Trott and Tom Brown)
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