Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Martin Dempsey said Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant is a serious and "immediate threat initially to the region, our partners, and to the United States of America in the longer term," during a Facebook town hall on Thursday.
Dempsey also said the Joint Chiefs of Staff have developed a military strategy "contain, continue to disrupt, and ultimately defeat ISIL."
"ISIL is radical in its ideology, brutal in its tactics, and closed to all but those who adhere to their narrow and exclusive world view," Dempsey said. "Freedom is antithetical to ISIL and that’s what makes them dangerous. The U.S. military considers ISIL an immediate threat initially to the region, our partners, and to the United States of America in the longer term. At the president’s direction, we have developed a military strategy with a series of options on how we can initially contain, continue to disrupt, and ultimately defeat ISIL."
"While the military will certainly be part of this fight, there is no military-only solution, and it cannot be accomplished unilaterally," Dempsey continued. "ISIL will be defeated when the populations on which they have imposed themselves reject them. Our actions are intended to move in that direction."
Dempsey said military options could also be effective in Syria.
"We continue to develop options for countering ISIL in both Iraq and in Syria. Military options are always more effective in the context of a whole-of-government strategy and in this case, in the context of a regional coalition. But to be clear, we’ll deal with threats to U.S. persons and facilities directly, quickly, and by ourselves if necessary."