Clinton: US-ISIS fight a ‘long-term struggle’

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Monday that military force is a necessary part of the “long-term struggle” between the U.S. and the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS or ISIL), according to a report.

{mosads}Clinton said at an event in Ottawa that because ISIS’s mission is “expansionary” in nature — and because the group seems interested in embedding militants in the countries it opposes — she supports military action.

The former senator and top diplomat and likely 2016 presidential candidate also took issue with ISIS’s preferred name, the Islamic State.

“Whether you call them ISIS or ISIL, I refuse to call them the Islamic State, because they are neither Islamic nor a state,” Clinton said, echoing comments that President Obama has made about the group.

Clinton said in her recent memoir that she had advocated for the U.S. to arm rebels in Syria in the early days of the country’s civil war, but that the president ultimately disagreed. Some have argued that aiding moderate rebels could have made it harder for ISIS gain such a foothold in Syria.

In September, Clinton backed the Obama administration’s strategy to fight the terrorist group.