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   From: fsorbin@aol.com   
      
   He still doesn't have a strategy either.   
      
   President Obama, in a rare visit to the Pentagon where he got an   
   update on the military campaign against the Islamic State,   
   acknowledged Monday that ISIS and its ideology have spread far   
   beyond Iraq and Syria but vowed: "We will ultimately prevail."   
      
   The president, giving a report card of sorts on the nearly   
   yearlong military campaign against the terror network, offered a   
   mixed picture. He cited a string of ISIS losses in Iraq and   
   Syria in claiming they "can be pushed back" in the region.   
      
   "In short, ISIL's recent losses in both Syria and Iraq prove   
   that ISIL can and will be defeated," Obama said.   
      
   At the same time, he braced the public for a "long-term   
   campaign" that will involve a "generational struggle" -- a   
   global battle with extremists for hearts and minds.   
      
   In unusually blunt remarks, the president acknowledged that ISIS   
   and its ideology "pose a grave threat beyond the region" that   
   has spread around the world.   
      
   The president cited deadly attacks in recent weeks in Tunisia,   
   Kuwait and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula.   
      
   "We see a growing ISIL presence in Libya and attempts to   
   establish footholds across North Africa, the Middle East, the   
   Caucasus and Southeast Asia," Obama added, while also citing   
   recent attacks in France, Canada and beyond. He said the world   
   must unite against this threat, and that if the U.S. tries to   
   address it unilaterally, "We'll be playing whack-a-mole."   
      
   Obama spoke to the media at the Pentagon, following meetings   
   with top military officials and other national security advisers   
   for an update on the strategy.   
      
   The meetings follow a wave of weekend airstrikes by the U.S.-led   
   coalition in eastern Syria. The coalition says it was one of the   
   most sustained aerial operations carried out in Syria to date.   
      
   The meetings also come a month after Obama approved sending up   
   to 450 additional U.S. troops to Iraq, as part of an effort to   
   help and train local forces. Addressing a key goal of that   
   effort, Obama said Monday that "more Sunni volunteers are coming   
   forward."   
      
   Aside from long-running struggles in attracting Sunni volunteers   
   in Iraq, efforts to train Syrian rebels are also sputtering.   
   Fewer than 100 rebels are being trained by the U.S., far fewer   
   than the goal of producing 5,400 fighters a year.   
      
   But Obama cited a string of victories over ISIS in both   
   countries, including in Kirkuk, Tikrit and Kobani. He said, with   
   the help of more than 5,000 coalition airstrikes, ISIS has lost   
   more than a quarter of the population areas it once had seized   
   in Iraq.   
      
   "ISIL's strategic weaknesses are real," Obama said.   
      
   But he said ISIS is "nimble" and digs in among local civilian   
   populations, and, "It will take time to root them out."   
      
   And, after a July Fourth holiday where security officials were   
   on alert over terror threats, Obama warned that preventing lone   
   wolf terror attacks on the homeland will continue to be a   
   challenge.   
      
   "We're going to have to pick up our game," he said.   
      
   Obama met Monday with more than 30 Pentagon officials and   
   national security advisers, including Secretary of Defense Ash   
   Carter and Gen. Martin Dempsey, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs   
   of Staff.   
      
   http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2015/07/06/obama-concedes-isis-   
   has-gone-global-but-vows-will-ultimately-prevail/   
        
       
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)