Obama says fighting Islamic State is his ‘No. 1 priority’

Reporting from Buenos Aires —  A day after terrorists’ bombs ripped through Brussels, President Barack Obama declared that fighting the Islamic State was his “No. 1 priority” and pledged that the United States would pursue the jihadist group until it is destroyed.

“I’ve got a lot of things on my plate, but my top priority is to defeat ISIL and to eliminate the scourge of this barbaric terrorism that’s been taking place around the world,” Obama said Wednesday, using an alternate acronym for Islamic State. “There’s no more important item on my agenda than going after them and defeating them. The issue is, how do we do it in an intelligent way?”

Obama addressed Tuesday’s deadly attacks in the European Union capital during a news conference in Buenos Aires, where he is meeting with Argentina’s new president, Mauricio Macri.

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Obama said both the U.S. and Argentina understand the sorrow felt by the Belgians “because out countries have felt the scourge of terrorism.” He called on the world to unite behind fighting what he called “senseless and vicious” acts.

But Obama offered few signs that he planned to retool his strategy in light of the Brussels bombing. The president said his approach to fighting the group has constantly “evolved” to meet the threat and he vowed to remains steady and “resolute.”

The dual attack at a Brussels subway station and the airport killed at least 34 people, including three suicide bombers, and injured 270 others, authorities said.

Obama criticized Republican presidential candidates who have suggested they would “carpet bomb” Islamic State. He dismissed that approach as both “inhumane” and counterproductive.

“That would likely be an extraordinary mechanism for ISIL to recruit more,” he said.

He also said the U.S. will not single out domestic Muslim communities for more surveillance.

Republican candidate Ted Cruz responded to the bombings in Brussels by saying law enforcement should be empowered to “patrol and secure Muslim neighborhoods before they become radicalized.”

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But Obama said any approach that singles out Muslim communities is wrong and “would reduce the antibodies we have to resist terrorism.”

Obama said he just left a country, Cuba, that engages in such surveillance and the notion that the U.S. would do so “makes no sense.”

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