Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton said Sunday that fighting ISIS' online presence would be a significant part of her strategy in taking on the terrorist group, which she argues "has mastered the internet."
Speaking to Radio Iowa for one of the first two interviews she's granted on the campaign trail, Clinton reiterated her opposition to putting more US troops on the ground in Iraq and expressed support for the President's strategy in Iraq and Syria. She then argued that ISIS is a "very serious threat" that is "spreading" because of the group's deft use of the internet.
"I have supported the President's approach to dealing with this very serious threat — and it's a threat, obviously, first and foremost to the Iraqis, the Syrians — but it's a spreading threat that is also one that we have to take seriously because ISIS has mastered the Internet," Clinton said.
Clinton briefly outlined her view of America's role in confronting the radical jihadist organization, saying that the US must "take them on through the Iraqis," while working with allies to combat "their presence on the Internet."
"We just have to take them on through the Iraqis, because if the Iraqis won't stand up for themselves, there's nothing we can do for them," Clinton argued. "Get better support from this Iraqi government so that they understand the threat they face as opposed to just seeing it as a threat to Sunnis in Iraq. Do a better job with our partners and allies in combating the presence on the internet. That's a big order of business, but that's as far as I would go."
Clinton also offered an assessment of the costs and benefits of the Internet as a whole, before describing some of the ways ISIS has used it, including "to direct attacks here in the United States and elsewhere."
"And the Internet does a lot of wonderful things for us but it does enable criminal cartels, as well as terrorists to be in very close communication," she said. "And what ISIS has done is to use their sites to recruit, to train, to enlist, to direct attacks here in the United States and elsewhere."
