Obama says ISIS fight will be a "long-term campaign"
President Obama said Tuesday that the fight against the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) would be a "long-term campaign" for the world, but he is "ultimately optimistic" that the group's opponents would prevail against its message of death and suffering.
"This is not a conventional battle. This is a long-term campaign - not only against this particular network, but against its ideology," the president said at the United Nations General Assembly, where he was chairing a meeting of world leaders to discuss the campaign against ISIS.
He reiterated themes of his United Nations speech, pledging to work with any nation, including Russia and Iran, to resolve the conflict. But he repeated his insistence that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad must leave power and be replaced by "an inclusive government that united the Syrian people in the fight against terrorist groups."
That message has put him at odds with Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has helped prop up Assad and has been ramping up its military presence there. He said in his own speech Monday that it would be "an enormous mistake" to refuse to help the Syrian government.
Mr. Obama and British Prime Minister David Cameron also stressed the importance of the ideological battle against the group.
"We have to be clear-eyed about the fact that this is very hard work. It is not just a military campaign," Mr. Obama said.
Cameron told the assembled group, "We need to win this propaganda war far more effectively than we have to date."
"These people claim to act in the Islamic religion," he continued. "They don't. I can say they don't, I can say they don't over and over again, you can say they don't but there's nothing more powerful than...when Muslim leaders and Muslim countries reclaim their religion and explain why what people are saying its not Islam, its a perversion of Islam."
Cameron also praised Jordan's King Abdullah for a similar message at the summit.