Barack Obama: We Will Intensify the Pursuit of Islamic State Forces

On Wednesday, April 4, Barack Obama stated that the world must unite in the battle against terrorism and that the United States can and will defeat the Islamic State group. The U.S. President, who is visiting Argentina, made these remarks during a joint press conference with Argentine President Mauricio Macri, referring to the attacks in Brussels on Tuesday. He said, "The United States is ready for any cooperation to assist in the investigations of these attacks and to bring the perpetrators to justice." He added, "We will continue to pursue the Islamic State group vigorously until their roots are uprooted from Syria and Iraq and ultimately destroyed." Obama stated, "There are many issues on my agenda, but my priority is to defeat the Islamic State group and eliminate this brutal terrorism that has spread across the globe." The U.S. President emphasized, "There is nothing more important on my agenda than to pursue and defeat them. The question is how specifically we will do that." He noted that both the U.S. and Argentina understand the sorrow of the Belgian people, "because both countries have felt the pain caused by terrorism." According to the Associated Press, Obama, however, showed limited signs of revising his strategy. He said that his approach to combating this group is constantly "evolving" to keep up with the threat. In the Tuesday attacks on the airport and a metro station in Brussels, at least 34 people were killed and 270 were injured. Three of the deceased were suicide bombers. Obama criticized Republican candidates for the U.S. presidential election who suggested a "scorched earth" policy regarding the Islamic State group. He rejected this approach as "inhumane" and unproductive, stating, "Such actions would likely provide an extraordinary mechanism for ISIS to attract more fighters." In this context, the Islamic State claimed responsibility for the Brussels explosions, explosives and an ISIS flag were discovered during a house search in Brussels, security measures were intensified at U.S. airports following the Brussels attacks, casualties from the Brussels attacks increased; the U.S. issued a warning about travel to Europe, the El Bakraoui brothers were identified as the perpetrators of the Brussels suicide attacks, and the arrest of a third suspect in the Brussels explosions was denied.