News   /   Interviews

Obama is ‘reluctant warrior’ against ISIL

The lack of a complete strategy by the US to defeat ISIL indicates Obama is a “reluctant warrior.”

The lack of a complete strategy by the US to defeat the ISIL terrorist group indicates President Barack Obama is a “reluctant warrior” and wants to avoid another costly war, says a political commentator.

“Obama is reluctant to have this mission creep, he sees it as a slippery slope that once again wants to get America embroiled in a bloody conflict in this country that costs America so dearly already,” Dr. Brian Glyn Williams, a professor of Islamic History at the University of Massachusetts, told Press TV on Tuesday.

“President Obama’s lack of a complete strategy stems largely from the fact that he is a reluctant warrior,” said Williams, who also worked for the CIA’s Counter Terrorism Center and the US Army’s Information Operations team in Afghanistan.

“He remembers the heavy cost of the wars and the American people who voted him into office, voted him in part to end the very unpopular war in Iraq so he’s very conscious of the bloody legacy and the high cost in terms of finances and money as well as lives and is very, very reluctant to return to this war zone,” he added.

Obama acknowledged on Monday that the United States and its allies do not have a “complete strategy” in pushing back ISIL in Iraq and Syria.

"We don't yet have a complete strategy because it requires commitments on the part of the Iraqis as well about how that recruitment takes place, how that training takes place," Obama said during concluding remarks at the G7 summit in Germany.

Recent setbacks in Iraq and Syria have raised serious doubts about Washington’s strategy, months after he announced an open-ended military air campaign to “degrade and ultimately destroy” the ISIL forces by enlisting the support of scores of allies.

AHT/AGB


Press TV’s website can also be accessed at the following alternate addresses:

www.presstv.co.uk

SHARE THIS ARTICLE
Press TV News Roku