The Fight Against ISIS: Critics Blast President Obama’s Comments About Lack Of Strategy At G-7 Summit

Weeks after the U.S.-led coalition failed to stop Islamic State forces from taking over the Iraqi city of Ramadi, America still does not have a complete strategy to defeat the militant forces, said President Barack Obama at the G-7 summit Monday.

He said at the annual meeting that the U.S. administration did not have a “complete strategy” to beat the Islamic State group, also known as ISIS. The comments echo what that president said in September, that he did not yet have a strategy to combat ISIS militants, and his speech Monday indicated that, in terms of fighting the terrorist organization, the plan has not changed much in the past several months.

Obama’s statement Monday re-emphasizes what his critics have been accusing him of for a long time. The Republican National Committee immediately responded to Obama’s comments and wondered publicly what the U.S. president has been doing for the last 10 months.

Texas Sen. Ted Cruz suggested that America should unleash air power to eliminate ISIS, stating that Obama’s anti-ISIS strategies had failed for the past 10 months. South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham added that ISIS is a “dangerous and growing threat” to the U.S. homeland.

Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John McCain referred to the ISIS execution in Ramadi, saying, "One can wonder, one has to wonder, whether this president just wants to wait out the next year-and-a-half and basically do nothing to stop this genocide, [these] bloodletting, horrible things that are happening throughout the Middle East," according to CNN.

Former Texas Gov. Rick Perry said that Obama’s statements prove his failed leadership. “If I were commander in chief, it would not take nine months to work with our military leaders to develop a complete strategy to destroy ISIS and protect American security interests and values,” Politico quoted Perry as saying.

Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush reacted on Twitter. He said that Obama had proved in Germany that he has no ISIS strategy and added that Obama’s lack of strategy had been “clear for a while.”

While Obama said that he did not have a complete plan yet, he mentioned that he would share a final training plan for the Iraqi military with the U.S. population. He added that there are still “significant” challenges in fighting ISIS.