Hillary Clinton outlines plan for combating ‘radical Jihadism’

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Hillary Clinton called for a “new phase” in the fight to defeat the Islamic State that includes stepped-up air and drone strikes in Iraq and Syria and new efforts to choke terrorist financing and recruitment infrastructures but no new U.S. ground troops.

“I do believe we can crush ISIS’s enclave of terror,” Clinton said in a speech at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York on Thursday. “We are in a contest of ideas against an ideology of hate, and we have to win,” said Clinton, stressing that the United States needs to take the lead in the effort.

In her address, Clinton also called for new efforts to thwart terrorist organizing in cyberspace and pressed neighboring Arab nations to stop citizens who are directly funding extremists. She said European nations need to “dramatically” improve intelligence sharing and called for a no-fly zone over northern Syria to cut off supply lines and provide a safe haven for refugees.

In her address, Clinton delicately drew a distinction with President Obama while stopping short of criticizing his approach in the region. Clinton said the United States could have “done more” to aide indigenous Syrian rebels fighting Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, while noting “this is an evolving and fast-moving situation.” Obama has come under criticism for previously declaring that ISIL is being “contained,” in reference to their lack of territorial gains in Iraq. Obama opposes a no-fly zone in Syria.

After terrorist attacks in Paris that killed and injured hundreds, Republican presidential candidates, including Jeb Bush, are taking shots at Obama and tying him to Clinton, saying the two failed to act in the face of an escalating threat from ISIL.

On Monday, a visibly irritated Obama said many of the things the Republicans are calling for are things his government is already doing. “We have the right strategy, and we’re gonna see it through,” said Obama. His administration has deployed thousands of U.S. forces to advise and train Iraqi troops and Syrian groups fighting ISIL, but he’s rejected sending American soldiers to the front lines.

According to a new Bloomberg Politics national poll, Americans are evenly divided over sending troops to Iraq and Syria, with 44% for the idea and 45% against it.

Republicans, including Ted Cruz of Texas, have criticized both Obama and Clinton for refusing to label ISIL’s network as “radical Islamic terrorism.” In her speech, Clinton explained why, saying that such language strengthens terrorist recruitment by alienating Muslims as a group.

“Islam is not our adversary. Muslims are peaceful and tolerant people and have nothing whatsoever to do with terrorism,” said Clinton. A debate over terminology in the presidential primary arena ” isn’t just a distraction,” she said.  “It gives these criminals, these murderers more standing than they deserve. It actually plays into their hands by alienating partners we need.”

Clinton’s approach is more hawkish than that of her closest competitor for the Democratic nomination, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders. Yet Republican Donald Trump has called for “bombing the hell out of ISIS.” Hours after Clinton’s speech, Sanders is slated to make a major address on “democratic socialism” that is also expected to outline his foreign policy vision, including how the United States can lead the world in defeating ISIL.

Ahead of the speech, Republicans stepped up their criticism of the nation’s former top diplomat. “Hillary Clinton can’t walk away from President Obama’s failing ISIS strategy because she helped craft it and even praised it,” Republican National Committee spokesman Michael Short said in a statement. “The fact Hillary Clinton said President Obama was ‘making the right moves’ combating ISIS while it was making gains across the Middle East shows she’s the  wrong person to take on and defeat this growing terrorist threat.”

Clinton also used the speech as an opportunity to make a statement on U.S. policy toward Syrian refugees, who have become a target of Republicans concerned about terrorists using the program to infiltrate the U.S.

In last week’s Democratic debate, Clinton stood by her support for 65,000 refugees entering the United States. Obama has attacked Republicans seeking a stop to the resettlement of Syrian refugees, saying he could not “think of a more potent recruitment tool for ISIL than some of the rhetoric that’s been coming out of here during the course of this debate.”

On Thursday she emphasized the need to step up information-sharing with European partners since many of the terrorists, including in France, have Western passports that they are using to travel to Syria for training and then returning to carry out attacks.

Clinton also called for a donor conference to aid countries like Jordan that are shouldering the burden of the refugee exodus, with an estimated 4 million people now displaced by the crisis.

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