President Obama said it would be a "mistake" to send in U.S. ground troops, pushing back against critics calling for more deployments in the wake of the terrorist attacks in Paris on Friday.
Speaking to the G20 summit in Turkey, Obama said it wasn't just his opinion, but the opinion of his closest military advisers that his strategy against the Islamic State is working.
"We have the finest military in the world and we have the finest military minds in the world," Obama said. "And I've been meeting with them intensively for years now discussing these various options. It is not just my view, but the view of my closest military advisers and civilian advisers, that that would be a mistake. Not because our military couldn't march into Mosul or Raqqa or Ramadi and temporarily clear out ISIL. But because we would see a repetition of what we've seen before.
"If you do not have local populations that are committed to inclusive governance, and who are pushing back against ideological extremists, that they resurface — unless you're prepared to have a permanent occupation of these countries."
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