By JM Rieger and John T. Bennett

President Barack Obama made clear Monday he disagrees with critics who believe he should send thousands of U.S. military troops to Iraq and Syria to counter the Islamic State, after the terrorist group claimed responsibility for the deadly attacks in Paris. A defiant Obama said conventional military strategies and operations will not work against the violent extremist group, also known as ISIS or ISIL, and warned Republican lawmakers and others that “we play into their hands when we act as if ISIL is a state.” “This is not what’s going on here,” Obama said during a news conference from the G20 summit in Turkey. “These are killers.”