President Obama might have been a bit moreĀ precise in his answer to a question this past week regarding the U.S. war against the Islamic State.
He told ABC News’s George Stephanopoulos that ISIL has been “contained.” Twenty-four hours later, terrorists launched the hideous attacks throughout Paris, killing nearly 200 innocent victims.
The president’s foes have seized on the “contained” remark as proof, they say, that he’s clueless.
What he said later in his answer to the question dealt with ISIL’s battlefield capabilities and whether the fighters’ advances in Syria and Iraq have been stopped. He believes that our air campaign has stalled the Islamic State’s march.
Clearly, though, the terror cabal is capable of launching the kind of attack that it did Friday in Paris. Richard Clarke, the anti-terror expert who’s worked for administrations of both political parties, said this morning that ISIL is far more capable and fearsome than al-Qaeda.
ISIL has committed “an act of war” against the civilized world, said French President Francois Hollande. How do nations respond to such acts? By going to war.
Contained or not, the Islamic State needs to face the combined fury of the immense military power of the nationsĀ it has chosen to fight.