Rhodes on Obama Calling ISIS ‘Contained’: We’ve ‘Stopped’ the ‘Advance’ in Iraq

TAPPER: “Ben, about the president’s phrasing about ISIS or ISIL being contained, I know that he was specifically talking about the Iraq-Syria battlefield. But he made that - the comment after the terrorist attack against the Russian airliner, after the suicide bombings in Beirut. If this is what ISIS looks like contained, I shudder to think what ISIS looks like uncontained.”
RHODES: Well, again, Jake, as you noted, it’s a very specific point the president was making, that we had seen over a year ago ISIL on the march in both Iraq and Syria, taking more and more territory. What we have been able to do is stop that advance and reclaim territory, going on the offense with our partners on the ground most recently taking the strategic town of Sinjar, which cuts off the supply line between Raqqa in Syria and Mosul in Iraq. So, we have made advances that are very important, because that shrinks the space where ISIL can operate and puts pressure on their safe haven. But we see this as a group with global ambitions. And we have to be one step ahead of ISIL every time, if we can. That’s why, for instance, we took a strike at ISIL’s leader in Libya, because we see them trying to get a foothold there as well.”