http://cnsnews.com/news/article/susan-jones/wh-chief-staff-were-war-against-al-qaeda-and-isil?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=marketing&utm_term=facebook&utm_content=facebook&utm_campaign=n-wh-isilWH Chief of Staff: We're In a War Against Al Qaeda and ISIL
January 26, 2015 - 5:26 AM
By Susan Jones
(CNSNews.com) - White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough says the United States is not at war against terrorism: "Well, we say we're in a war against al Qaeda. We have just never said we have been in a war against terrorism, which is a tactic. It's an unusual thing to say that we're at war against a tactic," McDonough told CBS's "Face the Nation" with Bob Schieffer on Sunday.
"We are, however, at war against al Qaeda, its manifestations in Yemen, its manifestations in South Asia, its manifestations in East Africa, North Africa. And we're at war, bound to ultimately destroy -- first defeat, then destroy -- ISIL in Iraq and Syria."
McDonough said the Obama administration is "investing an enormous amount" of time, resources, and troops in the fight and will continue to do that: "We're not downplaying anything," he told Schieffer, who suggested that the Obama administration had been "blindsided" by events in the Yemen and other Middle East.
Appearing on NBC's "Meet the Press" with Chuck Todd, McDonough said the U.S. continues to "conduct very important operations" in Yemen, even though the U.S.-backed government has fallen.
"Well, obviously, we're worried about the political situation on the ground. And as the president said in his comments just this morning, we know that al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, ISIS, al Qaeda Central is going to blossom in the areas where the political situation is not as robust as it needs to be, where security forces are not as trained, as well armed, or as effective as they need to be.
"So that's why when they grow in these dark places, we have to make sure that we're developing the institutions, working with the Yemenis so that we have a security force that can take the fight to AQAP and to others associated with them. That's exactly what the strategy is designed to do without -- as the President said very importantly, Chuck -- without relying on occupying armies or huge numbers of U.S. troops."
McDonough said the challenge for the U.S. is not to resolve the political problems of countries such as Yemen, but to make sure that al Qaeda doesn't threaten Americans.
"So the point is, when we see threats to the United States' interest, and the United States people and to United States we're going to take them out."
Asked why President Obama and his team refuse to use the term "radical Islam," McDonough said no one is denying that the terrorists are Muslim.
"These are Muslims who claim that their warped view of their ideology is what informed their actions, their hateful ideology in this instance. What we simply do not believe, Chuck, is that they should somehow be seen as representatives of Islam. They are not.
"It's one of the world's great religions. It's -- the overwhelming majority of Muslims do not abide by this hateful ideology so we just thought not give them any kind of belief that somehow they deserve that title."
