Rep. Adam Kinzinger says al-Qaida never had same the success as the Islamic State (ISIS) drawing Americans and other Westerners into their fold because the West was defeating al-Qaida.
Appearing Wednesday on CNN's
"The Lead with Jake Tapper," the Illinois Republican said America woke up to the threat of al-Qaida on 9/11 and went to war against them.
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"With ISIS right now, the perception, real or not, … is we are not winning the war, we are losing territory," Kinzinger said. "It's just like in Chicago, when the Bears are good everybody's a Bears fan."
Kinzinger said he doesn't believe ISIS is defeating coalition forces, but said ISIS is gaining ground and that the coalition isn't engaging ISIS robustly enough in all areas.
Three men were arrested in New York and Florida on Wednesday for plotting to go to Syria and commit terrorism in the United States. British authorities also confirmed that
three teenage girls from that country are likely in Syria to join ISIS.
The two cases represent ISIS attaining its recruitment goals using a social media offensive to portray their self-proclaimed caliphate in Syria and Iraq as part of a global effort to impose Islamic law through grisly killings and enslavement.
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Kinzinger told CNN he wants to see more arms supplied to Iraqi and Kurdish Peshmerga forces as well as improving human intelligence in the fight against ISIS.
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