On the heels of the terrorist attacks in Paris last Friday, Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton offered her strategy to defeat ISIS and combat global terrorism in remarks on Thursday.
In a speech to the Council on Foreign Relations in New York City, Clinton outlined three key points of her plan.
Clinton said the U.S. must defeat ISIS in Iraq and Syria and across the Middle East, disrupt and dismantle the growing worldwide terrorist infrastructure, and harden American defenses against external and homegrown threats.
The former Secretary of State also called on Congress to pass a new authorization of the use of military force against ISIS, which she said would signal U.S. commitment to the fight.
"Our goal is not to deter or contain ISIS, but to defeat and destroy ISIS," Clinton said. "This is a worldwide fight - and America must lead it."
Clinton called for continued airstrikes over Syria as well as for more "flexibility" for U.S. special operations forces, but she said it would not be a "smart move" to send hundreds of thousands of ground troops to the region.
The Democratic presidential frontrunner also took at aim some of her potential Republican opponents who have called for the U.S. to stop accepting Syrian refugees.
"We cannot allow terrorists to intimidate us into abandoning our values and our humanitarian obligations," Clinton said. "Turning away orphans, applying a religious test, discriminating against Muslims, slamming the door on every Syrian refugee - that is just not who we are."
She added, "It would be a cruel irony indeed if ISIS can force families from their homes and then also prevent them from ever finding new ones."
Clinton's remarks come amid claims the large number of refugees coming from Syria allowed terrorists to sneak into France and take part in the terrorist attacks in Paris last Friday.
Results of a new NBC News/SurveyMonkey online poll found that a majority of Americans oppose President Barack Obama's plans to accept increased numbers of Syrian refugees.
The poll found that 56 percent of Americans disapprove of increasing the number of Syrian refugees coming into the country, while 41 percent approve.
The results reflect a sharp partisan divide on the issue, as 81 percent of Republicans disapprove of accepting more Syrian refugees compared to just 31 percent of Democrats.
According to NBC News, the U.S. has taken in fewer than 2,000 refugees since the start of the Syrian conflict in 2011, while Obama has called for the U.S. to accept 10,000 in the next year.
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