Pentagon: Media lacking patience at start of Islamic State fight
WASHINGTON - The Pentagon on Tuesday criticized some media coverage for lacking patience at the start of a long fight against the Islamic State, cautioning that progress would take time and saying "we cannot bomb them into obscurity" in Syria and Iraq.
Rear Admiral John Kirby, a Pentagon spokesman, declined to specify which coverage was, in his words, "a little shrill and hyperbolic and not exactly in balance." But Kirby said that the 310 air strikes so far against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria were only the beginning of a long campaign that would require more than just military might.
"What you heard was a little bit of my own frustration in some of the media coverage, and the expectation is that well, you've ... dropped more than 300 bombs ... but they're still grabbing ground," Kirby told a Pentagon news briefing. "We are steeling ourselves here in the Pentagon for a long effort and I think it's important for people to understand that."
