http://www.politico.com/blogs/politico-live/?hp=McDonough defines success in ISIL fight
By JENNIFER SHUTT |
9/14/14 9:02 AM EDT
White House chief of staff Denis McDonough on Sunday defined what the administration sees as success in the fight against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.
“Success looks like an ISIL that no longer threatens our friends in the region, no longer threatens the United States,” he said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “An ISIL that can't accumulate followers, or threaten Muslims in Syria, Iran, Iraq, or otherwise. And that's exactly what success looks like.”
His remarks follow the terrorist organization releasing a third video, showing the death of British aid worker David Haines. Following the same pattern as the videos that showed the deaths of American journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff, the masked ISIL member threatened to kill another British hostage.
McDonough said the Obama administration hopes to work with Congress in the coming days and weeks to organize support for the Syrian opposition to aid in the fight against ISIL.
“This is an effort that, like in Yemen and Somalia, where we will take the fight to our enemies without putting our ground troops into the effort,” McDonough said. “We need ground troops, that's why we want this program to train the opposition, that's currently pending in Congress. And that's why we want to make sure that this coalition bring Sunnis to the fight. And that's what we're going to do.”
