Obama: US, Allies Hitting ISIS 'Harder Than Ever'

WASHINGTON – As Americans prepare to celebrate Christmas, President Barack Obama is launching a campaign to prove his strategy against the Islamic State is working.
       
In a rare statement from the Pentagon Monday, the president ticked off the names of ISIS leaders the coalition has killed.

"The point is ISIL leaders cannot hide and our next message to them is simple: you are next," Obama said.
    
The president said airstrikes against ISIS targets are raining down more frequently.

"We are hitting ISIL harder than ever. Coalition aircraft, our fighters, bombers, and drones have been increasing the pace of their strikes, nearly 9,000 as of today," the president said.

"Because as we squeeze its heart, it will make it harder for ISIL to pump its terror into the rest of the world."

Monday's statement is part of a week-long push to explain better his strategy against the Islamic State. His strategy has four parts:

• Hunting down and killing insurgents.
• Training Iraqi and Syrian forces to fight ISIS on the ground.
• Disrupting the Islamic State's recruiting, financing, and propaganda.
• Diplomacy to end the Syrian civil war.

But critics say for now, the president's PR push is all for show.

"The American people are smart enough to know when something is working or not, and it's obvious that the president's current strategy isn't working," House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy said.

CBN News Terrorism Analyst Erick Stakelbeck agreed.

"It seems that ISIS is actually spreading its tentacles further throughout the world and if we were doing such a great job in Iraq and Syria that wouldn't be happening," he said.
    
Just look at a map: ISIS controls Mosul, Ramadi, and Fallujah. It's a safe haven like the kind al Qaeda enjoyed in Afghanistan before 9/11.

"We have to remember that terrorism is only a tactic. It's driven by jihadist, radical Islamic ideology." Stakelbeck said. "Until President Obama and his administration acknowledge that ideology exists, we will not be able to defeat it."    

As the number of Americans concerned about the risk of another terror attack in the U.S. grows, the president will work to reframe the conversation on immigrants and tolerance.

He's making that case Tuesday during a ceremony to swear in new Americans citizens from Iraq and 25 other nations.
    
Top White House officials are also meeting with American Muslim and Sikh leaders about battling discrimination.
    
Meanwhile, Stakelbeck says that with the proper leadership, America could end the fight pretty quickly.

"If we roundly defeated Sadam Hussein and a standing army of hundreds of thousands during the 1990s and in 2003, we could make very short work of ISIS without a doubt," he said. "But the political will is not there right now."