Carson: Destroying ISIS ‘will not kill the beast’ of radical Islam

Eradicating the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) will not stop jihadist terrorism, Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson said Wednesday.

“The Islamist threat is now like a hydra, and cutting off the head that is ISIL will not kill the beast,” he said, using an alternate acronym for the extremist organization.

{mosads}“The defeat of the Islamic State and elimination of its caliphate is necessary but insufficient to ending our broader conflict against radical Islam,” Carson continued in a new policy outline for fighting the group. “A Carson administration will wage war against radical Islamic terrorism as a global movement, not just as discrete entities.”

Carson said the threat of violence motivated by radical Islam extends well beyond any single entity.

“In short, our enemies are transnational jihadist organizations,” he said. “Based on their understanding of the tenets of Islam, these enemies are intent on imposing a supremacist and totalitarian form of government on others.

“Currently, America must focus on defeating the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (also known as the Islamic State in the Levant, or ISIL), but our country faces a threat that is much bigger than ISIL alone,” Carson continued.

“The radical Islamic terrorist threat has mutated and grown since 9/11,” he added. “It is spreading, too.

Carson’s plan for defeating ISIS calls for increased airstrikes against the group overseas, a safe area for refugees displaced by ISIS and counterterrorism efforts both at home and abroad.

“We must carefully craft a strategy that targets and defeats the expansionist, bloodthirsty and supremacist inspirations that fuel jihadist groups while not abridging the peaceful and tolerant worship of God,” he said.

Carson has fallen in the polls since the terrorist bloodshed in Paris and San Bernardino, Calif., last year.

Critics say the retired neurosurgeon lacks the political experience necessary for safeguarding American soil. He has countered that he can assemble an administration of experts who can keep the country safe.