Secretary of State John Kerry gave a long, meandering reply to Chairman of the House Armed Services Military Personnel Subcommittee Rep. Joe Wilson (R., S.C.) after being asked: "Yes or no? Is America at war?"
"Well, you know," Kerry paused to laugh, "Um, I'm going to answer that, Mr. Chairman, but um…you know…"
Kerry waffled a while longer, explaining how the American mission against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL or ISIS) is not like the war in Iraq.
He went on to say that it is similar to the war with al Qaeda "if you care about what you call it."
"I care about what we do," Kerry told Wilson.
"If you're more comfortable calling it a war against this enemy of Islam, then please do so," Kerry concluded. "We're happy, would call it that."
The Obama administration has given multiple contradicting accounts of whether or not the United States is, in fact, at war with ISIL.