Retired Gen. Stanley McChrystal criticized counting the number of Islamic State terrorists killed by the U.S.-led coalition Sunday on This Week, saying "you can't play a numbers game in this kind of effort."
Deputy Secretary of State Tony Blinken said earlier this week that 10,000 IS fighters had been killed since the international campaign against the organization began nine months ago. His remarks drew heat and an unflattering comparison by Pentagon spokesman John Kirby to the Vietnam War, when kill numbers touted by the government misrepresented the lack of success in the fighting there.
Host Martha Raddatz asked McChrystal, who was credited with leading the effort to kill al-Qaeda leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi in Iraq, whether killing IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi would strike a considerable blow to that group.
"Well it will be a blow of a sense, because destroying an iconic leader undermines confidence, but you can't play a numbers game in this kind of effort," he said. "You can't count how many people you've killed, particularly how many leaders, because they're replaceable. What you've got to do is destroy the fabric of the organization, their ability to communicate, and that's a little bit more intangible and takes a wider, more holistic effort."
Full exchange:
RADDATZ: You've heard the numbers, You've heard how many fighters they believe have been killed. You were in charge of special operations when al-Zarqawi was killed in Iraq. If they find al-Baghdadi, the leader of ISIS, will that really be a blow to this type of organization?
MCCHRYSTAL: Well it will be a blow of a sense, because destroying an iconic leader undermines confidence, but you can't play a numbers game in this kind of effort. You can't count how many people you've killed, particularly how many leaders, because they're replaceable. What you've got to do is destroy the fabric of the organization, their ability to communicate, and that's a little bit more intangible and takes a wider, more holistic effort.