U.S. is hitting Islamic State 'harder than ever,' Obama says

Gregory Korte | USA TODAY

WASHINGTON — President Obama said Saturday that U.S. air strikes are hitting the Islamic State "harder than ever" amid a stepped-up U.S. campaign in Iraq and Syria.

"We’re taking out more of their fighters and leaders, their weapons, their oil tankers," Obama said in his weekly radio address Saturday. "Our special operations forces are on the ground, because we’re going to hunt down these terrorists wherever they try to hide. In recent weeks, our strikes have taken out the ISIL finance chief, a terrorist leader in Somalia and the ISIL leader in Libya."

Much of the recent effort has been directed at the oil smuggling that is the source of much of the Islamic State's revenue. The National Security Council says coalition airstrikes have destroyed 283 oil trucks, 120 oil storage tanks, and a "significant amount of oil field infrastructure" in eastern Syria since Nov. 17.

The weekly radio address, which focused on terrorism for the second week in a row, was a more optimistic assessment of the war on terror than any Obama has given since the Islamic State-inspired Dec. 2 shooting in San Bernardino that killed 14 people. "Our message to these killers is simple: we will find you, and justice will be done," he said.

Obama did not directly address the debate over whether to block Muslims from entering the United States, but instead emphasized that most Americans are reaching out to their Muslim neighbors "to let them know we’re here for each other."

"Political leaders across the spectrum — Democrats and Republicans, liberals and conservatives — are standing up, forcefully, for freedom of religion," he said. "That’s the message I hope every Muslim American hears — that we’re all part of the same American family."

In the Republican radio address, Rep. Will Hurd, R-Texas, said Congress was doing its part by voting to tighten the visa waiver program that allows people to travel to the United States from many European countries without advance approval.

If we get the right information to the right people, we can keep terrorists on the run and off our shores," said Hurd, a former CIA agent.

He said the Obama also has to do his part.

"We can’t contain this threat. We have to defeat it. We need a plan and that’s why the House passed a bill that requires the president to come up with a real strategy to defeat ISIS," he said. "We have to be in this for the long haul."