President Obama Reacts To Sotloff Murder, Says Objective Is To ‘Destroy’ ISIS

Posted by | September 3, 2014 17:08 | Filed under: Contributors Opinion Politics Tommy Christopher Top Stories War & Peace

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On Tuesday, the world was once again shocked by the sickening execution of an American journalist by the terrorist army ISIS, and in a joint press conference in Estonia early this morning, President Obama offered his first public comments on the killing of Steven Sotloff. The president also said that the objective now is to “degrade and destroy” ISIS, but then walked that back a bit on followup.

After opening with remarks on Estonia and the NATO alliance, the president addressed the murder of Steven Sotloff, expressing similar sentiments to those he delivered following the murder of Jim Foley, contrasting Sotloff’s courageous work with the cowardice and barbarism of those who murdered him.

Obama’s message to ISIS was, “We will not be intimidated. Their horrific acts only unite us as a country and stiffen our resolve to take the fight against these terrorists. And those who make the mistake of harming Americans will learn that we will not forget, and that our reach is long and that justice will be served.”

Whereas the White House has been somewhat cautious in defining the mission against ISIS, the president inched out onto a limb, telling ABC News Radio’s Ann Compton that “the bottom line is this: Our objective is clear, and that is to degrade and destroy ISIL so that it’s no longer a threat not just to Iraq but also the region and to the United States.”

He also addressed those critics who seized on his “We don’t have a strategy yet” soundbite last week, explaining that he was referring to a specific set of plans for military action within Syria, and not a broader strategy against ISIS.

Compton picked up on the former comment, and asked the president, “Did you just say that the strategy is to destroy ISIS, or to simply contain them or push them back?”

The president seemed to hedge somewhat, responding that…READ MORE 

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Copyright 2014 Liberaland
By: Tommy Christopher

Tommy Christopher is The Daily Banter's White House Correspondent and Political Analyst. He's been a political reporter and liberal commentator since 2007, and has covered the White House since the beginning of the Obama administration, first for PoliticsDaily, and then for Mediaite. Christopher is a frequent guest on a variety of television, radio, and online programs, and was the villain in the documentaries The Audacity of Democracy and Hating Breitbart. He's also That Guy Who Live-Tweeted His Own Heart Attack, and the only person to have ever received public apologies from both Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck.

2 responses to President Obama Reacts To Sotloff Murder, Says Objective Is To ‘Destroy’ ISIS

  1. Suzanne McFly September 3rd, 2014 at 20:35

    Damn hoity toity liberals always doing that thinking stuff before they react.

  2. Suzanne McFly September 3rd, 2014 at 20:35

    Damn hoity toity liberals always doing that thinking stuff before they react.

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