Tuesday, February 28, 2017

Mattis Gives White House Tentative Plan for Rapid Defeat of ISIS | Military.com

Mattis Gives White House Tentative Plan for Rapid Defeat of ISIS | Military.com: Defense Secretary Jim Mattis presented a classified plan to the White House Monday for the rapid defeat of ISIS that was reportedly an updated version of the Obama administration's strategy of relying on local forces to carry the brunt of the fight.

"It is a plan to rapidly defeat ISIS," said Navy Capt. Jeff Davis, a Pentagon spokesman, but he stressed that "this is a preliminary plan" whose details will be closely held to allow for continued discussion and to avoid giving the enemy forewarning.

The plan called for the involvement of "all elements of national power" in what Davis called a "trans-regional approach" to defeating the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria.

"Diplomacy is a key part of the plan" that was focused on ISIS but was also shaped to include other "trans-regional" terrorist groups, Davis said. "This is really a framework for broader discussion."

The formulation of the plan fulfilled a campaign pledge by Trump, who had said that if elected he would order up a 30-day review on accelerated action to eliminate ISIS as a threat. On Jan, 27, Trump went to the Pentagon for the first time to sign an executive order directing Mattis to draw up the plan within 30 days.