Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel: 'U.S. military involvement in Iraq is not over'

Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel: 'U.S. military involvement in Iraq is not over'
(Image credit: Mark Wilson/Getty Images)

Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel said Thursday that the U.S. would need to continue operating in Iraq for the foreseeable future because ISIS is "beyond anything we've seen."

In a Pentagon briefing, Hagel said ISIS "clearly poses a long-term threat" to the United States because it is militarily adept and "tremendously well-funded." And though he said recent U.S. airstrikes had succeeded in rebuffing ISIS's advancement across Iraq, he offered a blunt assessment for what to expect going forward: "U.S. military involvement in Iraq is not over."

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Jon Terbush

Jon Terbush is an associate editor at TheWeek.com covering politics, sports, and other things he finds interesting. He has previously written for Talking Points Memo, Raw Story, and Business Insider.