Obama Said Massive Military Solution Not The Answer To ISIL Threat

President Barack Obama spoke to the media and public Monday morning to stress he believes political and diplomatic solutions are still the country's first choice in dealing with the Syrian conflict.

He also said the U.S. will continue a "robust and constant" military response to terrorism in the world. 

Obama said the United States can keep our borders open and ensure our security during a news conference Monday in Turkey.

The president said the world still needs to rely on a political solution to end the war in Syria.

"Hopes for diplomacy in Syria have been dashed before," he said. He believes this time, all major counties on all sides of the Syrian crisis agree on the process to end the war.

"We have the right strategy, and we're going to see it through," Obama said.

The president was asked that since ISIL is sending message that they can target civilians around the world, isn't it time for strategy to change?

Obama said he has authorized additional special forces on the ground, and the nation will continue to pursue a military solution as well. Typically when people say something else needs to be done after the Paris terror attacks, those things are already being done, he said.

The one thing that isn't already being done is to put large numbers of U.S. troops into play, the present said. His closest military and civilian advisers agree with him that would be a mistake, he said.
 
The president said that though we could temporarily clear out ISIL,  if we don't have local populations committed to inclusive governments and  pushing back against ideological extremes, those groups will resurface.

"Unless we're prepared to have a permanent occupation of these countries," he said. The strategy has to be maintainable, he said. 

The U.S. will continue a "robust and constant" response to terrorism, Obama said, that will systematically going over ISIL leadership and "squeezing" the area where they can operate.

The challenge is responding to a group of people who have complete disregard for innocent lives and twisted ideology. 

"When you have a handful of people that don't mind dying, you can kill a lot of people," Obama said. "These are killers with fantasies of glory."

The president called upon other nations to step up in the fight against ISIL. 

Obama said what he is not interested in, is taking steps to make the U.S. look "tougher," because he said that will not work. 

"My only interest is to end suffering and to keep the American people safe."

Speaking shortly after Obama ended his remarks, French President Francois Hollande said his country will intensify military operations in Syria. 

"We need to destroy this organization," Hollande said of the terrorist group.