--- title: Barack Obama on Iraqi ISIS Training: There's No Complete Strategy Yet description: “We do not yet have a complete strategy,” Obama said canonical: https://time.com/3912543/barack-obama-isis-strategy/ author: Maya Rhodan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-06-08T15:20:17.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:58:59.402Z article:section: Politics og:title: Obama: 'No Complete Strategy' for Training Iraqis og:description: He said the U.S. is still reviewing plans to fight ISIS. og:url: https://time.com/3912543/barack-obama-isis-strategy/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt368182b904714b2a/6988536bcd1bbafcc76fbb12/barack-obama-isis-g7.jpg?branch=production&width=594&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 594 og:image:height: 334 og:image:alt: U.S. President Barack Obama speaks to the media at the conclusion of the summit of G7 nations at Schloss Elmau on June 8, 2015 near Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany. og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Obama: 'No Complete Strategy' for Training Iraqis twitter:description: He said the U.S. is still reviewing plans to fight ISIS. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt368182b904714b2a/6988536bcd1bbafcc76fbb12/barack-obama-isis-g7.jpg?branch=production&width=594&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Obama Says 'No Complete Strategy' for Training Iraqis to Fight ISIS > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ## Video: The Families ISIS Fighters Leave Behind [Watch (HLS stream): The Families ISIS Fighters Leave Behind](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/3wE4zvGL.m3u8) (5:29)  _Published 2015-02-26. How the rivalry between ISIS & Al-Nusra is tearing families apart_ by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Jun 8, 2015 3:20 PM UTC  U.S. President Barack Obama speaks to the media at the conclusion of the summit of G7 nations at Schloss Elmau on June 8, 2015 near Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany. U.S. President Barack Obama speaks to the media at the conclusion of the summit of G7 nations at Schloss Elmau on June 8, 2015 near Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany. Sean Gallup—Getty Images by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Jun 8, 2015 3:20 PM UTC President Obama said Monday the U.S. does not have a “complete strategy” for training and recruiting Iraqi forces to ultimately defeat the Islamic State of Iraq and Greater Syria, or ISIS. “We do not yet have a complete strategy,” Obama said, shifting part of the blame to leaders in Iraq who he said also needed to make commitments in regard to training before a plan could be finalized. Speaking during a wide-ranging press conference following the G7 summit, a gathering of leaders of the world’s biggest economies, Obama said the U.S. is “reviewing a range of plans” to properly train Iraqi forces. The President said “significant progress had been made” in pushing back against ISIS as the terror group gains more stronghold in parts of Iraq in Syria but that the U.S. needed to improve the “speed at which we’re training Iraqi forces” and efforts to recruit forces for training. Obama’s previous statements about not having a plan to defeat ISIS have been the source of political contention for quite some time. Monday’s statements came in the wake of discussions with world leaders and Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi of Iraq about the world’s efforts to defeat the terror group as they’re reach in the region grows. Obama and Abadi met for a meeting earlier on Monday where Obama said the U.S. would continue to provide assistance to the Iraqi people though no additional military commitments were made. The Prime Minister has been vocal about the need for more assistance from the U.S., saying recently Obama and other leaders are not doing enough to fight the terror group. “As long Minister Abadi and the government stay committed to an inclusive approach,” Obama said while meeting with the Prime Minister. “I am absolutely confident that we will be successful.” The effort to defeat ISIS was a major topic of discussion at the G7 summit, as was the ongoing sanctions regime against Russia. Obama said Monday that there was a “strong consensus” among G7 partners that they need to keep pushing Russia and Ukraine to agree to the terms laid out in the Minsk agreements, but until those obligations are met sanctions will remain in place The people of Russia, Obama said, are “suffering” under the sanctions, but the “best way for them to stop suffering is if the Minsk agreement is fully implemented.” **Read More:** [Congress Takes Tiny Step Toward Authorizing Anti-ISIS War](http://time.com/3908034/isis-congress/) ## Transcript [ NOISE ] The war in Syria is three years old. And it's spilling over into neighboring countries across the Middle East. Fighters from around the world are pouring into Iraq and Syria to join the ranks of ISIS. In this storyTye meets with family members who claim their sons have joined military groups like Isis and the [ UNKNOWN ] front. All families interviewed for this story are Kurdish. Kurds represent about 18 % of the Turkish population. While most Kurds are fighting against Islamic militants these families have seen their brothers and sons go off to war in the opposite camp. Fighting side by side with ISIS in the Al Nasser front. The stigma these families now face makes them weary of speaking on camera, but these interviews are a rare glimpse of the growing tension in the region as ISIS widens its reach. [ FOREIGN ] [ FOREIGN ]. [ FOREIGN ] He grew up as any other child would coming from a small village. He was sent to a boarding school because we were a poor family. Then at nineteen he became a martyr. He went to places where they developed his ideas and brainwashed him. [ FOREIGN ] [ FOREIGN ]. He met some guys that made him pray in a different way from others. They made him believe that if he goes to fight, they made him swear to be like them. And told him that if he does, that he will go to heaven and so will the rest of his family. [ FOREIGN ]. > They took him away from me. They knew that if they took him there he would die. They didn't care. He was against Assad and he went there to help his Muslim brothers. The war had not spread to Iraq at that point. After he died it got messier. I tried to convince him not to go. But he didn't want to change his mind. He wasn't a bad person. > He wasn't a bad person. ( foreign singing ). [ FOREIGN ]. [ FOREIGN ] The problem with Syria is that Assad has been killing people for many years now. But now these people are waking up and realizing what the West offered is just poverty, [ FOREIGN ] But now these people are waking up and realizing what the West offered is just poverty, drugs, tears, suffering. We believe that wherever there is violence, the responsibility comes from the West. [ MUSIC ] He went there because he had been arrested once before. And the government was going to arrest him again. He was going to be arrested for theft, that was one of the reasons he left. [ FOREIGN ] He was going to be arrested for theft. That was one of the reasons he left. [ MUSIC ] [ FOREIGN ]. All families interviewed for the story come from southeastern Anatolia, but more families across Europe and the United States are seeing their loved ones leave for war. Just recently, three British school girls were believed to be travelling to Syria to join ISIS. As Smith suggests that more than 3, 000 Europeans have travelled to Syria and Iraq since 2000. Fourteen, representing roughly one quarter of the foreign fighters in the region. For these families, often cut off from their sons and brothers, questions linger. Why did their loved ones leave them behind? 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