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Andrea Mitchell: ‘Why Aren’t We Just Bombing The Hell Out Of’ ISIS Right Now?

Al Weaver Reporter
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During an interview Monday afternoon, liberal MSNBC anchor Andrea Mitchell asked Rear Admiral John Kirby why America isn’t “just bombing the hell out” of ISIS. The MSNBC host pointed to NBC News’ chief foreign correspondent Richard Engel’s report that Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) fighters actively fighting against Kurdish forces on the ground in Syria are easy to find:

Mitchell: It’s a bizarre thing to watch: Richard [Engel’s] reporting, the video we’ve been getting in. It’s almost like movies you see of the Civil War, where people come out to watch a battle unfolding in front of them, right a couple of hundreds of yards away from them..”

Kirby: “Yea, I mean, it really does speak to the immediacy of the threat and how it’s being felt by local citizens right there, absolutely.. It also speaks to the brashness of this particular enemy right there, ISIL, that they are willing to still continue to fight out there in the open like that.”

Mitchell: “But to Richard [Engel’s] question, why aren’t we just bombing the hell out of [ISIS] right there?”

Kirby: “Well, we are hitting targets up in the north.”

Mitchell: “We are not hitting people so much as we are hitting a tank here and placement here. We are hitting APCs, we are not hitting troops or forces.”

Kirby: “It’s little bit of both right now, Andrea. I mean, the prime focus in Syria has been — most of it in the last few days on strategic targets, things that get into their ability to sustain themselves. That’s why we hit those oil refineries, and we hit more over the weekend. And you’re also starting to see that the target has changed a little bit in Syria, to include some tactical targets as well, some vehicles and some check points and that kind of thing. So we are mixing it up a little bit and we are hitting them a little bit harder there in the north and still in Raqqa as well.”