King on ISIS: People ‘Lost Faith’ Because Obama ‘Acts as if Everything Is Going Fine’

WELKER: “Let’s turn back to the breaking news from Iraq. Military victory in the key city of Ramadi for a security force that’s faced strong criticism for an inability to take the fight to ISIS on the ground. New York Congressman Peter King serves on the Homeland Security Committee and joins me now. Happy holidays, congressman. Thanks for being here this afternoon.”
KING: “You, too, Kristen, thank you.”
WELKER: “I just want to get your reaction to this breaking news. What is the significance of this victory in Ramadi? Is it a sign that ISIS is weakening on the battlefield?” 
KING: “Well, it certainly is a sign the Iraqi army, particularly the Sunni forces, were able to capture a key city such as this or recapture it. So it is significant. I think it’s the first of a long series. It is too early to claim this is a turning point but I give them credit for doing it. I hope Mosul is next. Again, I think it’s important to note that all this is, really, is recapturing a city that was lost six months after the president began our counter-terror efforts. So yes, it is significant and I’m not trying to dampen the mood here at all but really, all we are doing is going back to where we were 15 months ago when the president began the counter-terror campaign. But if this is a sign of what’s going to come in the future, it’s very very significant and I give the Sunni forces and the American military credit.”
WELKER: “Well, congressman, I want to follow up on the skepticism you just raised. According to the latest CNN/ORC poll, 40 percent of Americans believe that the terrorists are currently winning so there’s a lot of skepticism about the president’s strategy. And you said over the weekend that U.S.-led air strikes have failed to actually weaken ISIS. Of course, that runs very counter to the argument that the White House has made. President Obama making the point that 2,000 ISIS fighters have been killed and that air strikes are taking their toll on ISIS. Do you stand by that statement that you made over the weekend, given this latest development?”
KING: “I certainly do. Again, over the weekend, what happened in Ramadi, all that did is bring us back to where we were 15 months ago. You don’t win these wars just by a body count. The fact is during the last 15 months, ISIS has also expanded significantly into Libya, into Afghanistan, where they now rival al Qaeda and the Taliban —“
WELKER: “But congressman, isn’t it significant that 2,000 fighters have been killed including a number of ISIS leaders?”
KING: “It would be significant except that they recruited a lot more than that. They have thousands and thousands of foreign fighters going to Iraq and Syria to fight on behalf of ISIS. Probably if we are doing a body count there are more ISIS fighters now than there were 15 months ago. And ISIS is also now expanded, really they were not until the last year or so attacking outside their own region. But now they have attacked Paris, they have attacked the United States, they obviously have Lebanon they are going into. This is a significant development by ISIS. Listen, we can win this. It’s not going to be easy. I think what the American people, why they have lost faith to a certain extent in the president is that he acts as if everything is going fine. He doesn’t acknowledge these defeats we have had or the gains ISIS has made. That’s why it puts a cloud over everything he’s claiming.”