WASHINGTON, October 6 (RIA Novosti) - US Vice President Joe Biden mischaracterized President Obama's views in his recent remarks, when he claimed that Ankara's actions have led to the rise of the Islamic State (IS) militant group, White House press secretary said on Friday.
"There is no doubt that Turkey and other countries in the region understand the threat that [IS] poses to the region and to these individual countries and that is why the United States under the presidents' leadership has had success in building broad international support for the actions that we've taken against ISIL," Josh Earnest said in White House briefing, adding that the fact that Biden has called the Turkish officials to apologize, shows that "he himself wishes that he had said it a little bit differently."
"The vice president is somebody, who has enough character to admit when he has made a mistake. He did that both publicly… and privately…," Earnest noted.
Speaking about the region's participation in the US-led anti-IS coalition, Earnest said that many of those, examining the situation, were surprised "at the strong reaction and at the deep involvement in Muslim-government or Muslim-majority countries, who took part alongside American fighter pilots in taking military strikes against ISIL." According to Earnest this indicates, that the Islamic State is at war not only against the United States, but against the broader world, " including the Muslim world."
On October 2, US Vice President Biden in a speech at the Harvard University alleged that Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates had "poured hundreds of millions of dollars and thousands of tons of weapons into anyone, who would fight against Assad," which included extremist elements and Jihadists. Saying that America's "biggest problem is our allies," he further alleged that Turkey had been allowing foreign fighters to cross its borders. The Vice President apologized for his remarks over the weekend.
IS, also known as the Islamic State of Iraq and Greater Syria (ISIS), or the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), has been fighting against the government in Syria since 2012 and advanced into portions of northern Iraq in June 2014. IS continues to wage war in an attempt to establish a caliphate in these areas.
